An apartment building in downtown Rapid City has its water flowing again after a four day shut-off.
The tenants pay their water bills to the building owner as part of their rent. But the landlord wasn’t paying the city. Officials say Gerald Henning of Milwaukie, Oregon owes almost $7-thousand in outstanding water bills.
On Tuesday evening the city turned the water back on but the landlord still owes on the water bill.
April Old Lodge lives in the Idlewild Apartments with her cousin and a child.
“Her baby’s going to be a year old," says Old Lodge. "She was going and buying the water and making bottles that way. Like I said it’s hard for us because we can’t shower unless we go someplace to do it at, like the toilet part of things, it’s kind of embarrassing you know,” Old Lodge adds.
By late Tuesday afternoon tenants in the Idlewild apartment were without water for about four days.
“It does make you mad, because we work hard, and some don’t have places to live. It is hard.” says Old Lodge,”
Residents are angry the city would shut off water when it’s the landlord Gerald Henning of Oregon who owes the city money. Henning says he can’t afford to pay the water bill. He blames the tenants.
“Wasn’t like I was trying to horde the money,” says Henning. “If I had the money I would have paid the bill immediately. In fact I wouldn’t have been behind. Had we had the tenants filled up, and vacancies filled up, and tenants paying their rent, we would have not gotten behind at all,” says Henning.
Henning says he is trying to set up a payment plan with the city, but City officials say he has not met that plan in the past. They say Henning has failed to pay the thousands of dollars he owes, even though the tenants pay him for water. Darrell Shoemaker is a spokesperson for Rapid City.
“It isn’t the city that is the bad guy here. The bad guy here is the landlord who hasn’t paid the city its obligation for water despite the fact that he’s had ample opportunity, ample time, and he’s received payments from the tenants,” says Henning.
Rapid City Mayor Steve Allender says he made the decision on Tuesday to turn the water back on for humanitarian reasons. City officials say they’re continuing to pursue payment from Henning.