Scott Noreen, a representative of Purple Wave, used the meetingpublic-comment period to pitch the companyonline auction platform as a way for Chilton County to sell surplus heavy equipment, trucks and trailers.

Noreen said Purple Wave is a "national online auction platform that works with government agencies to help them sell their surplus heavy equipment, truck, trailer, vehicles," and described a "straight, simple, sold process" intended to reduce county staff time. He said Purple Wave sends a field operations specialist to photograph and video assets, lists items "where they sit" on county property, runs auctions for about four to five weeks and holds buyer payments in escrow until pickup.

Noreen emphasized the companymarketing reach and a no-reserve approach for most listings, which he said drives bidder trust and higher hammer prices. "We don't require you to move your assets to a yard," he said. He described a standard buyerpremium of 10 percent and said Purple Wave also offers packaged guarantees for groups of assets. For guaranteed packages, Noreen said Purple Wave provides a net guarantee (the company pays the guaranteed amount rather than deducting commissions from it) and charges a 3 percent fee on guaranteed packages in addition to buyer fees when a guarantee is in place.

Commissioners and other meeting participants asked follow-up questions about reserves, guarantees and fee calculations. A commissioner asked whether the company accepts reserves; Noreen replied that Purple Wave is a "no reserve platform" for most listings and explained the company's rationale for that policy. He also said Purple Wave will evaluate assets and provide sales-comparison estimates ("heavy worth" evaluations) and that the company handles title transfers when needed.

Noreen said Purple Wave had recently signed its first county in the region and offered to provide a sample umbrella agreement for commissioners to review. He left printed copies of the umbrella agreement and contact information and invited the commission to call for follow-up.

The commission did not take formal action during the meeting on Purple Wave's proposal; Noreen's presentation occurred during public comment.