CORRECTION: Our original story said Macomb Community Development Coordinator John Bannon said Lotz Property Management went bankrupt, however should have said Lotz foreclosed on those properties.
MACOMB, Ill. (NEWS3) — Local residents were left without power for at least ten hours on Tuesday.
According to Macomb Community Development Coordinator John Bannon, the outages were due to Lotz Property Management foreclosing on several properties. United Community Bank took ownership of approximately 42 properties Lotz was no longer responsible for.
“We have been in communication with the banks,” Bannon said. “We’re not going to rush to turn off the water on any of these properties or anything like that. As far as utilities go, that’s totally separate from the City of Macomb, so electrical or gas would be handled by private entities, so we don’t know how they’re operating their business with regard to these property changes.”
Bannon said Ameren and McDonough Power Coorperative will follow their own procedures, but the city will attempt to collaborate with the companies to resolve the situation.
Bannon said he saw this coming and was not surprised to receive a letter from Lotz saying they would not be responsible for the properties effective Oct. 1.
“I do know that some of the rental property owners are working to meet the challenges of a different rental market than it has been in previous years,” Bannon said. “I would be speculating, but I think they’re probably struggling to maintain sufficient occupancy rate in their rental properties.”
Bannon said it’s not clear who would be the property manager moving forward. He said the city is happy to work with tenants experiencing these issues.
