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Resident tells council of month-long AC outage at Devonshire Gardens; building commission and council pledge follow-up
Summary
A tenant at Devonshire Gardens told the council her apartment was without air conditioning for a month despite repeated requests; she said property management and the corporate owner were unresponsive and that she pursued a lawyer and building commission help. Council and staff said they would investigate.
During public comment at the July 22 Evansville Common Council meeting, Elizabeth Buckman said her Devonshire Gardens apartment was without air conditioning for roughly a month in June and July and described repeated failures by on-site management to fix the issue.
Buckman told council she and her husband contacted maintenance and management multiple times; the complex initially promised a fix that did not materialize. She said building staff claimed they had no portable units available and later that vendor availability was the problem. Buckman said she sought help from the Evansville Housing Authority (which could not assist because the complex is not an EHA property), contacted the building commission and ultimately had a lawyer send a letter of noncompliance to the property. The building commission's Terry Vogel later called the family and offered to investigate and follow up.
Council members reacted with concern, comparing the complaint to other landlord-service problems they've encountered, and asked staff to ensure the building commission and code enforcement have the tools to hold property owners accountable. Buckman said the corporate owner is Highlands Vista Group of Denver, Colorado, and she asked the council to help ensure better enforcement of housing standards.
The council president said staff would take the complaint seriously and the building commission indicated it would investigate the matter.
