(This story has been revised with additional information.)

At the Tuesday, April 6 meeting, the City Council is expected to approve giving a surplus vehicle to the Interactive Resource Center (IRC).

The executive director of the IRC is At-large City Councilmember Michelle Kennedy.

It was reported earlier in the Rhino Times that donating a surplus vehicle to a nonprofit organization, while legal, is unusual.

It would be more accurate to state that for the city to donate a surplus vehicle to most of the hundreds of nonprofit organizations in the city is unusual, according to an email from Deputy Financial Director of the Financial and Administrative Services Department Chris Payne.

In the past 10 years, the City of Greensboro has not donated a surplus vehicle to any nonprofit organization other than the IRC and Greensboro Downtown Parks, Inc. (GDPI), which although a nonprofit is a public-private partnership with the City of Greensboro.  GDPI receives over $400,000 annually from the city to manage LeBauer Park and Center City Park.  In August 2017, the City Council agreed to donate a 2008 F-150 Ford pickup truck to GDPI.

The vast majority of the city’s surplus vehicles are sold, according to Payne.

If the City Council approves this gift to the IRC, it will be the sixth vehicle the City Council has approved for donation to the IRC in the past two years.

The only other nonprofit organization that has received the gift of a surplus vehicle from the city in recent times was over 10 years ago, in February 2010, when the city donated a 2005 Crown Victoria police car valued at $3,500 to the Greensboro Children’s Museum for display in an exhibit.

Kennedy was elected to the City Council in November 2017, and in August 2019 the city gave the IRC a 2008 Chevrolet Impala valued at $2,500, a 2009 Ford Escape valued at $4,000, a 2011 John Deere Gator valued at $3,500, a 2008 John Deer Gator valued at $3,000, and a 2007 Toyota 4Runner valued at $6,500.

The vehicle that the City Council will consider giving to the IRC on April 6 is a 2005 Dodge Caravan valued at $3,000.

A 2005 Dodge Caravan in good condition, depending on options and mileage, is valued at between $1,000 and $3,200 according to Kelley Blue Book.