Woolston, Mike - Vol (Investigation-1/28/14)

Transcript of the Testimony of Mike Woolston (1-28-14 Investigation)

Date: January 28, 2014Volume: I

Case: In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

Printed On: January 30, 2014

Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.Phone: 417-358-4078

Fax: 417-451-1114Email:[email protected]

Internet:

Mike Woolston (1-28-14 Investigation) In Re: Joplin Critical Investigation

417-358-4078

Holliday Reporting Service, Inc.

Page 1

IN RE: JOPLIN CRITICAL INVESTIGATION

SWORN STATEMENT OF

MIKE WOOLSTON

Taken on Tuesday, January 28, 2014, from 3:25 p.m. to 3:38

p.m., at the law offices of Juddson H. McPherson, LLC, 626

S. Byers, in the City of Joplin, County of Jasper, State of

Missouri, before

SHARON K. ROGERS, C.C.R.650,

a Certified Court Reporter and a Notary Public within and

for the County of Jasper, and State of Missouri.


417-358-4078


Page 2

APPEARANCES

MR. THOMAS E. LORAINE

Loraine & Associates, LLC

4075 Osage Beach Pkwy., Suite 300

Osage Beach, MO 65065

[email protected]


417-358-4078


Page 3

S T I P U L A T I O N

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED that this Sworn

Statement may be taken by steno-mask type recording by

SHARON K. ROGERS, a Certified Court Reporter, and

afterwards reduced into typewriting.


417-358-4078


Page 4

I N D E X

Page/Line

DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE . . . 5-4

E X H I B I T S

Exhibit #55 . . . . . . . 6-1

JRC Land Purchase Financial Summary

Note: Exhibits in separate binder

(sic) - typed as spoken

(ph.) - phonetic


417-358-4078


Page 5

1 MIKE WOOLSTON

2 Having been first duly sworn and examined,

3 testified as follows:

4 DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LORAINE:

5 Q. Mr. Woolston, the last time we talked you had

6 given me a list of properties and I don't

7 remember, maybe 25 or so, and one of them I

8 think you had taken a commission on and the

9 rest of them you told me you had not taken

10 one?

11 A. Correct.

12 Q. That list of property ultimately was combined

13 with some other properties, I suppose, and

14 became in the inventory of the 353

15 Corporation?

16 A. Most of them have been. There are still a

17 few that I think have not been yet.

18 Q. Okay. I have not received the cooperation

19 that I was hoping from a couple of sources

20 and so I'm going to go back to you to see if

21 you can help me on this aspect. Because the

22 Council, not only do I want to know these

23 answers, but the Council has also expressed

24 in prior minutes the need to know this

25 information. I'm going to show you what has


417-358-4078


Page 6

1 been marked #55, Exhibit #55, and I'd like

2 you to brief peruse that, if you can. And

3 I'll preface it with I obtained this

4 information from Leslie Haase from the 353

5 records.

6 A. Right.

7 Q. Now you'll see I think there are, don't quote

8 me, but I counted these, I think there might

9 be 35 properties or something on here, 34 or

10 something to that effect. And in looking at

11 this exhibit, I don't know if you've ever

12 seen this particular exhibit before?

13 A. Never.

14 Q. Okay. Let's go through it just briefly. The

15 first category on the left is Lot Size and

16 Acres, then there's a Settlement Date,

17 Valuation Amount, Purchase Price, and

18 Wallace-Bajjali Fee, Other Closing Fees, and

19 then Total Amount paid.

20 A. Uh-huh.

21 Q. If you go all the way down to the bottom it

22 gives you a subtotal, and frankly the

23 purchase price of this list of properties as

24 of December 31st, 2013 was $8,267,823.00. Do

25 you see that?


417-358-4078


Page 7

1 A. Right.

2 Q. Now if you add the Wallace-Bajjali fees, --

3 A. Correct.

4 Q. -- and if you add the closing costs and

5 probably the title insurance you come up with

6 another $133,000.00 for a total.

