GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – More than three months after historic flooding caused major damage on Green Bay’s east side, some residents living on the upper floors of a senior apartment complex say they still haven’t been able to go outside, because their elevator remains broken.
The management of Bay Manor Apartments and the city’s chief building official say the elevator will be fixed in early January, but residents say they’ll believe it when they see it.
“It’s been very depressing,” said Sue Guyette, who lives on the second floor and has problems walking.
“I want to go outside so bad, just to get the fresh air.”
September storms left several feet of standing water in the lower-level parking garages of Bay Manor Apartments. The water is also the reason the elevators in both buildings have been grounded.
In a notice recently posted for tenants, property manager Jane Perrigoue wrote “I too feel frustration” and “Otis Elevator Company has informed me they are waiting for missing parts to arrive to finalize the install.”
Paul Van Calster, Green Bay’s Chief Building Official, tells FOX 11….
“They ordered these right after the event and this is the soonest they could get them.”
Van Calster says the city has been working with the property management company and believes it has been doing all it can to repair the elevator. He says the necessary parts are due to arrive January 2nd.
“They’re not just the common parts you can run to the hardware store and pick up the part and put it in. It’s supply and demand and with the flooding and what not that happened down south earlier this year, parts are tough to come by.”
While waiting for a fix, Guyette tells FOX 11 she is paying at least an extra $60 a month to have a nurse come to her to perform necessary blood work.
“I mean there is not much you can do in here.”
Guyette has retained an attorney. She wants to be reimbursed for her added medical costs.
She also wants an investigation into how the entire elevator situation was handled.
Even if the city thought Bay Manor’s management was not doing all it could to fix the elevators, inspectors wouldn’t be able to issue any sort of citation.
Van Calster says that’s because the elevators aren’t a part of the life-safety element of the building code.
