Jonesville hotel: Town owes $20,000 for room [The Tribune, Elkin, N.C.]

Nov. 22--A Jonesville hotel's management staff and owners claim the Town owes $20,000 for a room, with the charges stemming from a resident's stay in the hotel after a sewage line backup caused extensive damage to the house she rented.

"The Town of Jonesville, through the (town) manager, asked us to house this lady, and now we're not getting paid for doing that," said Fred Eidson, an owner of Riverview Holdings, LLC. The company owns four hotels in the area, including the Comfort Inn in Jonesville, where Kim Davis was accommodated after the sewage line backup.

"We were assured over and over the Town would do the right thing," said Eidson at a recent town meeting.

The Town of Jonesville claims "the right thing" has been done and that its financial responsibility for the hotel room ended shortly after the house was professionally cleaned, repaired and declared safe to reoccupy.

"Personally, I think the town has done the right thing," said Scott Buffkin, town manager. "I was in contact with Michael Wilson (regional manager of Riverview Holdings, LLC) on several occasions regarding the situation. I did tell Mr. Wilson that I believed that the Town would do the right thing. I continue to believe that the Town has done exactly that."

On June 30, 2010, the sewer line in the street near Davis' home, located at 129 Pine St., became clogged, causing sewage to back up into the house, according to Buffkin.

"The backup caused extensive damage to the property, including Ms. Davis' personal property," said Buffkin.

"The Town of Jonesville's entire main sewer line erupted in my house," said Davis. "It was a mess. It was horrible. We were told we had to get out of our house.

"We had no place to go," Davis said of herself and her 8-year-old son.

According to Vanessa Caudill, general manager of the Comfort Inn, Buffkin called her to arrange Davis' stay in the hotel.

"Last year, around the weekend of July 4th, the town manager and Town of Jonesville made arrangements to have a lady put in a room in the Comfort Inn," Caudill said.

"You called me to tell me a lady was going to be coming, and I was to bill the Town," Caudill addressed Buffkin at a recent town meeting. "You didn't go into great detail, but you mentioned it was a sewer issue."

Buffkin said he did not talk to Caudill until days after Davis had checked into the Comfort Inn.

"A government official gave her money," he said. "She chose the Comfort Inn. No one from the Town gave her direction."

"The Town of Jonesville put me in that hotel," said Davis. "The mayor gave me $100 to find a room. I do believe the Town of Jonesville is responsible for this bill because the Town of Jonesville put me there."

"When the lady had the situation at her house, I gave the lady $100 and told her, "Find you some place to stay," said Mayor Lindbergh Swaim.

Regardless, said Caudill, the town paid around $8,000 for Davis' stay but the hotel management staff and its owners believe the Town still owes around $20,000.

"We've been told the Town is not going to pay it, which we find hard to believe," she added.

"The Town paid the Comfort Inn$9,979.33 for the time period July 1 to Oct. 12, 2010," said Buffkin, noting the Town was later reimbursed this amount by its insurance carrier. He said Davis was notified by a letter, dated Oct. 19, 2010, that the Town would no longer be paying for her stay in the Comfort Inn after the house was professionally cleaned, repaired and declared safe to reoccupy.

"The Town hired a professional cleaner to oversee the cleanup and repairs to the house," said Buffkin. "The cleaner completed the job and certified -- after extensive testing -- the house ready to occupy on Aug. 12, 2010. Ms. Davis was notified that the house was ready to occupy, and she refused to move back into it."

"She refused to go back to the house because she said the house was not suitable," said Eidson.

"They called me in September and said the house was ready," said Davis. "The town never offered an apology. I was treated horrible.

"I was told the contents would be decontaminated, but the bags covered in the sewage were thrown back in the house," she continued. "If the Town had professionally cleaned my stuff like they said they would, I would have gladly gone back."

"I take exception to everything that was just stated," said Buffkin. "We never told her we would not clean the house."</p>

The Town provided The Tribune with copies of correspondence and public records that transpired during this matter.

An employee with DAVEHENCO INC., the company hired to remediate the damage to the structure, sent a letter to Buffkin dated Sept. 1, 2010.

In the letter, the employee said, "As you're aware, the town hired us to remediate the damage to the structure. The personal property is actually the responsibility of the owner. The only contact I had with Mrs. Davis was on the morning of July 8th. At that time, I explained to her that I was hired to remediate the house, and I needed to discuss with her about her personal belongings. At that time, we agreed to meet after she got off work that afternoon at Pine Street. Mrs. Davis never showed up, so we had no choice but to bag, box and have ready to move items to storage. Mrs. Davis would have to sign an agreement for us to handle the cleaning and/or the disposal of her items or she would have to give the Town written instructions on what she wants done."

The same employee sent a letter, dated Sept. 9, 2010, to Davis regarding the same issue of her missed appointment regarding the discussion of her personal belongings.

The structure itself was tested for the presence of sewage bacteria, with samples collected from the areas within the basement that were affected by the sewage intrusion, according to a letter from a certified environmental scientist to DAVHENCO INC.

The environmental services laboratory that tested the samples, taken July 29, 2010, detected bacteria present that are normally associated with sewage water intrusion on the source sample.

