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Aurora man reaches out to Contact7 after finding mushrooms growing out of dining room carpet

Aurora gives management 7 days to repair problem
Posted at 9:24 PM, Jun 13, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-13 23:24:09-04

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AURORA, Colo. -- Sean Reese couldn't believe his eyes when he saw four brownish-gray lumps along the baseboard in his dining room. They were mushrooms.

"I didn't know what it was at first," he said. "I thought it was some kind of bug or something. I didn't want to touch it."

Reese, a Section 8 tenant at Liberty Creek Apartments, says he noticed the carpet was damp, so he notified management.

"I get emails that they created work orders and I come home thinking something's fixed and it's not," he said.

Reece said the carpet turned soggy, so he reached out to the City of Aurora and Contact7.

Aurora Code Enforcement Officers showed up Thursday morning.

They checked inside his apartment and then issued an order to management "to remove the excess water, repair and replace damaged drywall, clean and remove all mold and mildew, and start treating the unit for a roach infestation."

The officers told Reese that they would return in a week to make sure the work is completed.

"If they don't complete it in seven days, or have the pest control out in seven days, they get a 'fail,'" one of the officers said, "and then they get a ten day final notice before they're served a summons in court."

Reese said he wants the problem fixed because it's impacting his health and making his asthma worse.

"I'm a kidney patient," he said. "I had a kidney transplant, my immune system is compromised, so I'm not supposed to be around this stuff. I've been sick everyday since I've been here."

Reese's neighbor, who lives on the other side of the dining room wall, is experiencing a soggy carpet too.

He said the problem started with the big hail storm two weeks ago.

"They're working on getting it fixed," he said.

Contact7 reached out to Desiree Fajardo, the regional community director at BLDG Management, which manages Liberty Creek, to get reaction to Reese's claim and to ask what it will take to fix the problem.

We have yet to hear back.