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Residents of Sartell Mobile Home Park sue owners
The lawsuit, filed this week in Stearns County, accuses owners of negligence over the course of a decade.
SARTELL, Minn. — Residents of the Sartell Mobile Home Park and their attorneys filed a class-action lawsuit in Stearns County this week alleging unsanitary living conditions and negligence by current and previous owners dating back to 2014.
The complaint alleges “abusive strategies” that make the park “no longer habitable, with raw sewage spewing into residents’ houses, and health and safety violations abounding.” Furthermore, the plaintiffs accuse the owners of threatening evictions, making misleading claims about requirements to re-sign leases and overbilling for utilities.
With assistance from Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid and the law firm Robins Kaplan LLP, four residents of the mobile-home community have joined the suit, including Marcie Knox. The retiree has lived in the Sartell Mobile Home Park for seven years. In that time, she said she had to use government stimulus money to pay for sewage cleanup and was significantly overbilled for water services.
“The lot there is beautiful. There’s deer, all kinds of wildlife, and I’m going to have to leave. The stress is too much. Can’t take it,” Knox said. “They put in water meters to monitor our utilities and stuff, which doesn’t work. I’ve had bills range from 2,000 on up to 60,000 gallons — in one month — for two people.”
Justin Perl, the litigation director at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, said roughly 300 people live at the mobile home park. That includes a large share of low-income and older residents, as well as some people with disabilities.
“These are salt-of-the-earth people who deserve a little respect and dignity,” Perl said. “Instead, they’re treated like pawns.”
The lawsuit names the previous owner, Impact Communities, as well as two individual business leaders from that company named David Reynolds and Frank Rolfe. Additionally, the plaintiffs allege that the current owners, Gemstone Communities, have continued many of the practices since taking over earlier this year. All of those entities and people are based out-of-state.
Neither Impact or Gemstone have responded to requests for comment. KARE 11 also left voicemails with Reynolds and Rolfe, who are considered some of the largest owners of mobile home parks in the country. Neither of those individuals has responded, either, and it’s not clear which attorneys will be representing the defendants against the claims.
“We certainly would be willing to sit down and talk, as we always would,” Perl said. “But we’ll see what happens.”
The lawsuit demands that the current owners fix the sewage and maintenance issues, while also seeking money back for residents through monetary damages. Although only four plaintiffs are listed on the complaint, Perl said his team of attorneys will ask the court to “certify the class,” meaning the four plaintiffs could then represent all 300 people who live at Sartell Mobile Home Park.
“I just want them to stop doing this crazy stuff,” Marcie Knox said.
“We’re 50 ahead of where we were, 50 deaths,” Mike Hanson said. “50 families who have lost a loved one more than we were at this time last year.”
MINNEAPOLIS — It’s a frustrating trend for Mike Hanson, director of the Office of Traffic Safety within the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
“Anytime I see an incident like the one that took place last night, I’m angry,” Hanson said. “It’s really hard to put into words, because this is exactly the type of thing that we work to prevent.”
Wednesday night, a 29-year-old man from St. Paul exited eastbound I-94 onto Lyndale Avenue in Minneapolis. The crash report says that man was traveling at a “high rate of speed.” That man hit several cars, killing a 26-year-old Minneapolis woman and injuring several others.
“That is the one thing that makes every bad decision worse, because speed brings energy, and energy is what results in injury and death,” Hanson said.
Data provided by DPS shows that there have been nearly 150 accidents in and near the area where this happened since January 2021. Some don’t involve alcohol, some do. Hanson said it’s their goal to make sure alcohol is never a factor.
“There is literally no excuse today for somebody to wind up in the back seat of a squad car, an ambulance or heaven forbid a hearse, because of an impaired driving decision,” he said.
Unfortunately, data shows that fatal accidents are up in Minnesota so far this year.
“We’re 50 ahead of where we were, 50 deaths,” Hanson said. “50 families who have lost a loved one more than we were at this time last year.”
Hanson said they work with different agencies across the state to help assist with education and prevention before anyone gets behind the wheel impaired.
“Our basic message is impaired is impaired. It doesn’t matter what it is that you’re impaired by, if you feel different, you will drive different,” he said. “And if you’re sitting behind the wheel and you have to ask yourself should I drive? It’s already too late.”
Police said the suspect in an alleged armed burglary is described similarly to someone who was reportedly looking into windows in the city earlier the same day.
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — Police in Brooklyn Park are urging residents to make sure their windows and doors are locked after an alleged armed burglary in the city on Thursday.
According to police, residents on the 1700 block of 73rd Ave N. were coming home around 7:30 p.m. when they discovered a man in their home. The man pointed a gun at them and then fled, officials said.
The suspect is described by law enforcement as Black, 5’9 or 5’10, a skinny build, with a beard. He was reportedly wearing a black hoodie and pants.
Police said a man with a similar description was reportedly looking into windows and trying door handles around the 7500 block of Newton Ave N and Meadowwood Drive earlier on Thursday. In that case, the suspect was wearing a black hoodie with white lettering, a black coat with red sleeves, and light-colored pants, officials said.
“In light of these incidents, Brooklyn Park Police are urging residents in the area to ensure that all windows and doors are securely locked,” an alert from police said, adding if anyone notices “suspicious activity” they should call 911.
Brooklyn Center Police had similar sightings as well, according to law enforcement.
The 10 wettest and warmest years on record have all happened since 1997, according to University of Minnesota Extension Educator Suzi Clark.
CHANHASSEN, Minn. — It’s hard to miss Degler Farms — one of the last in Chanhassen that’s now focusing less on the crops that are getting harder to grow.
“We went to an agri-tourism, trying to rely more on what we can control,” said owner Gayle Degler.
At the farm, people can expect pumpkins and hayrides and even a spin atop a converted combine that brings customers around Degler’s now harvested soybean and corn fields.
The unique experience is part of Degler’s future plans as climate change continues to affect agriculture.
“I mean, back in the 1930s it took almost a decade to get out of that drought where now you can do it in six, eight or 10 months,” said Degler.
The shifting weather is happening more quickly, according to Dr. Suzi Clark, who studies and teaches climate adaptation and resilience at the University of Minnesota.
“We can no longer assume that we know what’s going to happen in the next season based off of what happened in this season and so we have to be prepared to adapt quickly,” said Clark.
She says the patterns are also warmer and wetter. In fact, the top 10 years on record have now all happened since 1997.
“But there’s a big caveat to that wetter because it’s not happening uniformly across the year, and in fact, we’ve also seen larger swings from really wet to really dry,” said Clark.
Take this year, for example, when less than half the normal amount of snow fell in winter. There was also extraordinarily warmer temperatures that added to an already persistent drought. Then, summer rains relieved that, but the record-setting amount led to flooding. Now, we’ve experienced the driest September, driving the state back into a drought.
The dirt in Degler’s field is so dry he can hardly till it, which is something he prefers to do in the fall. The snow and varying temperatures help break it up and get ready for spring planting.
“I’ve heard of people breaking equipment,” said Degler. “Right now, there’s cracks in the ground that I haven’t seen in quite a while.”
Degler’s yields are average at best this year, but he’s hopeful his new venture will be more stable than some of our changing seasons.
While Clark says, the future depends on us.
“It’s just something you have to try and prepare for, you’re going to have to live with it one way or another,” said Degler.
“It’s our choice in this day and age to decide, not only how we change our behavior, but how we respond now,” said Clark.
She says some of those things should be implemented at a state level to right in your own backyard and include installing irrigation, watering trees and capturing and storing large rain amounts. That can range from rain barrels at your house to creating rain gardens that slow runoff and improve water quality.