"Additional cleaning was recommended and accomplished by your company," the letter states. "The area was tested again and was found to be negative for the bacteria normally associated with sewage contamination."

The second sample test date is listed as Aug. 6, 2010.

On Oct. 19, 2010, a letter addressed to Davis was sent from the Town's insurance company.

"I am aware that you have been staying at the Comfort Inn since the incident occurred," the insurance claim representative states in the letter. "At this time, the house has been considered livable for some time, and the Town has generously paid for the hotel thru Oct. 12, 2010. At this time, they will no longer be paying any additional living expenses. Any expenses incurred going forward will be at your own expense."

The insurance company also sent a letter to the homeowner. Dated Dec. 1, 2010, the letter states, "I received the request for loss of rents concerning the property at 129 Pine St. Your request was for the months of July-October. The property was considered livable by Aug. 12. So we would only be able to reimburse July, August, and September, which allows time for repairs to be completed. The monthly rent is approximately $400 per month. So we would be able to reimburse $1,200 for the loss of rents. We would not be responsible for the tenant choosing not to return to the property."

In a letter dated Feb. 23 of this year to Davis' attorney, Buffkin acknowledges a Jan. 27, 2011, meeting between himself, the attorney and Wilson. In the letter, which was also carbon copied to Wilson, the town attorney and the town's insurance company, Buffkin states again that the Town would not be covering Davis' living expenses after Oct. 12, 2010.

The letter also mentions a large amount of Davis' personal property, which was being kept in storage by the Town.

She said during the meeting that the Town stored her belongings during the process, but that her belongings were left sitting in water in the town hall basement.

"While we want to be helpful, we cannot be expected to provide storage space indefinitely," Buffkin said in the Feb. 23 letter.

During this time, Davis was still living in a room at the Comfort Inn. According to a letter to Wilson from Buffkin, dated July 29 of this year, he notes a settlement agreement in the amount of $32,602.97 was signed on May 5, 2011, and he also notes Davis did not check out of the hotel for nearly a month after the agreement was signed.

"The settlement was minimal," Davis said. "We were set out on the road. I was so pressured to sign this insurance agreement. It was the worst year of my life, and the Town treated us horribly. The only people that were good to me were the people at the Comfort Inn."

A letter to the Town of Jonesville from Caudill at the Comfort Inn states Davis checked out of the hotel on June 2 of this year. The letter included a statement of account reflecting the total charges after Oct. 12, 2010. The outstanding bill totals $20,782.42.

"We're not trying to debate the case of anything except the rent of the room that was arranged with you all in good faith," said Eidson to the town board. "I think there is at least a debt owed to our hotel. Our position is you just quit paying."

Eidson said a representative from the hotel or Riverview Holdings, LLC, had been in contact with the Town a number of times after Oct. 12, 2010, when the Town ceased payment for the room.

"We asked the Town about it, and we were told not to remove her," he said. "You had communicated we couldn't kick her out, and that she had to stay there, and that was as late as February."

"All I can say is there must be some difference in how things have been told," said Buffkin.

"I have no doubt that is true, but we have an outstanding balance," said Eidson.

"The town is no longer responsible for the bill," Buffkin said, and noted he did not believe the Town had a right to eject a person from a private property. "We could only say we had ended our financial obligation."

"I understand, when we said she had to leave, that we could not kick her out," said Eidson. "And that the town would to the right thing."

"I don't believe I ever said Ms. Davis should or should not be removed from that hotel," said Buffkin. "I don't believe we have the authority to tell anyone a guest has to leave their private property."

In reference to evicting Davis from the hotel, Eidson said he was told the Jonesville Police Department "was not going to touch that."

"The DA told me it was a borderline civil matter between the Town and the hotel," said Police Chief Roger Reece. "I told you that you could ask her to leave, and that, if she didn't leave, she could be cited with trespassing."

"We were led to believe you wanted her left in the hotel," said Wilson said to the town board. "She told me she had talked to a commissioner who said the house was not livable."

All of the town commissioners said they had not spoken with Davis regarding the matter.

"I personally think we've been fair on our end," said Commissioner Andy Green.

"Our understandings are with Scott (Buffkin), and I guess he doesn't recall it like we do," said Eidson.

"The Town of Jonesville established a direct bill," said Wilson. "The (Oct. 19, 2010) letter was not written to us. There was not at any time a letter addressed to me or the Comfort Inn. We met in January of this year, and Scott (Buffkin) said, 'Michael, we will do the right thing.'"

"I heard 'do the right thing' so many times," said Eidson. "I don't know how you can 'do the right thing,' but if you wanted to, we could take some credit on our taxes. This doesn't seem quite just. We really were operating in good faith."

"We will discuss this and see if we can come to some kind of agreement with you," said Swaim. "We appreciate you coming and sharing your side of the story. We will be in touch."

The town board discussed the matter during a closed session at the meeting; however, Buffkin said an agreement hasn't yet been made.

"The Town has not reached any agreement with Riverview Holdings at this time," he said. "Later in the meeting, the Council was advised that taxes are a legal obligation of the property owner and cannot be waived. Whatever agreement may be reached would have to be structured in some other way."

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