Gresczyk: Paying Bills For Residents Saved Town Money

WINSTED - Town Manager Bruce Gresczyk said last week that the town made the right decision when it decided to pay for heat in an apartment building on Main Street, rather than relocate tenants who had lodged complaints about the cold.

Tenants in the Colt Building at 412 Main St. registered several complaints about a lack of heat this winter, Gresczyk said, and building and fire inspectors were called in to look at the heating system. The town manager said landlord Dick Colt had not paid to heat the building and that state law required the town to step in.

"State statutes require municipalities to take over heating for people in multifamily dwellings with three or more units if the ambient temperature drops below 55 degrees," Gresczyk said. "If the landlord doesn't mitigate the situation, the town is required by state statute to heat the building or relocate the tenants."

Gresczyk said relocating all of the tenants in the 12-unit building could have cost the town $50,000 or more. "In this case the prudent course of action was to heat the building at significantly less cost to the municipality."

A lien was placed on the property, the town manager added, and the town asked the landlord's bank, Capital Bank, to assume responsibility for the building, including appointing a receiver to manage finances there. The bank subsequently issued paperwork on file at Town Hall giving warning that legal paperwork is pending.

Though the situation is not good for the landlord or the tenants in this case, Gresczyk said, the town was able to do the right thing. "The town's position is secure," he said. "After all of the analysis I did, it turned out to be cheaper to heat the building than to put people in hotel rooms. Legally, we had to step in."

Gresczyk said the town made repairs to the heating system at the Colt building and paid for heat for about two weeks in January before working out a deal with the landlord's banker. Town Attorney Kevin Nelligan has been in contact with the bank to discuss receivership so the town will not be liable for future heating bills.

"My concern is for the safety of the inhabitants and fiduciary obligations to protect the town," Gresczyk said. "In the end, this worked out very well for the town and our costs were minimal."