WHITE COUNTY, AR – Justice of the Peace Bobby Quattlebaum believes the J-Mar Trucking property on Taylor Street will pay for itself in savings to White County.
“We bought a bargain. We got a bargain on this,” Quattlebaum said.
Quattlebaum heads the Building and Grounds Committee for the White County Quorum Court, and he said the county plans to use the former J-Mar property for a 9-1-1 Center, the Road Department and possibly other agencies.
“We know what it was going to cost us to build what we wanted a lot of it is here,” he said. “There’s a building I would value at $300,000 right behind us that’s ready to move in. All you have to do is open the door.”
What has stirred some controversy is the price the county paid for the property. Public documents show the county paid $1.4 million for the real property (land and buildings) plus another $250,000 for property and equipment on site.
“It doesn’t make any difference what they [the sellers] paid for it . I don’t care if they didn’t pay but a nickel,” Quattlebaum said.
The property sold at public auction in November 2013 to Robert Underwood, pastor of New Horizons International Church. The selling bid was $565,000 plus 10 percent. It rounded out to a little over $600,000. That occurred just two months before the county would vote to buy the property.
“I went to a public auction thinking I’d never open my mouth to bid,” Underwood said. “I really thought the property would sell more than it did. But I kept hearing a voice inside telling me to be prepared.”
According to Underwood, you might say God spoke to him to purchase the property.
“I really do think it was a God thing,” he said. “We were blessed with the selling price.”
Underwood said the intent for him from the beginning was to purchase the property with the intent to lease it or sell it to help pay for the ministry’s Life Skills Outreach Center. The project is estimated to cost nearly $7 million.
“We want to help those who need skills to help contribute to society instead of just take from society,” Underwood said. “We want this to be a place that can give back to the community.”
New Horizons took possession of the property, and the elders board agreed on a price it would sell the property if an interested party arose, according to Underwood.
“We had set a bottom dollar we had set for the property based on value and not purchase price,” Underwood said. “It didn’t matter who the buyer was.”
The county had been in discussion with a seller for another property, approving an offer of $2.5 million, but the deal fell through by November 2013. The seller wanted $3 million instead. A month later, Judge Michael Lincoln reached out to Underwood about his newly purchased property.
“From my perspective, the county save a million dollars because it had approved $2.5 million,” Underwood said. “I truly think it’s just a good business deal. I truly believe God gave me a gift to see things and see the value in things. I saw it in this, and we were blessed with the sale price.”
According to Underwood, Judge Lincoln and the Quorum Court initially offered $1.3 million for the property. That first offer was rejected, and the county would eventually shell out the $1.65 million between the land and the equipment. All members of the Quorum Court unanimously approved seeking to purchase the property in its January meeting.
“If it had been donated to them we still got it at a bargain,” Quattlebaum said. “I think this is all political. If I thought the county judge had done anything illegal, I would be the first to find a rope to hang him. But I don’t think anything inappropriate has gone on here.”
Quattlebaum pointed out the property included multiple buildings, including a building that can be renovated to include a 9-1-1 center that the county had been quoted as costing millions to build. Quattlebaum believes a $100,000 renovation will do the trick and serve the county for years to come.
We asked Quattlebaum why the county didn’t simply bid on the property at auction. According to Quattlebaum the appropriation for that particular property hadn’t been made, and he assumes the county could have been outbid.
“Our appropriations are public record. If we approved a $1.5 million dollar bid on that property ahead of time, as we would be required to do to appropriate the money, then all another bidder would have to do is bid ten dollars more. We wouldn’t be able to up our bid on the property, because of the appropriation,” he said.
We asked why the county could not have appropriated the $2.5 million it had approved for the other property, and simply designated it as funds available for the 9-1-1 center and other uses, and then simply begun bidding at the lower amounts.
“Well, I guess we could have done that. Just no one dreamed it would sell for that low a price,” he said.
New Horizons, as part of the $1.65 million it was paid, gave $65,000 of that, along with $117,000 each from the City of Searcy and White County, to hook up the location to city sewer services as a requirement of the sale.
The sale to the county, according to documents, appears to have been finalized in April. Sewage work on Taylor Street has begun. New Horizons has also begun to lay the groundwork for its Life Skills Outreach Center, though Underwood admits they don’t have the money to complete the project at the moment.
