Western Heritage residents protest lack of maintenance, disrespect by management

SIDNEY - Residents at Western Heritage engaged in a protest on 11th Ave. in Sidney Thursday morning as a "last resort" to plea for help fixing maintenance issues and stopping disrespect from the Sidney Housing Authority, the owners and operators of the complex. 

"I'm very emotional about it, because these are my friends," Western Heritage resident Bette Castle said. "I dislike bullies, and that's what they are. They're bullies. When they get onto these people that are 80- and 90-years-old, and they make them cry or scare them...that's not right. You shouldn't treat people like that. That's just not right."

The Sidney Housing Authority, managed by Housing Partners of Western Nebraska, took over operations of Western Heritage from the City of Sidney in 2011.

Housing Authority Executive Director Nancy Bentley doesn't believe there's any bullying towards residents. 

"I would rather know and do preventive stuff, try to catch it right away, than wait until they have a soiled carpet or they're not able to use their facilities," Bentley said. "I mean, that's why we're here. To make sure that this is a good place to live, a quality place to live. I think if you talk to some of the other residents you'll find another side to that story. I think it's a great place to live and we'd like to know those work orders. Please call us sooner rather than later.

Castle says she loves her apartment, but what upsets her is the way they're treated by management and maintenance when they have an issue. 

"I love my apartment," Castle said. "It's a mess right now, because everything is out of my bathroom and closet, and in my living room, because when my neighbor's toilet ran over - and we're connected together - of course, mine ran over. So guess what? I have feces in my closet."

Mold developed in Rosalie Lamar's shower and she had to have it replaced. The new shower leaked on her bathroom floor and she was told by management to go buy two pool noodles to help with the leak.

The nine-year resident says she feels like she's been left on her own, even at times feeling like she's being harassed and bullied.

"We've had it," Lamar said. "It's just been a mess around here. Me, personally, I don't call in much on work orders or ask for anything. They don't care for me and I know it. They've had me in the office where I just did nothing but bawl the whole time I was in there."

According to Bentley, they passed out fliers announcing they would only be taking emergency maintenance work orders from March 16 through July 1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Some didn't realize that - whether they just didn't look at that piece of paper, think it was important, or understand what we were meaning," Bentley said. "As they would call in work orders, we would say 'we're only doing emergency work orders.' Sometimes what I consider an emergency work order - like no water, no sewer, no heat, that sort of thing - is different than what a resident thinks an emergency might be. So, I think there's some frustration because we weren't doing work orders for that period of time."

Bentley says the maintenance department has been "playing catch up" on all work orders since July 1. They currently have 10 active work orders as of Thursday.

Housing Partners of Western Nebraska also manages Sioux Villa Apartments in Sidney and facilities in Chappell, Hay Springs and Gordon.

Full Statement from Residents at Western Heritage in Sidney

Full Response from the Executive Director of the Sidney Housing Authority Nancy Bentley