The mess at the Meadows

Terrace Meadows apartments in poor condition; county suing to force compliance

When the tenant above Melisa McHenry’s apartment at Terrace Meadows flushed her toilet, Melisa’s sinks overflowed with raw sewage. Not long after Nicholas Hunt and his fiancée moved into their apartment at Terrace Meadows, they found black mold growing, and mice took up residence.

These stories are not out of the ordinary among residents at the south side apartment complex, and the problems aren’t being addressed by management. The situation has become so dire that Howard County now has filed suit against the owners of the apartments, demanding a solution.

But the fix can’t come soon enough for residents like Hunt, who has suffered through unsafe living conditions there since August.

“We moved into Terrace Meadows in August,” said Hunt. “In October, we started seeing black mold, and our appliances stopped working – our microwave, our stove, our toilet. We started seeing mice and insects. We contacted management and was told all we could do was set traps.

“At that point we realized it was just fend for yourself. We weren’t happy with it, but we decided we would just bear with it. But then it just got worse. There was raw sewage backing up in other apartments, causing an unbearable smell. Nobody was doing anything about it.”

Hunt claimed there are apartment buildings without heat and some without water. He knows of one apartment with a broken water line in the living room that has gone unrepaired. He said that trash service was intermittent and then stopped just before Christmas when the dumpsters were removed, causing trash to pile up inside and outside of the buildings. A dumpster now stands in the cul-de-sac leading to the apartments, but that is a new development, he said.

McHenry dealt with the poor living conditions from March to October last year before deciding she had enough. As the facility’s maintenance supervisor during that time, she and her son worked on empty apartments to get them ready for rental. They were never allowed into occupied apartments to see the deplorable conditions.

“We did plumbing, painting, cleaning, electrical, but we were only allowed to work on vacant apartments,” said McHenry. “We never went into tenants’ apartments. We only worked on vacant apartments. But when I was invited into one apartment in September, there was a two-foot hole in the ceiling. The tenant was told it was her problem. She couldn’t afford to fix it.”

Scattered trash left uncollected after trash service was stopped at the end of 2021 at Terrace Meadows Apartments.

Even as an employee of the apartment complex, McHenry wasn’t spared. The problems existed in her own apartment as well.

“When we moved in, it was a mess,” said McHenry. “There were bugs. Our kitchen sink overflowed with raw sewage. The toilet didn’t work. And anything we needed fixed, we were told it was our responsibility. If other tenants put in maintenance requests, it was their responsibility to find someone to do it. One tenant went and got someone to fix a problem, but the management wouldn’t pay for it.”

Getting out

McHenry finally quit working for Terrace Meadows and moved out in October. She said is still owed $1,500 for work completed, as is her son. But she is one of the lucky few who can afford to leave. As Hunt explained, some of the residents are trapped, financially.

“I have a disabled fiancée, and I am a server at a restaurant,” said Hunt. “It might be easy for some people to come up with $1,000 to just move, but it’s not easy for some of us. Ideally, I would like to move.”

One resident was allegedly trapped physically in her apartment. According to McHenry, the alleged owner of the apartments confined a resident in her apartment.

“He boarded a tenant and her one-year-old daughter into her apartment,” alleged McHenry. “The only exit she had was a broken back patio door that didn’t open. He said he did it because her daughter was being reckless and tearing up things in the hallway. The baby had just started walking. She couldn’t even open the door.”

McHenry isn’t certain of the owner’s name. She said he introduced himself with one name when she met him for the first time, but his name changed when police officers were called to the complex.

“People at the apartments will tell you his name is Frank,” said McHenry. “He doesn’t want anyone to know who he is. He stood right in front of me and told the police his name was Frank.”

The only thing certain about the ownership of the apartment complex is that it is held by Persistent Properties LLC, and it has law firm in Fort Wayne as its resident agent. What also is certain is that Howard County has had enough.

County takes action

The Howard County Health Department got involved with the property after receiving complaints of rodents and uncleanliness. According to Environmental Health Director Brook Milburn, the department issued an order to comply with health codes. When that went ignored, it submitted an affidavit to the county attorney for legal action.

Howard County Attorney Alan Wilson stated that he filed suit against Persistent Properties LLC on Feb. 4. He is awaiting a hearing so that the company can be forced to comply.

“We haven’t got service on the owner yet,” said Wilson. “As soon as we get that, we’ll get a hearing. Hopefully, we’ll get somebody to come in and do something about the problem.”

Wilson explained that the suit seeks compliance with the order from the health department that requires the apartment complex be brought back into compliance with health codes. It also seeks civil damages and the option to allow the health department to contract to remedy the problems and have the owners pay for it. Finally, it seeks an injunction to prevent ownership from deterring the health department’s enforcement actions.

“We threw everything we could at it to try to solve the problem,” said Wilson. “There is never a perfect solution in a situation like that. We really don’t want to have to go in and clean up somebody’s mess, but if we do, we want to be reimbursed for it. Any damages, including the cost of clean-up, will be something we seek to recover.”

Kokomo Mayor Tyler Moore said that he was made aware of the problem at Terrace Meadows only recently, but he has directed the Department of Inspection Services to investigate.

“It is my understanding that the owner is not being responsive to the needs of the tenants,” said Moore. “Because it is privately owned, the city’s responsibility is to act if the facilities are not up to code. If it gets to the point that the county takes action, we will join with them to try to get the owner to make good. But if drastic measures need to be taken, we will see what we can do immediately.”