Tenement owner gets ultimatum

It is one more time around for tenement owner Lyle Austin. Almost 18 months ago, the question arose of his obligation by municipal law to install water meters for each of the 12 rental units in his building on North Little Horn Avenue.

At the time, council was seeking improvement of the investment fee structure, according to Mayor Ben Glenn, “So everyone who owns or rents a lot is paying the same.”

The governing body allowed Austin a month to get a timeline for completion of said project, ensuring compliance with the law as well as his fellow property owners.

“We have quite a lengthy time that we’ve been working back and forth together,” Glenn told the building owner at last week’s council meeting. “It started back in February of 2022 and I think it’s time we try to get this thing behind us.”

Recently, Austin requested another extension, yet, when asked what he had been doing with the time he’s had, he responded, “I have not had luck finding a contractor to do it…One said they weren’t interested, [another] said it was too small and other contractors said the same thing…I talked to Cory [Allison] and he said that DRM does it. I never thought about calling them because they’re big.”

He then told the body that he was just waiting for a call.

He assured the council, though, “I’m interested in getting this done. It wouldn’t do Moorcroft any good to shut the water off and let the building waste away, it has potential. I would like to get it done.”

The mayor spoke to the year-and-a-half delay in setting any work in motion, saying, “We should’ve been a little further along than we are…My point is, we have tried and tried to keep communicating, keep pushing, keep making sure so I feel like, from this side of the fence, we have leaned into it as hard as we can. [Now,] you’re asking for an extension, but you don’t know how long…Honestly, if that was the first time I heard you say that, it would strike me as a little more genuine. This is probably the third time that I heard you say it to us. We all live here, we’re from here…at the same time, I know everybody on that list that you probably just mentioned and I know that in a year’s time, they would have had time to come do it.”

Councilman Rob Stewart admonished Austin, “I’m new up here, but this has been going on since 2022 and you’ve been asking leniency from the council since February 8 of 2022. It’s your building and I personally feel you should be doing all the legwork instead of us having to keep on giving you leniency and leniency when, if as a homeowner, I come to the town and ask for leniency because my pit isn’t in, you know what they would do, they would shut the water off until I got it done. So, my personal opinion is I would like to see this done within a month’s time.”

The property owner then explained that the necessity of installing the mandated equipment “would be a financial hardship on me…This is all money I do not have”.

Austin then responded to the timeline suggested by Stewart: “I don’t think it’s going to happen, honestly. Don or Aaron will call me and we’ll have a discussion about it and I’ll get right back to you. I’ll give you a timeline when I know what they can do.”

However, Glenn explained that the grace period will not be extended.

“This is your timeline so you can tell whoever you can find that this is what we’re doing. At that point, we can revisit it…That’s where we’re at,” Glenn said.

“This has gone on for so long that now, we have to have a meeting about it. By our next meeting, August 9, you’ll have a plan for us or we’ll shut the water off.”

“My personal opinion,” said Councilman Austin Smith, “Is that if we do not hear from you by the ninth, I recommend that we shut the water off. I know that seems a little harsh, but the words ‘a year’ keep getting thrown around, but, in fact, it’s been 17 months and five days since the start of it so it’s well past time to move on from this.”

The tenement owner agreed to have a plan by then.