3/13/2009

Land sale totally 'mishandled'

By TIM UNRUH

Salina Journal

CLAY CENTER -- A land sale in 2006 was handled improperly by Clay County commissioners, a special prosecutor said, but no criminal charges will be filed.

"I don't think it's clear enough that they violated a law," Onaga attorney Russ Roe said. "They totally mishandled the whole thing. There's no question about that."

Roe was the second person to decline prosecution in the case, which involves the September 2006 sale of 12 acres of Clay County land to the lowest of four bidders.

The Kansas Attorney General's Office announced last summer, after a review of a Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation probe, that no charges would be filed.

But County Attorney Rick James wasn't satisfied. He appointed Roe last August to review the case and consider prosecution.

"I'm just relieved it's over," James said Wednesday. He was informed by letter Monday morning that Roe would not file charges.

That essentially ends the case "as far as I'm concerned," James said.

County Commission Chairman Mike Spicer said, "That's good," when he learned Thursday of Roe's decision.

"Everybody else says we didn't do anything wrong. There's been a lot of wasted time, effort and money spent on this deal and it's too bad," Spicer said. "We need to move on."

The land sale

James alerted the attorney general's office after the county sold 12 acres of land for $1,200 to a Topeka development company when there were three higher bids.

The parcel was part of a 49-acre tract the county purchased in October 2005, for $245,000, to attract the Manhattan Area Technical College, which was researching a possible move to Clay Center. The county wanted 12 acres, but the owner would sell only the entire 49 acre tract. Commissioners sold 37 acres to Buddie Salsbury, Topeka, who was then president of Enterprise Venture Corp, for a housing development.

Later, when the technical college move didn't materialize, the county advertised the remaining 12 acres for sale.

Commissioners received four bids in August 2006. The highest, $66,000, was from Clay Center physician Stanley Hatesohl. Salsbury submitted the lowest bid, $1,200. The three other bidders withdrew, and the property was sold to Salsbury.

To date no houses have been built on the property, but Spicer said Thursday that a groundbreaking recently has been staged.

No personal gain

Roe said he reviewed the reports on the sale, but was unable to show that any of the commissioners received any personal gain from the sale.

"I think a jury would be looking for some financial benefit, and it just wasn't there," Roe said.

But he said James was correct to alert the state.

"He has an ethical obligation not only to the profession, but to the citizens of Clay County, to have done exactly what he did," Roe said.

Roe's charge to the county for the case review wasn't released, but a bill was submitted with the letter.

His decision was similar to the opinion issued last summer by Deputy Attorney General Richard Guinn.

Guinn wrote that Spicer's alleged contact with people bidding on the sale of land, "to discourage them from going forward with their bids, appears highly irregular and improper," but no criminal charges were justified.

Roe said Wednesday that state law "is a little wishy-washy" on taking bids. "You've got to take the highest and best bid, then it has 16 qualifiers after that," he said.

Roe wrote in his letter: "I do not believe that these transactions were handled properly, and I do believe that, at least, commissioner Spicer made inappropriate contacts with potential bidders after bids had been let. I understand that he denies that activity, but the contact is supported by the statement of three of the individual bidders."

Commissioner Jerry Mayo said Thursday that the special prosecutor's decision was not a surprise.

"We did it by the book. We used our best judgement and felt like we were doing things right. We have all along," Mayo said.

Housing needed

With the First Infantry Division returning to Fort Riley, he said, there was a big push for surrounding communities to provide military housing.

In hindsight, Mayo said he might have voted differently.

"If you take the emotion out of it, I would have probably taken Hatesohl's bid and been done with it, not worried about it anymore, which I was prepared to do the morning they all withdrew anyway," Mayo said. "I don't feel like, on the part of the commissioners, there was any influence on them to withdraw."

Spicer questioned James' legal counsel to the commissioners.

"We were doing things under his advisement, and after we did it, he said we were wrong," Spicer said. "We'll just go from there."

Reading from the KBI and FBI report, James said Spicer and Mayo both told investigators that they were advised by James not to take the lowest bid.

James also read that the investigators recommended three felony charges and one misdemeanor charge against the commissioners. But the attorney general didn't see it that way.

"The AG's decision confuses a lot of lawyers. At least I understand the logic," James said. "The citizens of Clay County sure deserved better. This cost them $64,800, and there's still not one house up there."

On Roe's decision, James said, "Many prosecutors often see cases in a different light, and he obviously saw this differently than the KBI, FBI and myself."

Roe said he made it clear in his letter that commissioners "should never do this again. They need to listen to their legal adviser, and they didn't do that."

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.