7 A. Uh-huh.

8 Q. Now what I am interested in and what the

9 Council has requested before is we know that

10 then this price when you add the

11 Wallace-Bajjali fees and the other closing

12 fees and you get the $8,818,765.00, that will

13 become the basis for what Wallace-Bajjali

14 buys back --

15 A. Right.

16 Q. -- from the 353 Corporation, okay?

17 A. Uh-huh.

18 Q. Now what I'm wanting to know, and I've had

19 people in here telling me that the people

20 that sold this property originally, the

21 little people, the property owners before

22 they were assembled into packages were

23 cheated. That's a strong word, but let's say

24 they got $100.00, and then the next guy that

25 bought it got $200.00, and the


417-358-4078


Page 8

1 Wallace-Bajjali took it for $200.00. Well,

2 you see, under that scenario I gave you it

3 would not be reflected on this piece of

4 paper.

5 A. Right.

6 Q. I need to know those numbers. Now the only

7 way I can get those numbers that I know of is

8 to go to Wallace-Bajjali. They could give it

9 to us.

10 A. Right.

11 Q. They have not. Charlie Kuehn might be able

12 to give us some of those numbers. He has

13 not. I may be failing on my job, but I'm

14 going to take another shot at it because I

15 want to know those numbers and so does the

16 Council. There it's a fact whatever it is,

17 it is, and however much they made, they made,

18 but we need to know those numbers. I don't

19 know of anybody else to ask other than you or

20 City Manager Rohr. I've asked City Manager

21 Rohr and he does not have those numbers

22 available to him.

23 A. Correct.

24 Q. I think he probably can get them under his

25 contract with Wallace-Bajjali, but you know,


417-358-4078


Page 9

1 I don't know that. If he can't get them maybe

2 you can get them because you know most of

3 these companies are partners or somebody

4 somehow, you know. If you can get those I'd

5 like to have that number by this Friday. My

6 report is due next Tuesday. They want me to

7 come to your board meeting and present this.

8 I should have these numbers. I've been

9 trying to get these numbers for three months

10 in different ways from different people.

11 Can't get them. Now the other way I could get

12 them is I could go to each owner, you know,

13 each one of the owners if I could find them,

14 --

15 A. True.

16 Q. -- and say give me your closing statement, if

17 you will. They don't have to do that. Or I

18 could go to their broker and subpoena some

19 records. But that's a ten month job.

20 A. Sure.

21 Q. Or we can ask somebody that has access to

22 this information to give it to us quickly. I

23 cannot get it so it's either going to be you

24 or Rohr that's going to get it or we're not

25 going to get it. I don't have a lot of


417-358-4078


Page 10

1 reasons why people wouldn't give that

2 information except they don't want anybody to

3 know how much money they made on the deal. I

4 don't know that that matters to anybody other

5 than to the City and I don't think it

6 matters, it's a fact complete. It's already

7 done and it's contract law so somebody made

8 some money. The board wants to know who made

9 it and so do I, and I think it's part of my

10 job. That's what we need. Do you understand

11 what I need?

12 A. I think so.

13 Q. Do you think you could try to get that? I

14 mean I don't know if you can get it or not,

15 but I mean would you try?

16 A. I don't think I'm going to be very helpful

17 because I wouldn't be privy to any of the

18 Wallace-Bajjali numbers because I wasn't

19 involved in any of that so the only ones that

20 I might know would be the list that I gave

21 you that would have --

22 Q. Any of those duplicates.

23 A. Right.

24 Q. There would be some.

25 A. Like I said I never worked for


417-358-4078


Page 11

1 Wallace-Bajjali so I wasn't involved in any

2 of those transactions so I'm not privy to any

3 of those numbers.

4 Q. Of course you work for them now?

5 A. No, I do not work for Wallace-Bajjali. I

6 have never been involved in a transaction

7 where Wallace-Bajjali was a buyer or a

8 seller.

9 Q. Okay. Let's put it this way. Charlie works

10 with them?

11 A. Correct.

12 Q. And maybe you can get this information and

13 maybe you can't. What I'm asking you to do

14 is to try to get it by this Friday if you can

15 and email it to me. Whatever you can get

16 will help.

17 A. Right.

18 Q. There's nothing to say about this other than

19 the fact that Wallace-Bajjali made

20 $417,900.00 in fees.

