WICHITA, Kansas -- Sedgwick County officials foreclosed on a property, which happens to be a church in the 1100 block of North Wabash over fees, late fees, and interest.
Countless notices and statements were sent out, but the owner says she never got them.
Sedgwick County officials took a few days to look at the case and now the owner might be getting a chance to get her church back.
After months of trying to get an answer from Sedgwick County, Gloria Smith and her grandson Terry Smith are finally getting the answer they've been waiting for.
"So they say they're going to work with the owners to get it back in our name," said Terry Smith. "To work with the new owners to set aside the foreclosure sale to return parcels back to you."
Terry Smith says the family never received any notices about the foreclosure.
The only notice they received was a letter from the new owner saying the property was sold at auction for $1,250.
"We just felt that this was wrong of them to do it without even a piece of paper on the door of the church," said Terry Smith. "There was nothing."
After confirming the foreclosure, the Smiths discovered they owed around $37.00 in "solid waste user" fees since 2002.
The fees added up to $118.39 after interest and late fees.
Terry Smith says his grandmother Gloria Smith never received any statements believing the letters may have been sent to an expired P.O. Box address.
KSN News reached out to the county for their response on the case and in a statement officials say, "The county counselor's office will make an effort to work with the new owner to set aside the foreclosure sale and restore the parcels to Ms. Smith. The owner will still be responsible to pay the delinquent fees."
"I want the ministry to continue because the area needs the ministry," said Gloria Smith. "The people need the ministry and I don't want it to be used for anything else but the ministry."
It's a ministry that Gloria and her late husband started more than 40 years ago, and she's hoping the church will continue its mission by staying open for many more years to come.
We're told by the county that they will contact the new owners who are from Oklahoma next week to discuss possibilities of setting aside the foreclosure sale.
If the new owners agree and if all delinquent fees are paid then ownership will be restored back to Ms. Gloria Smith.
