School boards accepts bid from local group for Lowther buildings
By Monica Springer
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
The Emporia USD 253 Board of Education tonight accepted a $250,000 bid from a local group for the Lowther buildings.
The board voted 5-2 to accept the bid from the Lowther Building Fund, a fund of the Emporia Community Foundation.
The group plans to to the historic buildings for Emporia community purposes and opportunities, including but not limited to non-profit and humanitarian organizations.
The group said in its offer that a number of non-profit organizations have been contacted and have expressed interest in being housed in the Lowther buildings.
The Lowther Building Fund's offer was one of two offers that the board received.
The other offer was for $200,000 for both buildings from Foutch Brothers, LLC, of Weatherby Lake, Mo.
Board members Mike Helbert, Mike Crouch, Amy Scheller, Glen Strickland and Grant Riles voted to accept the bid from the Lowther Building Fund. Brent Windsor and Angie Schreiber were the dissenting votes.
For more on this story see Thursday's edition of The Emporia Gazette.
localresident (anonymous) says...
Who was the local group?
May 25, 2011 at 10:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Denise_Dorcey (anonymous) says...
This is wonderful!!!!! Great decision guys.
May 25, 2011 at 11:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cyberspace (anonymous) says...
Only time will tell if this was the right decision. The local group now has the burden of ensuring these buildings are maintained properly over time. Foutch was a known entity with a known track record.
I believe the board lost some credibility when they backed out of the deal they made with Foutch Bros after they met the conditions of the sale. This is suspect. The ECF effort was a Johnny- come-lately effort and had the advantage of already knowing the score from the initail deal with Foutch. This could make other outside entities hesitant to do business in Emporia if they feel local interests will get special consideration. Sometimes, a community is strengthened when others from outside the community bring their ideas and assets to the table.
Time will tell.
May 26, 2011 at 9:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bluebonnet (anonymous) says...
I agree with cyberspace that this whole mess was very suspect, and very unfair to Foutch. However, I must admit that I am glad that a local group will get the buildings. We don't need any more apartments in this town.
May 26, 2011 at 10:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Not much rent comes from non profits and humanitarian organizations. Then there's maintenance, heating, air, insurance...etc. Wow, Emporia Community Foundation, deep pockets.
May 26, 2011 at 4:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Glitterbird (anonymous) says...
Do non-profits pay property tax? Hmmm
May 27, 2011 at 8:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
methusla (anonymous) says...
Perhaps, just perhaps, if the school board had spent " stimulus " money on the two Lowther buildings instead of where and how it was spent, perhaps this whole " fiasco " would not even be being discussed now !
OH bien, telle est la vie à Emporia, Kansas.
May 27, 2011 at 9:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
truelovecharlie (anonymous) says...
They already entered into a legally binding contract to sell to Foutch. Selling to Foutch would have put the property back on the property tax rolls. A non-profit will keep the building off the tax rolls. If I were Foutch, I would be filling a lwasuit immediately to force them to follow through on the originally accepted deal.
May 27, 2011 at 12:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Diana (anonymous) says...
I have nothing against the local organization that won the bid. However, I think our school board made our community look bad by accepting Foutch's bid and accepting the earnest money, and then reopening the bidding process. I question the legality of what the school board did.
Look at Foutch's web site. They would have done good things with that building. There was no legitimate reason to withdraw on that contract. "But we wanted to buy it!" isn't a legitimate, legal reason to back out on a deal.
What's more, the school board has embarrassed our community in a very public way. Word about such actions gets out, and good companies like Foutch aren't going to bother bidding on projects in this area again.
May 28, 2011 at 3:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )