• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Action vs. owner could hurt Shady Hills tenants

Photo

Photo by Lukas Keapproth

Patricia Godinez stands outside her home at the Shady Hill Mobile Home Park in Clinton.

BRADFORD TOWNSHIP — Juan and Anna Iniguez have a brand-new lease on their lot at Shady Hills Mobile Home Park.

According to the lease, they can stay through at least December.

And they want to stay. Desperately.

But the lease doesn’t give them much confidence.

The Bradford Town Board has set a public hearing as part of the process to revoke Shady Hills owner David Merriam’s operating license.

The Rock County Health Department also has filed orders against the park. The county would support whatever decision the town made about Merriam’s license, Environmental Health Director Tim Banwell said.

If the license were revoked, it could mean the residents would have to move. But the Iniguezes and some of their neighbors last week were not aware of that fact before they spoke with the Gazette. They still were reeling from being told earlier this year they had to move and then told earlier this month they didn’t.

The Iniguezes are among the 30 households that in April were given a letter that states their lot leases were terminated as of Jan. 1. They had until July 4 to move out, the letter states.

It was a harsh blow, since Anna and Juan Iniguez were unemployed at the time. Both have since returned to their landscaping jobs at Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, which was closed in foreclosure from December until May.

The Iniguezes, speaking through interpreter Colleen Mendez, a teacher at Clinton Middle School, said they lost sleep wondering where they would go and where their three school-aged children would go to school.

Anna laughed wryly when she said her 13-year-old daughter, Eva, threatened to fight anyone who tried to make them move.

“And she would fight Maestra Mendez to make her fight for us,” Iniguez said.

This month, however, they got a second letter that states they don’t have to move. Along with the letters, tenants received leases back-dated to Jan. 1 and good through Jan. 1, 2012.

However, the Iniguezes and others have little faith in the new leases, and the future of the mobile home park remains uncertain.

“They’re just wondering if the lease offers any protection,” Mendez said.

If the town of Bradford revoked Merriam’s license, Shady Hills residents would likely have to move, said Ross Kinzler, the executive director of the Wisconsin Housing Alliance.

If Merriam lost his license, he would no longer be able to collect rent, Kinzler said. In that case, Merriam would have to start the two-step eviction process, Kinzler said.

First, Merriam would have to notify tenants that their leases were terminated and that they would have a certain amount of time to move.

If any tenants fail to move, the matter is taken to court for a formal eviction, Kinzler said.

It’s a difficult situation for tenants such as Mario Bello who want to see improvements at Shady Hills but don’t want to have to move because their landlord lost his license.

Bello last week pointed to an oak tree across from his home that was upended in a June 8 storm and remains atop two vehicles, its leaves dry and brown.

Elsewhere in the park are the skeletons of mobile homes that have been stripped and gutted of any metal that can be sold for scrap. The windows are broken, and children could find their way into the empty mobile homes at any time, said Bello, 59.

The town of Bradford building inspector has recommended Merriam’s license be revoked based on the half-torn-down mobile homes, the lack of access for emergency vehicles and work that has been done on some units without a license.

The Rock County Health Department has issued an order for streets to be repaired, manholes secured and trash removed.

The town of Bradford in 2008 filed a lawsuit against the park in an attempt to force Merriam to move a mobile home near the park entrance. Rock County Judge Ken Forbeck in September 2009 in a summary judgment found in favor of the park, but the town has appealed his decision, and the results of the appeal are pending.

Merriam is $4,118 in arrears to the town so far this year, Treasurer Jill Bier said.

The Gazette was unable to contact Merriam.

The families in Shady Hills live with the fear they will end up homeless, Mendez said.

“We don’t know what will happen. We don’t know when it will happen. We just know they want to take his license away,” Mendez said.