City council members respond to complaints about poor living conditions

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – More than a dozen people at an apartment complex in south Wichita claim maintenance has been slow to fix issues ranging from broken windows to thermostats that do not work.

“We are working on doing what we can to get a faster response for any people in Wichita that are renters,” said Wichita city council member Mike Hoheisel on Friday. “We’re looking at drafting ordinances right now that will help us take care of this.”

Hoheisel was joined by City Council Member Brandon Johnson after several residents of the apartment complex invited them to come to take a look at some of the apartments.

Some residents say the complex maintenance has been too slow to respond to questions about maintenance.

“I don’t know what to do,” said Sara Hegi, who has lived at the Emery Gardens Apartments for a few months now.

Hegi says her air conditioner does not work, and she has leaky pipes creating issues in her home. Hegi says she would move based on what she calls a lack of urgency to fix issues she has brought to the attention of the apartment complex manager.

“I mean, at this point, I live paycheck to paycheck,” said Hegi. “So it’s hard for me to turn around and say, alright, I’m going to leave and go somewhere else because I don’t have anywhere to go.”

Johnson said he is listening to complaints to bring attention to the issue.

“We should not have people living like this, and they say their maintenance requests are just going unanswered,” said Johnson.

Johnson and Hoheisel both say they are checking to see if new city ordinances could force any landlord to respond more quickly to tenants.

KSN checked with the metro area building and construction department to find out who would take complaints from tenants.

“So you call us,” said KaLyn Nethercot, the Neighborhood Inspection Administrator for Wichita and Sedgwick County.

Nethercot says they will take information and talk to apartment owners and/or managers to see if there will be action taken on complaints.

“If you have interior issues that have not been resolved, whether that’s hot water heat or heater won’t work, 846 my lights are flickering I have an outlet that’s arching. Or I’ve got my sinks dripping,” said Nethercot. “So if those expectations are not being met, then we need to know about it so we can help get those resolved.”

Nethercot says they have been actively talking to the managers at Emery Gardens.

“We have been actively involved there since the first part of February, working to resolve issues,” said Nethercot. “We had a couple of new cases this week that we’ve opened. Our inspectors were on site as recently as yesterday and also have had conversations with the property management, the local property management group as recently as yesterday.”