City seeks charity to run bike program

The city is looking for a nonprofit group to repair and donate unclaimed bicycles found or confiscated by the Maricopa Police Department.

Police Chief Steve Stahl said his officers pick up three to five bicycles every month.

“It runs the gamut all the way from little kid bikes to adult 10-speed bikes,” he said.

Some of the bicycles have been involved in an investigation and are unclaimed. Others are found by residents.

The city auctions the bikes off for a minimal amount, usually about $10 a bike, but wanted to find a way to start “giving the bicycles back to the community,” Paul Jepson, assistant to the city manager, said during a recent council meeting.

“Our hope is that a local group steps up,” he said. 

The group would have to be a nonprofit, repair the bicycles, inform the city how it would advertise the program, verify eligibility and protect the privacy of the children and, finally, determine how to distribute the bikes. 

The city is not allowed to sell or donate the bikes because of liability issues. 

“These bikes are not always in the best of shape,” Jepson said. 

Some have been abandoned, possibly because they no longer work and others have been involved in accidents.

Stahl said legally the city could not sell the bikes individually; they would have to be sold in a lot.

Liability risks could be mitigated if the city repaired the bikes prior to selling them, but the selling price of the bike would not earn back the cost of staff time used to repair them.