“We bought a bargain. We got a bargain on this,” Quattlebaum said.
Quattlebaum heads the Building and Grounds Committee for the White County Quorum Court, and he said the county plans to use the former J-Mar property for a 9-1-1 Center, the Road Department and possibly other agencies.
“We know what it was going to cost us to build what we wanted a lot of it is here,” he said. “There’s a building I would value at $300,000 right behind us that’s ready to move in. All you have to do is open the door.”
What has stirred some controversy is the price the county paid for the property. Public documents show the county paid $1.4 million for the real property (land and buildings) plus another $250,000 for property and equipment on site.
“It doesn’t make any difference what they [the sellers] paid for it . I don’t care if they didn’t pay but a nickel,” Quattlebaum said.
The property sold at public auction in November 2013 to Robert Underwood, pastor of New Horizons International Church. The selling bid was $565,000 plus 10 percent. It rounded out to a little over $600,000. That occurred just two months before the county would vote to buy the property.
“I went to a public auction thinking I’d never open my mouth to bid,” Underwood said. “I really thought the property would sell more than it did. But I kept hearing a voice inside telling me to be prepared.”
According to Underwood, you might say God spoke to him to purchase the property.
“I really do think it was a God thing,” he said. “We were blessed with the selling price.”
Underwood said the intent for him from the beginning was to purchase the property with the intent to lease it or sell it to help pay for the ministry’s Life Skills Outreach Center. The project is estimated to cost nearly $7 million.
“We want to help those who need skills to help contribute to society instead of just take from society,” Underwood said. “We want this to be a place that can give back to the community.”
New Horizons took possession of the property, and the elders board agreed on a price it would sell the property if an interested party arose, according to Underwood.
“We had set a bottom dollar we had set for the property based on value and not purchase price,” Underwood said. “It didn’t matter who the buyer was.”
The county had been in discussion with a seller for another property, approving an offer of $2.5 million, but the deal fell through by November 2013. The seller wanted $3 million instead. A month later, Judge Michael Lincoln reached out to Underwood about his newly purchased property.
“From my perspective, the county save a million dollars because it had approved $2.5 million,” Underwood said. “I truly think it’s just a good business deal. I truly believe God gave me a gift to see things and see the value in things. I saw it in this, and we were blessed with the sale price.”
According to Underwood, Judge Lincoln and the Quorum Court initially offered $1.3 million for the property. That first offer was rejected, and the county would eventually shell out the $1.65 million between the land and the equipment. All members of the Quorum Court unanimously approved seeking to purchase the property in its January meeting.
“If it had been donated to them we still got it at a bargain,” Quattlebaum said. “I think this is all political. If I thought the county judge had done anything illegal, I would be the first to find a rope to hang him. But I don’t think anything inappropriate has gone on here.”
Quattlebaum pointed out the property included multiple buildings, including a building that can be renovated to include a 9-1-1 center that the county had been quoted as costing millions to build. Quattlebaum believes a $100,000 renovation will do the trick and serve the county for years to come.
We asked Quattlebaum why the county didn’t simply bid on the property at auction. According to Quattlebaum the appropriation for that particular property hadn’t been made, and he assumes the county could have been outbid.
“Our appropriations are public record. If we approved a $1.5 million dollar bid on that property ahead of time, as we would be required to do to appropriate the money, then all another bidder would have to do is bid ten dollars more. We wouldn’t be able to up our bid on the property, because of the appropriation,” he said.
We asked why the county could not have appropriated the $2.5 million it had approved for the other property, and simply designated it as funds available for the 9-1-1 center and other uses, and then simply begun bidding at the lower amounts.
“Well, I guess we could have done that. Just no one dreamed it would sell for that low a price,” he said.
New Horizons, as part of the $1.65 million it was paid, gave $65,000 of that, along with $117,000 each from the City of Searcy and White County, to hook up the location to city sewer services as a requirement of the sale.
The sale to the county, according to documents, appears to have been finalized in April. Sewage work on Taylor Street has begun. New Horizons has also begun to lay the groundwork for its Life Skills Outreach Center, though Underwood admits they don’t have the money to complete the project at the moment.
