UPDATE: The state board that oversees elevators will “likely” penalize the owners of the Pecos Senior Apartments near Pecos and Russell roads. One of the complex’s two elevators remains unpermitted, after failing multiple inspections. The company had 30 days to fix both elevators and as of Sept. 6, it has only fixed one.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Two elevators in a senior-living apartment complex are operating without permits and failed inspections both in May and again on Friday, in the immediate aftermath of an 8 News Now Investigation into a broken elevator in one of the buildings that left its elderly tenants stranded, documents confirmed.
One tenant, in a complaint to the state board responsible for overseeing elevators, called it a “death trap.”
Another tenant, a blind woman, said she couldn’t leave the building without assistance and was otherwise homebound.
But two reports dated August 4 indicate that Brennan Paterson, the Chief Administrative Officer of the state’s Mechanical Compliance Section, was at the complex – the Pecos Senior Apartments at Pecos Road and Russell Road – and found new violations.
A report from May indicated problems with the doors and an oil leak, among other things, in one elevator, and similar problems in another.
“None of the deficiencies in the May report have been fixed despite the state issuing the property multiple notices,” a spokesman told 8 News Now in a statement. “MCS has spoken with the property’s on-site management representative and the out-of-state owners to encourage them to bring these elevators into compliance to ensure the safety and continued accessibility for the residents.”
Photos in Friday’s reports show corroded pipes and exposed wires in one elevator.
Both reports detail a list of code violations, including a leaking air conditioner and fire doors that could lock either elevator shut.
Tenants, who last week said the broken elevator was unacceptable, were disheartened to hear from the 8 News Now Investigators that the elevators failed inspection and are operating without a permit.
“It kind of makes me angry, yes,” Tracey Wernick, a resident at Pecos Senior Apartments, said. “Because there’s people here that are 65 or older that have to use that elevator. They have canes, like I do, walkers, wheelchairs, and yes.
She continued: “I think it’s a very big problem.”
State officials told the 8 News Now Investigators MCS has issued 30-and 60-day notices to the property owner, and will penalize that owner at the end of the 60-day period if “sufficient good faith efforts have not been taken and the property is not working with MCS on a resolution.”
The state, the spokesperson said, will not shut the elevator down unless there is an imminent threat to life and safety.
“Based on the findings of the inspections, the division does not believe that action is warranted at this time,” the statement said.
