It took some convincing, but Goldmark responded Friday to accusations about poor heat and insulation aimed at the company.
The story was first brought forward Thursday from a concerned tenant. Before and after the story aired, Valley News was inundated with Facebook comments and emails about similar issues in different Goldmark buildings.
Valley News attempted to contact Goldmark Thursday for comment, but CFO Kurt Bollman responded with a text message saying he was in a meeting all day. A short while later, he sent another text saying he was available Friday.
So reporter Brandon Clark took him up on his offer and gave a chance to hear his side of the story and get answers for many.
The two began by discussing the main issue at hand, the complaints at 1820 40th Street South in Fargo.
Brandon asked about thermostats that were set at 90 but units that were still at 58 degrees.
Bollman responded, "Of the 64, there were four that were affected, and as of Friday morning, the latest report that I have is that three of the four units that were affected are in the range they want them to be."
The City of Fargo says that range needs to include a temperature of at least 68 degrees. Bollman assured those levels are being met. He also assured that tenant problems are being addressed quickly.
He said, "Of the resident requests, the average response time is .85 of a day, about six hours is average response time."
To Bollman, that is phenomenal. He says in the industry the average response time is about three days. Though, seeing documentation of Goldmark's response times was denied.
For comparison, Valley News called around to other rental companies like Valley Rental, Prairie Property Management, Skaff, Van Raden and Property Resources Group. All say they try to have work orders finished in one to two days.
But still, even if Bollman says issues are being addressed in one building, Brandon wanted to know why people would still be coming forward and saying problems are not being addressed.
Bollman said, "Again I could argue that with fact. You're gonna have to give me specific units to address because you can't make a general accusation. I've read online the claims, and they're unaddressable simply because they make a general accusation online, but don't give us specifics."
Bollman calls for tenants to come forward and not learn to live with problems they have.
He said, "Every building is part of a property site, and they know who their manager is. They need to be contacting their manager and submitting a work order. And if work orders are not being responded to, then they need to contact this office."
Valley News also spoke with the City of Fargo Inspections Department about this apartment.
Officials there said they received a complaint from a tenant Friday morning about the temperature in their unit. The Inspections Department verified there was a problem.
They were told by Goldmark there is a bid out for boiler repairs for the building.
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