LIBERTY – The new Clay County commissioners are not sold on replacing the annex at 1901 N.E. 48th St., Kansas City, but they might have no choice. Seated in January, the new commission might be obligated by agreements reached by former Commissioners Gene Owen and Luann Ridgeway to construct an annex at Missouri Highway 152 and North Brighton Avenue for around $20 million. Commissioner Megan Thompson said she would prefer to drop the controversial construction plan, which Kansas City put on hold last year because the county failed to get approval to build within city boundaries. The county made concessions to Kansas City and dropped a related lawsuit in December. “My hope is to not go forward,” she said, but legal documents made possible by Owen and Ridgeway might offer no way out. “We are still in conversation. … There’s a lot of working parts with this, so we want to be thorough.” The work is on hold at the moment, ...