LETTERS

TO THE EDITOR

Land donation

To the editor:

Land my family bought back was rented on an oral cash lease. It never was crop-shared, as Marion Advancement Campaign director Matt Meyerhoff was quoted as saying in an article last week.

According to Kansas statutes, notice of termination of oral cash leases must be given no later than 30 days before March 1. Case law backs up this statute, and it is quite specific. Just mailing a letter does not meet the requirements.

I received notification of certified mail Feb. 6, after that deadline, and therefore did not take possession of the letter or other subsequent correspondence.

We tried to communicate but did not receive any response. This is why we hired attorney Randy Pankratz, who also had difficulty communicating with Marion Advancement Campaign.

Since 2011, I received invoices for multi-year cash leases. I have cancelled checks and correspondence from previous MAC treasurers.

MAC treasurer Gene Winkler did not send me an invoice, so I paid according to previous invoices, which set a precedent. I sent a multi-year payment as I previously had. It was cashed 3 days later. No communication was sent at that time in August of 2023.

When Meierhoff tried to send correspondence once again for a one-year cash lease and termination, Pankratz advised me that this also did not follow state statutes and asked about trying to purchase the land back. We proceeded from there.

What I find amazing is that in the same time period that we had to buy our land back because MAC needed to be a “good steward” of its assets, the City of Marion refunded in full money a buyer paid for a lot in the city’s industrial park for an RV storage lot that never was built.

Is the city being a good steward of its money for taxpayers?

Dina Vogel, rural Marion