The city of Kewanee has paid $42,170 in damages to five local trailer park residents who sued after the city shut off their water.
Prairie State Legal Services, which represented the five tenants, said in a news release Tuesday that the city also agreed to make changes to the water shutoff procedures outlined in city ordinances.
Under the court ruling, trailer park residents may not be held liable for water bills owned by the owners of the former Reecy’s, Reecy’s East and Southwind mobile home parks. A Chicago-area bank which held a mortgage for the three parks had owed the city nearly half a million dollars in unpaid water bills, city officials have said.
The Illinois Appellate Court ordered last July that the city restore water service to the mobile home parks.
“In its opinion, the Appellate Court found that the plaintiffs showed a likelihood of success of the merits of their claims and raised a ‘general constitutional question’ regarding the city’s actions,” the news release said.
All the tenants’ water balances through March 2026 have been waived, the release said.
City Attorney Zac Lessard said a sheriff’s sale of the three trailer park properties will be held in August. He said he doesn’t anticipate that there will be any prospective purchasers other than the city.
Meanwhile, the city has begun efforts to clean up some of the more-dilapidated trailers in the Cole Street park.
Bulldozers were working Tuesday afternoon on the demolition at Southwind Mobile Home Estates.
Residents still living in the trailer parks have a deadline of next March to move out. Some might want to move their trailers to another location, but City Manager Kasey Mitchell said, “Most of the trailers aren’t movable.”
As the occupancy deadline nears, she said, the city will work with the residents on finding new places to live.
