Last week, Jack Poole, a resident of Southwind Mobile Home Estates, got his water turned back on.
Poole and other park tenants lost their water service in early June. The city of Kewanee turned off water to two trailer parks after the bank that holds the mortgage on the properties stopped paying the water bill.
Five plaintiffs, including Poole, sued the city of Kewanee, filing a motion for a preliminary injunction to get their water service restored. Only two of the plaintiffs prevailed and for the past three weeks or more, Poole, one of the unsuccessful plaintiffs, has been surviving without water.
All of that changed when another tenant located in the same 300 block of the park, Thomas Christian, joined the lawsuit and motioned for a temporary restraining order seeking to restore his service. Judge Colby Hathaway denied the motion, and the case was appealed.
A recent decision by the Appellate Court of the Fourth District reversed the decision of the Henry County trial court, ruling the trial court’s findings were “arbitrary and unreasonable” and that “the court abused its discretion in denying Christian’s motion for a temporary restraining order,” according to a court document filed on June 26.
When Christian’s water service was restored, Poole, who is on the same block as Christian, got his water back as well.
It’s been rough going without water, said Poole, although last week he was able to catch up on his laundry and take a bath. Poole said that since an article about his circumstances appeared on The Kewanee Voice website, people have dropped by and donated water but also pet food for his dog and cats.
“I just wanted to thank everyone,” he said, adding that he’s very grateful to those who helped him.
But over the weekend, Poole said his plans changed.
Poole said a friend found a house not far from where he is living and the rent was knocked down by the landlord enough for him to afford it. He plans to start moving this week.
The house is a three bedroom with all of the appliances and a three-stall garage and he’s grateful that he’s found a secure place to stay. But Poole said he owned his mobile home, and he didn’t want to go back to renting.
“I don’t trust the system that’s going on,” he said. “But I wanted to get settled.”
Most of the people in the 300 block of the park have moved on, he said.
Poole has plenty of hard feelings against city officials and thinks the incident was handled badly. Poole said he reported the park’s water leaks for years and nothing was done about it.
“The city doesn’t want to admit their guilt. They should have jumped on it and gotten the water system under control but we had to take the punishment for it,” said Poole.
Neither renting or leaving his home is ideal, he said.
“I don’t want to leave my home, but I don’t trust the city. I always said when I owned something, I wouldn’t go back to renting,” he said.
In the June 18 council packet, Gary Bradley informed the council that the parks’ “receiver’s petition to be released from the court appointment in the foreclosure case was approved with an effective date in July.” That still “allows the receiver time to notify tenants that the parks will be closing.”
But the plaintiffs’ attorney, Kathryn Liss told The Kewanee Voice on Friday that “to our knowledge, none of our clients have received notice of the park closure. The Illinois Mobile Home Landlord Tenants Right Act requires 12 months’ notice prior to closure of a park.”
The city is motioning the court to have the water issues consolidated with the foreclosure case and a hearing is set for the second week of July.
