Senior Housing managers win awards

The Senior Housing in East Thermopolis, which includes the Canyon Village and Hot Springs Senior Apartments, recently won some of the nation's top awards as a federally subsidized apartment complex. Lynne Mesenbrink, property manager, and David Mesenbrink, maintenance supervisor, operate these two facilities under the North West Tamarack Property Management Company.

The Senior Housing houses citizens who are 62 years and older and disabled people. The residents are independent in their living as it is not an assisted living residency. Originally built in 1967 by the Housing of Urban Development (HUD), it was designed to have efficiency housing, also known as studio apartments. 

The Mesenbrinks started working at the Senior Housing in November 2017 in cooperation with their non-profit board. When they began, there were many vacancies in the facility. Through their hard work and management, they are now at full capacity and have a long waitlist of 20 seniors who want to become residents. 

The apartment complex is federally subsidized by HUD and they perform inspections. The top score possible is a rating of 100 with A, B, and C categories. The categories factor in any deficiencies, such as safety or maintenance. In September 2022, Senior Housing received a 99-A score, which is almost perfect. 

Lynne credits this high score to her husband and said it, "mainly reflects on David's maintenance skills and capabilities because, for an old apartment complex being built in 1967, you can imagine that the maintenance it gets more every year from the natural wear and tear. But they found no health and safety issues and no deferred maintenance. So a 99-A is about as good as you can get. And it's one of the highest scores basically in the nation in our little town of Thermopolis. I know with our company, it's one of the highest scores ever scored."

North West Tamarack has properties in Utah, Arizona, Washington, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Oregon. For the past six years, they have received a superior rating from the HUD Awards for both properties.

Lynne explained the inspection process and said, "they come in and do an overview of your management operations, everything from the rent to how your files are kept. The happiness of the residents, and your resident retention, which is what you do to keep the residents happy. Upgrading. We have done a lot of upgrading with this building and the other building and we are full at this time and our waitlist is very long."

The Canyon Hills complex has 11 studios, eight one-bedrooms and 16 one-bedroom deluxe rooms which have more space. The Hot Springs Senior Apartments have 24 units, all one-bedrooms. 

The Mesenbrinks are overseen by their board, which includes Marilyn Braaten, Chair; Leon Budd, Vice-Chair; Michelle McCawley, Secretary, and also Linda Budd, Mike Chimenti, Barbara Vietti, and Barbara Petty. 

Linda Budd described Lynne's leadership and said, "She knows all the insides and outs of what you need to do to put a place together. It's been wonderful to work with her and realizing that things needed to be put together and run the right way. It's been a real adventure. And now it's easy because we've got it going in the right direction."

Budd also explained David's efforts and said, "As the maintenance supervisor, he does a lot of the work himself. He's the one that does the remodeling. He saves us a lot of money by doing the work that normally would be contracted out. They're an amazing team. They're really great."

Lynne added, "We need more senior housing... and that need is here for us and for it to be supported within the community." Also, Lynne said, "I would like the community to know that it's available here for their loved ones and just to get that information out. There are quite a few people that are unaware that we're here and that this is available, but I get calls daily saying, 'I just heard that you have senior housing and it is available.' Hot Springs County is the smallest county in Wyoming, and we have the highest percentage of elderly people, and we are continually aging as we go. I just believe that there is a need for this place."

Budd added, "There is a real need for low-income subsidized housing. This is the one place that is kind of unheard of... the community needs to know what has happened here."

Lynne and Budd said the solution to construct more of these types of housing would come from federal funding or grants, such as rural development grants. 

When these apartment complexes were originally constructed in 1967, Lynne said, "It was a pretty big deal when this was built. The governor was here for the ribbon cutting."

For the recent Christmas holidays, Lynne said they put on a social event. "We were able to get like almost $1,600 worth of donations from around town, like gift cards, to giveaways to our residents for drawings for our Christmas party. It was one of the first ones we've had since COVID. Oh, I wanted to get everybody together because they had been isolated for a long time. And, you know, once they isolate for a long time, it's hard for people to get back out and get it. And they need it. They need that socialization."

For those interested in learning more about the Senior Apartments, Lynne Mesenbrink can be reached at 864-2968 or at lmesenbrink@tamarackpm.com.