WEST POINT, Ala. — Residents of a West Point mobile home community were without water for almost two weeks after a cold front swept over North Alabama in January. Property management said as of Friday, Jan. 26, services have been restored to all homes within the park, but many residents say this was only the latest issue in a long list of grievances.
One of the park’s residents, Johnathon Warden, said the entire park had been without water when he contacted The Times on Monday, Jan. 22. He said he had been forced to make routine visits to his father’s house to shower and fill containers to handle daily tasks.
Tracy McRea, a disabled 51-year-old resident, said she and her husband began storing water in preparation for the recent winter weather event after recalling the time when the park’s water lines froze for eight days in December 2022. She began reaching out to the property manager, Victor Reese, Sunday, Jan. 13, after she noticed a drastic drop in water pressure inside her home, but did not receive a reply until a television news crew visited the park 10 days later. Reese told those reporters that water had been available for residents inside the park’s onsite office, and told The Times the same when reached by phone Friday, Jan. 26. McRea said that was the first she had heard about the available water.
“Our water pressure started decreasing on Jan. 13, the Saturday before that cold weather came through. It had gotten down so low by Sunday that we couldn’t even take a shower then. I texted [Reese] to see if he knew about the water on Sunday,” McRea said. “That’s how I know [that] them saying they offered us water was a lie. Because I texted him again on Monday [Jan. 15] and he never replied to any of my texts asking what was wrong with the water. The first day he replied was the day the news came out here.”
One of the five property owners making up RCH Development, Kathy Chandler, said that residents were able to submit maintenance requests to Reese for record keeping purposes. However, McRea and many other residents who spoke to The Times said they began texting Reese after he refused to provide copies of complaints and was unable to provide copies of signed lease agreements.
McRea shared with The Times her text conversation with Reese, which showed 10 messages sent to him between Sunday, Jan. 13 and Wednesday Jan. 24, before, according to her visible texts, Reese responded. She said she has become accustomed to a lack of communication — which she said began immediately after moving into the park in September 2022. According to McRea, before meeting Reese in the north Walmart parking lot to sign her rental agreement, she informed him of her above-the-knee leg amputation and that she would need a wheelchair ramp constructed. She said initially Reese seemed to be accommodating. However, she said after six months without a ramp, she was told by Reese to contact United Way.
McRea, along with several other residents voiced concerns over the presence of black mold. One of the five individuals making up the property’s ownership, RCH Developments, Mary Kathryn Gilbert, said she takes complaints of black mold seriously, but that similar complaints from past residents have been only mildew.
“Black mold kills people and what he [a former tenant] had in his home was mildew in his bathroom,” Gilbert said.
McRea informed Kyle by a text message, confirmed by The Times, that her front bedroom had “two large areas of black mold” which were causing her asthma to flare up. Another resident, Cindy Stroud, said that she has only been using the living room and kitchen areas of her home due to black mold in both far bedrooms. She said the mold has caused her to replace her furniture on two occasions and destroyed a family Bible passed down to her late husband from his mother.
The Times was not able to independently verify the presence of black mold.
Stroud said she has also voiced concerns over what she believes to be sewage runoff, which regularly drains into her yard from neighboring trailers.
Health Department officials confirmed four anonymous complaints for the property were made during 2023. Two had been resolved and two did not have enough information to conduct a proper investigation or follow up with the complainants.
McRea said she has attempted to contact a number of attorneys in hopes of settling her complaints, but after hearing that she was a tenant in dispute with her landlord, none would accept her as a client.
“The problem is that Alabama is a very landlord-friendly state from all the research I have done. I’ve called numerous attorneys, trying to get anyone to talk to me and as soon as I tell them I am the tenant, they say they don’t represent those cases, that they represent the landlords,” McRea said.
In March 2023, resident Ann Samz did file a lawsuit against, who she believed to be the property owner, Kathy Chandler. Chandler is Gilbert’s mother and is listed as the primary agent for RCH Development.
According to court records, Samz said she requested Borden Services perform an electrical inspection of her home after sparks began coming from her electrical panel.
Samz said she gave the report, dated April 12, 2023, to Reese. While she was reimbursed for the inspection, she said it was six months before the issues were addressed.
Chandler said depending on the nature of the complaint either a state licensed plumber or electrician is contacted for repairs. Other issues are handled by the property maintenance person. She said there is no record of a maintenance request which took six months to complete.
“You know we’ve been in business for quite some time. We do have a lot of residents to go in and out, but we address our issues as quickly as possible,” Chandler said. “We’re on top of our items. If there is an issue that is brought to us, it may not be fixed in one or two or even three days, it depends on how many things are turned in. But, they are addressed in a quickly and timely manner,” Chandler said.
Court filings from Chandler in response to Samz’s claims state that, “The plaintiff [Samz] could have moved it was so bad, but no she continued to live there,” and “Plaintiff claims she spent a lot of money on making other living arrangements. Why didn’t she go ahead and move?” But many residents said locating housing is much easier said than done.
McRea said local housing had become hard to come by and for many of the park’s residents their current rent ranging from $600 to $750 was all they could afford.
Samz’s lawsuit was ultimately dismissed just over a month after its filing due a clerical error.
Stroud said she is using the life insurance she recently collected from her late husband to purchase a small RV and plans on leaving the park soon. But, Samz said even if residents were able to move, they should not be forced away from a home where they pay rent because of its living conditions.
“I’ve got two grand babies, a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old, and I do not allow them to come over here because I will not let them play in this trailer park. It’s sad. Luckily they just live two miles down the road, but I would love to have them come over and bake for them and tell them stories or have them spend the night. But, I can never do that,” Samz said.