The Truesdale Board of Aldermen is seeking to mediate a dispute regarding an alleged bedbug infestation at the Wabash Apartments after a tenant expressed her health concerns during last Wednesday’s monthly meeting.Tenant Felicia Green expressed her frustration to the board after months of living in an apartment infested by bedbugs and cockroaches that she said could dramatically impact her health as she continues her battle with cervical cancer.“I take chemo treatments because I have cervical cancer,” Green said. “When they bite you, you are allergic to it and can get infection. I have been to the hospital four times and I don’t have insurance that covers that. I have kids on top of it who are getting bit. They go to Youth in Need and I am scared that it’s going to get spread there.”Truesdale City Attorney Tim Joyce said the board could take action based on Truesdale’s health ordinance. The city could declare the building unlivable under Section 505.020 of the code, Joyce said. Instead of taking any action Wednesday night, Mayor Murray Bruer requested to speak with the apartment complex’s owner, Lisa Foran, in order to mediate the issue.“I would like to get something done sooner, for their sake and the other residents’ sake to put her on notice, but if we wait two weeks to get her in that’s too long,” Bruer said.Foran had a much different view of the situation and said that she only learned of the bedbug infestation after citing Green for violating her lease for having too many dogs in her apartment. Foran added that she requires tenants to follow measures to prevent a bedbug outbreak, considering the complex had a previous bedbug issue last year.“Cover your mattress and box springs with bedbug encasement covers,” Foran said. “They sell them at Wal-mart or you can buy them online. Bedbugs are so prevalent now because the EPA outlawed the stuff (DDT) back in the ’60s or ’70s. That was a bad chemical, but that is what really killed them. The stuff they spray now is effective, but there are other things you can do.”Foran said she has made attempts to remedy the issue by spraying the building, which she said requires the resident to vacate the building for at least three hours while the spray takes effect, but was not allowed access to the apartment.“Since she notified me that there was an issue with the bedbugs, I have made an appointment (to spray) two different times,” Foran said. “The first time, she said she had an emergency room visit with her daughter and could not take the dogs to the emergency room with her. Last week, I texted her saying I was going to be there at 1 p.m. the next day and she texted me at 10:30 at night and said ‘never mind, we had the house sprayed ourselves.’ She is not meeting me halfway in regards to taking care of her issues.”Foran later said if Green followed her lease she would not have an issue with bedbugs. Foran claims Green is the only tenant with bedbug issues.“She did not follow my guidelines and I set those up for a reason,” Foran said. “The bedbug covers are No. 1 and I am telling everyone that because we had a big episode last year ... All of the tenants that have covers have not had an issue since then.”In a follow-up interview, Green said the lease she signed did not have a section regarding bedbugs. Green said she has requested a copy of the lease containing the bedbug clause but Foran has thus far refused her. Green did confirm that she recently had her apartment sprayed and hopes that will resolve the issue.

Bedbugs are not the only vermin in Truesdale resident Felicia Green’s apartment. Shown here are cockroaches climbing up the walls of her kitchen. Submitted photo.