Editor’s note: On Oct. 10, after this article published, We Energies said power would not be shut off in the building.
Seniors at a Brown Deer apartment complex were at risk of losing their power this weekend — until they called Public Investigator for help.
Residents of Algonquin Manor on Bradley Road saw a notice from We Energies taped to the building’s front door on Oct. 6.
It warned that electricity would be disconnected on Oct. 11 because of an unpaid bill.
The notice blindsided tenants of the 80-unit affordable senior complex.
“If they cut the power, I won’t be able to use the elevator,” said Michael Todorovich, 68, who relies on a wheeled walker and lives on the building’s second floor. “I don’t know what I’d do.”
Public Investigator called Algonquin Manor multiple times and visited the building Oct. 8 but received no response from management. The parent company SPM LLC, based in Birmingham, Alabama, also did not respond to questions.
We Energies made “multiple attempts” to contact Algonquin Manor about the outstanding balance, said Alison Trouy, spokesperson for We Energies, in an Oct. 8 email.
“Disconnection is and always will be a last resort,” she said.
On Oct. 10 — a day before power was to be disconnected — We Energies told Public Investigator it made contact with the building owner, and the power will remain on.
Residents pay for electricity in their individual units, but building management is responsible for the complex’s shared spaces, including hallways, elevators and the garage.
Public Investigator had earlier reached out to Wanda Montgomery, Brown Deer village president, who said she and village staff had been unaware of the situation.
Public Investigator also contacted the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority. The safety and security of affordable housing is the agency’s priority, said Lori Buscaglia, spokesperson for the agency. Algonquin Manor is an “affordable senior living” building, the company website says.
Algonquin Manor management told the housing authority and the village on Oct. 9 that the outstanding bill was paid.
Despite that assurance, We Energies still reported an outstanding balance as of noon Oct. 9. Trouy, the utility’s spokesperson, said payments sent by mail can take a few days to process.
Justine Houston, 82, who has lived in the building for 22 years, had been praying for a resolution to the situation.
“They collected our rent, they should have paid it,” Houston said.
She and other residents said the power scare was just the latest problem at the building.
Houston said she’s had to bathe in cold water for two months.
Jose Castro Diaz, 67, reported a broken dishwasher that’s gone unrepaired for two weeks.
Matil Dixon, 75, said water has been collecting beneath her kitchen floor for weeks, but no one has come to fix it.
“The building’s been going down for the past five years,” she said.
Lisa Marks, 58, has lived in the building for three years. In that time, there have been 18 office managers and 12 maintenance managers, she said.
The current office manager is hardly in the office, she said.
“We don’t have nobody in the building to call,” Marks said.
She and her husband, who is unable to walk, have an apartment on the second floor. Without a working elevator, she does not know how he could leave their unit.
Other residents said building staff stopped bringing trash and recycling bins inside the building, forcing the tenants, many of whom have mobility challenges, to go outside to dispose of garbage.
Dixon and Houston said they’re now looking for a new place to live.
“Something is always wrong here,” Houston said.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A senior apartment building in Brown Deer finally paid its electricity bill, power will stay on
Reporting by Gina Lee Castro, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
