Warrenville won't play bad cop role

Warrenville officials clearly don't like it when someone portrays the city as the bad guy.

They have ordered the Winchester Condominium Association to stop claiming that the city has ordered residents of the 276-unit subdivision to make repairs to their properties.

Warrenville officials say that, under state law, the repairs are the association's responsibility. They even sent a cease-and-desist letter to the association.

"I don't remember this ever happening before," Community Development Director Ron Mentzer said.

In letters dated July 31, the Winchester association told several residents that they were in violation of a community rule requiring them to fix damaged garage doors.

"Warrenville is requiring all garage doors to be repaired immediately," the letter said.

Winchester residents called the city to inquire about the demand. That prompted the city to have its attorney, David J. Freeman, send an Aug. 3 letter to the association telling it to stop misrepresenting Warrenville.

"As you know, the city has not issued any such notices and is not requiring garage doors to be immediately re-paired," Freeman wrote.

Mentzer said he and Mayor David Brummel had "acknowledged" during a recent tour of Winchester that some garage doors were damaged.

"But that was really the extent of the conversation," Mentzer said. "There was no verbal direction to do any-thing with the garage doors. Nothing was written about it."

In an Aug. 13 letter to Winchester resident Suzanne Hackenbruch, a former Warrenville alderman, the subdivision's property manager, Hillcrest Property Management, explained that the association didn't intentionally misrepresent the city.

Managing agent Carol Bykowicz wrote that city officials said on two separate occasions that garage doors must be repaired or replaced.

"We have since been notified that … Warrenville is not requiring this repair, but merely pointing out that the repairs should be made," she wrote.

After the association announced to residents early this summer that the neighborhood pool wouldn't open because there wasn't enough money for repairs, residents took their complaints to city officials.

They said that Winchester was in disrepair and the association ignored residents' requests to do something about it. A homeowners association board member responded that Winchester residents caused the disrepair.

Beginning last month, the city stepped in to try to mediate communication between residents and the association board. They have levied several code violations on the association for needed repairs, Mentzer said.

Bykowicz couldn't be reached. Homeowners association board members either declined to comment or attempts to contact them were unsuccessful.