Farmers Bank of Great Bend has filed a notice of appeal in a lawsuit that had named the city of Junction City as a defendant. A summary judgement had been issued earlier that would have dismissed the city and former city officials from the lawsuit, which dealt with the southeast portion of the Bartell House where a former restaurant was located.

Junction City Attorney Britain Stites provided an update this week on the notice of appeal which would be to the Kansas Court of Appeals. “We’ll see if they docket it appropriately and go from there so it might six months to a year to 18 months to see what the resolution is. But for now things are stayed as were ruled.”

In 2007 a former mayor signed a loan guarantee with Homestead Housing to guarantee a loan with the bank. The city was unaware of the action and felt it never met the cash basis law. According to City Manager Allen Dinkel in about 2014 Homestead Housing came to the city and said pay our payments because you had the loan guarantee. The city and former city officials were sued in 2015 and the city had to provide legal counsel to defend them.