Platte County Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker responded to the Platte County Health Department’s letter issued last week, while another commissioner spoke out on the topic at the administrative session Tuesday.
Last week, Platte County Health Department Director Andrew Warlen responded to comments made at a commission meeting earlier this month. At that meeting, commissioners tabled the approval of a warranty deed turning over full ownership of the Platte City Health Department building to the Platte County Health Department Board of Trustees.
According to the commission, during the sale of the Platte City location to allow for relocation of the health department to a central location near KCI Airport, it was determined the building belonged to the county and not to the health department. The health department disputed this, stating the original warranty deed issued in 1959 listed the ownership as the county, “for the use and control” of the health department trustees.
It’s this wording that Second District Commissioner Joe Vanover focused on during his Tuesday statement. Vanover, himself an attorney, said he would urge Fricker and First District Commissioner Dagmar Wood to return the issue to a future agenda so commissioners may vote to approve the deed.
“The 1959 deed states that Platte County is the owner ‘for the use and control’ of the health department,” Vanover said. “In the decades since, the health department has used and controlled the property. They have now decided that the best use of the property is to sell it. We should abide by their decision to sell the property. After the sale, the health department will have the ‘use and control’ of the sale proceeds.
Vanover said he’d read the letters and documents exchanged between Fricker and the health department, and while he believes it is goo for citizens to challenge the decisions of governmental bodies, now is the time to move on.
“But after all the questions are asked and answered, the county commission must accept the decision of the independently elected trustees of the health department,” Vanover said. “Platte County merely owned the property for their use and control. Just like a parent who owns property for a young child and must transfer it when the child comes of age, the time has come for the county commission to deed this property to the health department.”
In a letter sent to the health department on Wednesday, Feb. 15, Fricker said the response was his alone and did not represent the position of the county, commission or commissioners Wood and Vanover. Fricker also said he respectfully disagrees with Warlen’s opinion on the ownership of the Platte City property.
“Nevertheless, I intend to sign the special warranty deed allowing you to complete your sales transaction,” Fricker said. “But first, in the spirit of transparency and government accountability to the taxpayer, I have the following questions and document requests.”
What follows is a lengthy list of questions, many of which involve statements from retired health department director Mary Jo Vernon, in which Fricker says Vernon indicated renovations to the KCI-area building would be funded in part from the sale of the two existing facilities. Funding via a lease/purchase agreement was also mentioned, as was the statement that the three health department building are owned free and clear of all liens.
Questions include asking how the health department has been financing KCI-area property renovations, details on any lease/purchase agreements, why the health department chose to use lease/purchase agreements instead of a standard construction loan among other questions, including why the health department chose a residential real estate agent – Patty Farr of ReMax - to sell two commercial properties.
Fricker also asked the health department to provide copies of lease/purchase agreements and all associated information for all three health department properties, all expenses incurred to date on the KCI-area property, income statements and balance sheets for 2019, 2020 and 2021 as well as several other documents.
The health department issued a response to Fricker’s letter on Friday, Feb. 17, answering the questions posed and with 27 attachments in response to his records requests.
“I greatly appreciate your commitment in your Feb. 15, 2023 letter to sign the warranty deed upon receipt of this response and your expressed concern regarding the resulting postponement of the resolution of this issue,” Warlen wrote in the response letter. “The contract for sale of the 212 Marshall Road property was negotiated and signed in a strong real estate market and it would be a disservice to taxpayers if the Platte County Health Center Board of Trustees were to lose the contract due to any further delay requiring the property be sold for a lesser price.”