MAY 13-19, 2011

Reprinted for web use with permission from the Kansas City Business Journal. ©2011, all rights reserved. Reprinted by Scoop ReprintSource 1-800-767-3263.

First Community Bank settles case with Missouri Ledge

First Community Bank has settled with an Oak Grove company that claimed the Lee’s Summit bank pulled the plug on its financing half-way through a business relocation.

A Jackson County Circuit judge on April 27 approved a settlement agreement that has First Commu-nity Bank paying $5.2 million to the owners of Missouri Ledge LLC, an Oak Grove stone-cutting company.

Missouri Ledge owners Tim and Deborah Crede sued First Communi-ty Bank in 2009, seeking $8 million. They claimed that when they got about 80 percent of the way through relocating their Oak Grove company to a larger facility in Lexington, the bank stopped financing the move.

The lawsuit named the bank, CEO Jack Fields and bank employee Don Knehans as defendants.

It claimed that Fields and Kne-hans visited the Credes at their Oak Grove business location to encourage them to move their banking business to First Commu-nity Bank.

The Credes sought financing from First Community Bank for an expansion to a Lexington facility and were told by Knehans to secure a purchase contract for it and repre-sented that the bank would cover the contract and other relocation costs.

That’s despite email evidence uncovered by the Credes that showed in the day following their initial meeting in Oak Grove, Fields told Knehans that the bank should tell the Credes that they should find a backup bank.

In a deposition, Fields acknowl-edged that he never communicated to the Credes that they should find a backup bank for their financing.

John M. Edgar of The Edgar Law Firm LLC represented the Credes. He said the bank extended about $250,000 to his cli-ent before deciding it wouldn’t lend any more.

Kent Sullivan, a Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP lawyer representing First Community Bank, said the bank denied any wrongdoing but settled to avoid continued litigation.

The settlement document, how-ever, maintains that the bank denies the Credes’ substantive allegations.

The Credes entered bankruptcy in 2010 but continue to run the company.

“This money will permit him to restore his operation,” Edgar said. “He never went out of business completely.”

MAY 13-19, 2011 kAnsAs citY business journAl | 5kansascitybusinessjournal.com

By Steve vockrodt | stAff Writer

First Community Bank has set-tled with an Oak Grove compa-ny that claimed the Lee’s Summit bank pulled the plug on its financ-ing halfway through a business re-location.

A Jackson County Circuit judge on April 27 approved a settlement agreement that has First Communi-ty Bank paying $5.2 million to the owners of Missouri Ledge LLC, an Oak Grove stone-cutting company.

Missouri Ledge owners Tim and Deborah Crede sued First Commu-nity Bank in 2009, seeking $8 mil-lion. They claimed that when they

got about 80 percent of the way through relocating their Oak Grove company to a larger facility in Lex-ington, the bank stopped financing the move.

The lawsuit named the bank, CEO Jack Fields and bank employ-ee Don Knehans as defendants.

It claimed that Fields and Kne-hans visited the Credes at their Oak Grove business location to encour-age them to move their banking business to First Community Bank.

The Credes sought financing from First Community Bank for an expansion to a Lexington facility and were told by Knehans to secure a purchase contract for it and rep-

resented that the bank would cov-er the contract and other relocation costs.

That’s despite email evidence un-covered by the Credes that showed in the day following their initial meeting in Oak Grove, Fields told Knehans that the bank should tell the Credes that they should find a backup bank.

In a deposition, Fields acknowl-edged that he never communicated to the Credes that they should find a backup bank for their financing.

John M. Edgar of The Edgar Law Firm LLC represented the Credes. He said the bank extended about $250,000 to his client before decid-

ing it wouldn’t lend any more.Kent Sullivan, a Stinson Morri-

son Hecker LLP lawyer represent-ing First Community Bank, said the bank denied any wrongdoing but settled to avoid continued litigation.

The settlement document, howev-er, maintains that the bank denies the Credes’ substantive allegations.

The Credes entered bankrupt-cy in 2010 but continue to run the company.

“This money will permit him to restore his operation,” Edgar said. “He never went out of business completely.”

svockrodt@bizjournals.com | 816-777-2206 | Twitter: @st_vockrodt

By kriSta klauS | stAff Writer

The General Services Administra-tion’s explanation for its decision to move the local Environmental Pro-tection Agency Region 7 headquarters from downtown Kansas City, Kan., to Lenexa is due to the Government Ac-countability Office on May 16.

The GAO will rule on the legality of the EPA move by July, said Charlie Cook, public information officer for the region’s GSA, which negotiates real estate deals for the federal gov-ernment.

“When we turn all the information

over, they have 100 days to render a decision, but we expect it to come long before July,” Cook said. “Based on past experience, GAO reviews are rather swift.”

The Unified Government of Wy-andotte County/Kansas City, Kan., asked the GAO to review the GSA’s decision, announced April 4, to relo-cate 600 jobs and a real estate deal worth an estimated $6 million a year.

UrbanAmerica Advisors LLC, own-er of the current EPA building, also filed a formal protest with the GSA.

The local government and its land-lord have complained that the EPA’s

announced move from its custom-built headquarters in the urban core to a suburban site was a closed pro-cess.

“I believe it is important for the fed-eral government to en-sure that the process was supported by good public policy and decision-mak-ing,” Joe Reardon, may-or/CEO of the Unified Government, has said.

In a letter to the White House, Reardon said the move did not appear to

provide a financial benefit to taxpay-

ers, did not support EPA efforts to im-prove the environment and was in-consistent with federal policy calling for government offices to be in urban downtowns to support economic de-velopment.

The GSA has said that it was spend-ing too much money on its lease ob-ligations in KCK and that the EPA’s new landlord will invest in upgrading the former Applebee’s site to the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification standards.

kklaus@bizjournals.com | 816-777-2242 | Twitter: @kristabizkc

First Community Bank settles case with Missouri Ledge

GAO will rule on legality of EPA’s move from KCK to Lenexa

edgar

reardon

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By Steve vockrodt | Staff Writer