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| Mobile home owners seek greater voice in Springfield |
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| SATURDAY MEETING: About 150 hear about ways to combat problems with management. |
| FREEPORT -- About 150 concerned mobile home owners were on hand Saturday afternoon for a meeting of the Mobile Home Owners Association of Illinois (MHOAI) at the Freeport Junior High School auditorium. Residents from Woodridge Estates, River Road Mobile Home Park and Stephenson Street Mobile Home Park gathered in the auditorium to hear from Freeport city officials and representatives of MHOAI to hear how they could start to address some of the problems that have come up recently between the home owners and their management. Issues discussed included increased rent, condition of driveways and roads, lease laws, and water and sewer problems. "Illinois law does not give municipalities a lot of tools to deal with these issues," Mayor Jim Gitz said. "But we can create a dialogue. My hope is this meeting will have a nice ending ... That's the bottom line. How to make things better." After the brief comments by Gitz and 2nd Ward Alderman Nickee Bender, Terry Nelson, treasurer of MHOAI, told the audience about the importance of joining her organization to have representation in Springfield. She said recent legislation, like Senate Bill 531 which was passed six years ago, has made it easier for management organizations to raise the rent for mobile home owners. "There is no rent cap," Nelson said. "As long as the raise in rent happens every 12 months and 60 days notice is given, they can increase the rent. (Senate Bill) 531 is being taken advantage of. We need some sort of amendment to that bill." Nelson said upcoming legislation like House Bill 681 and Senate Bill 70 could help out mobile home owners by giving them a voice through a state ombudsman board and by getting the attorney general more involved in enforcing state laws. "You need to get educated on your rights," Nelson said. "Stigmas are still out there from the 1950s that mobile home owners don't vote and that we are uneducated ... You could vote in whoever you want if you all show up to vote. That is how you're going to get laws passed on the state level." Nelson also recommended residents keep any written information they receive from landlords so it can be used as evidence of a wrongdoing. "The attorney general wants a paper trail," Nelson said. One of the major problems that has developed between residents and management is slow or non-existent response time to sewage and other maintenance problems that come up. "It is the law that there has to be an emergency number," Nelson said. "This can be reported to the health department if there is not a response in a reasonable amount of time." At the conclusion of the meeting, residents of Woodridge Estates and River Road Mobile Home Park formed their own home owners association boards to be a part of MHOAI. For Woodridge, Pete Tanis was elected president, Judy Deppe was elected vice president, Anita Veer was elected treasurer and Nancy Gill was elected secretary. For River Road, Dugan McCarten was elected president, Jeff Bowers was elected vice president, Alan Pendergrass was elected treasurer and Diane McCarten was elected secretary. "Hopefully, they will be able to meet with management and iron out some of their problems," Bender said. Travis Morse can be reached at 232-0178 or at tmorse@journalstandard.com. |
| ©The Journal-Standard 2001 |