Cole County Commission won’t step in to stop land auction
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) -
The Cole County Commission will not step in to stop the auction of a piece of land its former owner wanted to become a county park.
Commissioner Sam Bushman told ABC 17 News in a statement on Wednesday morning that it would not sue Hawthorn Bank in order to stop it from auctioning land near Elston. Bushman said the county had "no valid ground" to sue.
Nearby landowners have organized to stop the bank's auction of Lawrence Renn Jr.'s land for several months. Friends of Renn have said the cattle farmer left the 178 acres of land to the county for use as a park. The group claims the administrator of Renn's trust, Hawthorn Bank, was not being honest with the county on how much money the trust had when the commission discussed the issue in 2024.
The commission met Wednesday morning in a closed session to discuss the matter with legal counsel. Bushman said the county declined the offer to take on the park in 2024, which left them no legal standing to sue Hawthorn Bank.
"The legal opinion stated that the County lacks standing and has no valid ground to bring a lawsuit challenging Hawthorn Bank’s sale of Renn trust land because the County validly renounced the lease offer of this land from the Renn Trust in 2024, thereby divesting itself of any legally protected interest in Hawthorn Bank’s administration of the Renn Trust," Bushman said in a written statement to ABC 17 News.
The auction is set to take place on Feb. 7.
