Tall grass, cloudy water

All should be solved soon

By CHRIS CONROY

KAUNEONGA LAKE, NY — With the grass climbing high outside its doors, the Bethel Senior Housing development is dealing with a handful of problems. Again.

“Overall, things here aren’t bad,” said Vicki Simpson, town board member and liaison to the residents. “It’s just some quality-of-life issues that are bringing the residents down. Most of the issues have come up before,” she said.

The most notorious one deals with the water in the three-year-old facility. Since just after it opened, the water coming out of the tap has had a reddish color to it. Tests have shown that, while discolored by shale silt, the water is perfectly safe for consumption. Unfortunately, it also tends to leave stains on cookware and clothing.

In April of 2002, when serious concerns about the water discoloration were first raised to the board, water filters were installed by Rural Sullivan Housing, the company that runs the Bethel housing unit as well as another in Bloomingburg. The water quickly cleared up.

Now that the problem has returned, according to Patrice Chester of Rural Sullivan Housing, they’re going to have to look into more frequent filter replacement.

Chester has been dealing with issues raised by the Bethel senior residents since the building opened. She said residents are always free to call her office to inform her of issues and she added, “those issues are dealt with.”

Other things take time to fix. Such is the case, Chester said, with the recent list of complaints brought before the town board on May 22.

Included in the list of grievances voiced at that meeting were the water discoloration, lack of a maintenance person, poor landscaping and a rarely present building manager. These issues, as well as others, Simpson said, have residents concerned about the level of service they’re getting.

The maintenance issues, which included a jammed exit door, are being dealt with now that a new maintenance person has been hired.

“We were in between maintenance men [when the complaints occurred],” said Chester. The new hire, she said, is already at work taking care of the concerns Rural Sullivan Housing is aware of. The jammed door is already opening easily.

The same is true of the landscape care.

“The contracted worker from last year didn’t work out as well this time around,” Chester said. Now the new grounds keeper has to deal with a wild growth of grass that is topping out at over a foot in some places and numerous dead, dying or deer-eaten shrubs.

“They’re going to have to bring in someone to deal with these trees,” Simpson said, citing dead trees on the property. Some of those trees are within falling distance of the building and should be dealt with as soon as possible, she said.

Chester said the building manager position is a part-time one, with the current manager splitting time between Rural Sullivan’s two sites. Both the Bethel and Bloomingburg developments have 24 units, too small, she said, to support a full-time manager.

When the manager isn’t around, Chester said, “residents can call our office… After hours there’s a beeper number that can be called.”

Residents who called the Rural Sullivan Office with concerns were told a search for a new maintenance person was underway, said Chester. She also said that there was no mechanism other than word-of-mouth to transfer that information from those who called to the rest of the residents.

Chester said residents don’t have to worry, that “sometimes situations take time to be resolved” and that “they are listened to, not ignored.”

Simpson can’t disagree.

“I’ve spoken with [Chester] a lot and she has been very receptive,” she said. Simpson just wishes she didn’t have to make those calls.

“This senior housing is a great thing for the town,” she said. “When I’m 70, I hope I have a good place to go to.”