Cole County neighbors seek pause in upcoming auction of farmland that was intended to become county park

COLE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)

By Wednesday afternoon, the Cole County Commission will decide if it will ask Hawthorn Bank to pause an upcoming land auction, just 11 days away.

Lawrence Renn Jr. left his 178-acre Elston farmland to become a county park. He created a trust, leasing the land to the county after his death in 2021.

But questions about what the trust says, how much money is available and other issues led the county to withdraw from the trust. The bank then put the land up for a Feb. 7 auction. Renn's family and friends had one last say in the fight at Tuesday's commission meeting.

Mark Knapp, one of the beneficiaries of Lawrence and Mary Renn’s trust, was the first to speak to commissioners at the meeting.

“The next step is irreversible,” Knapp said. “A sale on Feb. 7 can't be undone cleanly after the fact. That's why we're asking for a short pause so the county can verify the controlling trust instrument before anything permanent happens.”

With a looming auction date, Knapp and multiple other friends and family members asked for a 60-day pause to sort through and verify trust documents.

“I have the original trust," Knapp said. "Some of the language that they're [Hawthorne Bank] using in there isn't in Junior's copies.”

He said certain procedures outlined in the trust were not followed.

“They were supposed to have an advisory committee which would have two people outside of the bank and one member from their bank. It's in the trust, that never happened. The 501(c) was supposed to be set up. Which see all those would make for more accountability,” Knapp said.

The question of how much money is available for the park has been another issue.

“They've [Hawthorn Bank] alluded to these guys [commissioners] as if the trust didn't have very many funds or much money,” Knapp said.

He said he gave commissioners an Edward Jones statement showing the account has more than $3.2 million for the future park.

Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman had told ABC 17 News that the bank told the Cole County Commission the land was a gift and there was only about $15,000-$20,000 available for use. He said they were told the county would have to pay the rest, and taking that much money out of the county parks budget would not be doable.

“The park wasn't an abstract idea on paper. It was a real gift intended for the citizens of Cole County. The community’s been trying to honor that intent,” Knapp said at Tuesday's meeting. “We're not here to attack you guys [commissioners]. We're here to ask you to help correct the course while you still can.”

Knapp is hopeful the commissioners will get the bank to pause the auction. He said Renn would be disappointed if his county park dream never came to fruition.

"He [Renn] didn't talk about anything but that park. So it's really upsetting that they're [Hawthorn Bank] about to get away with it,” Knapp said.

It all now hangs on what happens at Wednesday morning's closed Cole County Commission meeting.

Bushman said he will call the Renn family after the meeting to let them know what's been decided.

Knapp told commissioners they have a duty to uphold as elected officials, and finished his Tuesday speech to commissioners with again asking they initiate a voluntary pause on the sale of the land with the trustee and its agents.

“Long enough for authentication and a clear record,” Knapp said. “If you do that, you're not taking sides. You're doing what responsible government does. You protect the public record, you verify the controlling document and you prevent irreversible harm.”

Knapp said that if the sale moves forward, family and friends will come together and file a petition with the court because the trust wasn't followed and many things in it were left unverified.

Hawthorne Bank had told ABC 17 News it's worked to exhaust all options, while still maintaining the language in the trust. The bank said the trust was not to be the sole source of funding for the park.