21 A. Right.

22 Q. I don't like that because somebody else did

23 all the work, but it's a fact of life, you

24 know, and I'd just kind of like to know the

25 original people. Because I've got some


417-358-4078


Page 12

1 people in here testifying that they made 200

2 and 300 percent. Now those people are people

3 that, you know, they're off the street, come

4 in off the complaint line.

5 A. Right.

6 Q. And they might be full of bologna.

7 A. I'm sorry?

8 Q. I said they may be full of bologna, you know.

9 A. That's what I was about to say, how would

10 they be privy to that?

11 Q. Well, and some of them have talked with other

12 owners so I don't know, but it is a

13 legitimate question for the City. To that

14 extent I would like you to see what you can

15 do with it. I'll give you a copy of this

16 thing to take with you. We'll make you a

17 copy of this. That essentially is the last

18 portion of my report that I think I need.

19 A. Okay.

20 Q. Is there anything that you need to ask me or

21 you would like to? I'm trying to get this

22 report done by Tuesday.

23 A. And I guess part of what I didn't understand

24 is I guess you're going to present your

25 report to us initially in closed session?


417-358-4078


Page 13

1 Q. I hope so.

2 A. Then we'll go out to open session and you'll

3 present it again?

4 Q. Well, that's what I'm told. I think it's up

5 to the Council what I do. I'm working for

6 the Council and I think my report is work

7 product for the Council.

8 A. That's why I was a little surprised. Why

9 would you present it in closed session and

10 then open session?

11 Q. It's not my desire to do that.

12 A. That was the impression that I was given.

13 Q. Well, I don't know who gave you that, but

14 I've gotten the same impression. And I'm

15 going to say that to me it depends on what

16 the Council, not one member of the Council,

17 but it depends on what the entire Council

18 tells me to do because I'm working for them.

19 And, you know, I'll tell you something,

20 there's a lot of sensitive stuff in this

21 report that I wouldn't want all the

22 depositions turned over. I mean that's not

23 the purpose. The purpose is --

24 A. Will that all become public ultimately

25 anyway?


417-358-4078


Page 14

1 Q. Not really. No, whatever portion that the

2 Council wants to keep --

3 A. Falls under attorney/client?

4 Q. It does. You understand?

5 A. Sure.

6 Q. And my job is I do what you guys tell me to

7 do, okay?

8 A. Right, right.

9 Q. That's all I have for you today, so I'll get

10 you a copy of this thing to go and whatever

11 is helpful. And I thought the same thing, I

12 thought, well, the ones of these that might

13 have been on your list you might be able to

14 help with. And there will be quite a few of

15 them, you know, some of these. But some of

16 these, now that thing isn't coded, but these

17 are coded and these are the projects. You

18 can make a notation on this one if you'd

19 like, but it's here but it is clearer.

20 A. Right.

21 Q. But you'll see this is the old people

22 Coca-Cola and various projects there.

23 A. Right.

24 Q. So I don't know if that helps you any or not.

25 A. Most of them I can tell by the address where


417-358-4078


Page 15

1 they're at like the Coca-Cola.

2 Q. I can't. I still don't have that kind of

3 insight and feeling for the property. Okay?

4 A. Sure.

5 Q. Let me get you a copy of this and we'll call

6 it good. I thank you very much for coming in

7 on this short notice.

8 A. Okay.

9

10 (SWORN STATEMENT CONCLUDED)

11

12

13


417-358-4078


Page 16

REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE

STATE OF MISSOURI

ss.

COUNTY OF JASPER

I, SHARON K. ROGERS, Certified Court Reporter in the

State of Missouri, do certify that pursuant to the

foregoing Stipulation the witness came before me on the

28th day of January, 2014, was duly sworn by me, and was

examined. That examination was then taken by me by

steno-mask recording and afterwards transcribed; said Sworn

Statement is subscribed by the witness as hereinbefore set

out on the day in that behalf aforesaid and is herewith

returned.

I further certify that I am not counsel, attorney, or

relative of either party, or clerk, or stenographer of

either party or of the attorney of either party, or

otherwise interested in the event of this suit.

________________________

SHARON K. ROGERS, CCR-650

Woolston, Mike - Vol (Investigation-1/28/14)

Documents

Transcript of Woolston, Mike - Vol (Investigation-1/28/14)