By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

In what Herington Hospital’s board chairman called “a 90-second non-auction,” the former Hillsboro Clinic building was sold Thursday in a sheriff’s sale.

The sale was ordered Dec. 27 as part of a $1.9 million suit filed by Emprise Bank against Herington Hospital and other companies that might have financial interest in the former clinic.

Emprise had made a mortgage loan and three additional loans to the hospital. The hospital stopped accepting patients Oct. 9 — the day the suit was filed.

Few people turned out Thursday at the courthouse for the scheduled sale. Emprise was the only bidder.

The bank bid $280,000.

“Within 10 seconds, it was sold,” Danzman said.

People there to watch included Anthony Wiebe of Weibe Construction, Hillsboro Community Hospital chief executive Mark Rooker, and an employee of Hillsboro State Bank.

None were registered to bid.

“It was an educational thing,” Rooker said.

As part of the lawsuit, Herington Hospital bank accounts were ordered garnished by Emprise Bank.

Herington Hospital suffered financial troubles after former chief executive Isabel Schmedemann and chief financial officer Bryan Coffey persuaded Herington City Council members in 2021 to deed Herington Municipal Hospital over to a board of directors apparently chosen by Schmedemann. Instead of Herington Municipal Hospital, it became Herington Hospital Inc.

Both Schmedemann and Coffey had troubled professional histories.

Schmedemann previously was executive director of a hospital in Fulton, Missouri, that was part of EmpowerHMS hospital group. EmpowerHMS was investigated by federal agents for fraud. Some hospital officials ultimately were convicted and sentenced to prison, but Schmedemann was not indicted.

She left the Herington hospital in May or June and went to work as an instructor at Kansas State University.

Coffey, formerly chief executive of Hamilton County Hospital, was fired from that hospital in 2015 over “financial anomalies.”