Stehlik the solo bidder in county’s second opening

By Kyle Troutman ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com

The old Barry County jail has been sold.

Cody Stehlik, of Cassville, purchased the property on June 19 with a negotiated bid of $60,000, which one county commissioner voted against.

The commission first requested bids at the end of March, opening sealed bids on May 26. Three bids were submitted that day. They included:

1. A $1,000 bid from Debbie Kensinger — Kensinger and her husband, Mike Kensinger, plan to open a domestic violence shelter for local women in the jail after renovations.

2. A $100,000 bid from Cody Stehlik — Stehlik aimed to use the office and storage areas for his private business, and he was unsure about the use of the jail.

3. A $75,000 bid from Donnie Stumpff — Stumpff aimed to clean up the property and possibly use the offices for his private business, also unsure of what to do with the jail property.

The bid notice required bidders to include with the sealed bid a cashier’s check or money order for at least 5% of the total bid amount or $1,000, whichever is greater, in earnest money. It also said the County “reserves the right to reject any or all bids and unless otherwise specified by the bidder, to accept any item in the bid.”

Kensinger’s bid was the only one that met the earnest money qualification, but because the amount was $1,000, the commission deemed the bid too low and rejected it. Stehlik’s and Stumpff’s bids were also rejected, as they had not met the qualifications. 

In the wake of no bids being accepted, the commission requested for bids again on June 11, with the opening for sealed bids scheduled for June 19.

This time, Stehlik was the lone bidder, offering $55,000. County Clerk Joyce Ennis said after some negotiations, the commission and Stehlik settled on $60,000. Northern Commissioner Gary Schad and Southern Commissioner Gene Robbins voted to accept the bid, and Presiding Commissioner Steve Blankenship voted to decline it.

“I wish we could have gotten more, but I feel OK with it,” Robbins said. “I’m good with it simply for the reason we no longer have the liability of owning and managing the property. I also hope Cody can improve the area a little bit.

Blankenship said his dissenting vote was rooted in the value, having seen the bid drop $40,000 from the original offer.

“I wanted to hold on for more money,” he said. “I had a price I was sticking to, and I was just being stubborn.”

Ennis and the commissioners said this bid process was a unique one, as the county typically sells surplus items that pale in comparison to the jail and administrative offices property, appraised at $109,000.

Because of the result of the first round of bids, the commission opted to change the structure the second time. Instead of requiring earnest money in the sealed bid, the commission changed the language to allow the winning bidder to submit the earnest money by the end of the business day on which the bid was accepted.

“Knowing what we know now, we would have allowed the earnest money by the end of the business day the first time,” Ennis said. 

“It was a learning process,” Robbins added

With the second bid opening on Juneteenth and banks closed, Stehlik would have been allowed until June 20 to submit the check — but he came with it in hand.

Stehlik said he was surprised to be the lone bidder in the second request, thinking the publicity of the previous bids being rejected would stir up more interest.

“I honestly figured there would be more people from the community that didn’t bid before,” he said. “It’s going to take a lot of work to fix it up, so I told my wife, I’m bidding what I’m bidding, and I’ll either get it or I won’t. [Regarding going up to $60,000 from the $55,000 bid], I had a number in mind, and the commission wanted more than that, so there were some negotiations and we met at a number.

“I feel good about it, and it’s going to serve a good purpose for what I’m using it for.”

Stehlik plans to run Cassville Sealing and Striping out of the administrative offices and shop, also intending to do exterior and interior facelifts.

The future of the old jail, he said, is to be determined.

“I have three or four ideas for it,” he said. “I’m not planning to sell it. and I really didn’t figure I’d end up with it. It may take a year or two, but I plan to do something with it.”

After the first bid opening in May, Stumpff, who said he no longer had interest with Stehlik outbidding him, suggested the county auction the property in two parcels, separating the jail building from the administrative offices and shop.

Ennis said the county felt that would drag out the process, and the commission could still not sell it.

“We thought an auction would take longer than putting it back up for bid,” she said. “And, there was a possible outcome where we set a reserve and it’s not met. Then, we’d still own the property and drag it out even longer.”

Kensinger, who said she was not aware the property was up for bid again, said she is still pursuing a location to house a domestic violence shelter for local women and children.

“We are looking at two buildings, and yes, they are smack dab in the middle of town,” she said. “Unfortunately I do not feel comfortable divulging which buildings those are because of what I was informed of on May 9, which was in no way what we had been told at prior meetings with the commissioners. Clearly, I had been told to my face that this would be supported, and that was not the case.”

Kensinger said Rachel Lubbering, with the Coalition of Charities, gauged interest in a shelter with area influencers and leaders, speaking to 28 individuals. The response, she said, was that they’d rather see existing non-profits and civic groups to work together to provide more programs and services, and they preferred a shelter housing women who are victims of domestic abuse be outside of city limits.

“I would love to know who these 28 people are and welcome a face-to-face conversation with them out of genuine curiosity regarding their reservations about helping women and children in town as opposed to the edge of town,” Kensinger said. “For reasons I’ve mentioned before, the proximity to a town is what I feel would be better. Having said that, I realize I’m not professional in this area. I am just a survivor, and that is what worked for me.”

Kensinger said not winning the jail bid does not bother her, rather, the number of women who have contacted her looking for services now or in the near future.

“These are lives of women in Barry County at this moment that need a place to go but are afraid to leave because they do not want to be far away from town,” she said. “They want to be within walking distance of everything that they need and are familiar with in order to be able to hold tight to any piece of normal that they have left. What bothers me the most are messages that I have from women that have needed a place like this in town, and there wasn’t one, so they chose to accept that lifestyle and live with things that happened, and to this day, feel hopeless.

“How scary is that? There are women here that are waking up thinking, ‘Is today the day that I decide to leave or stay?’ and take a chance on what we know has happened to other women in this area.”