A dog looks out the window of an RV as children play outside at the Lewis River RV Park in Woodland in May.
(Alisha Jucevic/The Columbian files)Photo Gallery
WOODLAND — The Lewis River RV Park in Woodland was scheduled to have its power cut off Thursday, but as of late this afternoon, the park appeared poised to receive a one-week reprieve.
Cowlitz County Public Utility District public relations manager Alice Dietz told The Columbian that the district reached a tentative agreement with the park’s owner, Jerry Reeves, which would allow the park to remain connected for one week using funds donated by community members and groups. Cowlitz PUD began receiving donations almost immediately after news of the impending cutoff was made public, Dietz said.
Woodland Mayor Will Finn posted a series of messages about the park to social media on Tuesday and Wednesday urging the community to come together and support the park and its residents. He said Cowlitz County commissioners and several area nonprofits helped to come up with the power extension, and he hoped they would be able to also try to find a long-term solution for the park’s residents.
“I was very concerned,” he said. “I know we’ve got 22 schoolchildren that are living in that park.”
The park’s residents have struggled this week without a clear understanding of what will happen, but the prospect of a power shutoff in the middle of winter is a dire concern. Dietz said there are approximately 75 RVs in the park. It is generally home to low-income individuals and families who cannot afford to live in costlier RV parks, or whose RVs are too old to be permitted in other parks.
“They didn’t give us any kind of real warning that we’d have to move,” one of the park’s residents, Valerie Gardner, said today before the extension was announced. “We’re still just confused. There’s nowhere really for us to go.”
This morning, Dietz said the park recently changed ownership, and the new owner, Reeves, refused to set up an account. Power to the park is supplied through a single meter, Dietz said, so the utility district was scheduled to cut off all power to the park Thursday.
Dietz said Cowlitz PUD staff learned Tuesday that park residents were unaware of the impending shutoff, so they reached out to notify people. Gardner said Cowlitz County sheriff’s deputies and a utility staffer visited the park Tuesday afternoon to talk to residents and leave flyers about the shutoff on their doors.
The park’s garbage and internet services have also been cut off, according to both Gardner and Dietz. (Cowlitz PUD does not provide those services).
Gardner said the first hint that something was happening came about two days before the shutoff notice, when residents received a letter from park management. The letter stated that as of Dec. 30, Reeves had “successfully redeemed” the Lewis River RV Park and that the transfer of possession would likely occur Jan. 13. The letter included a short FAQ about the park’s future ownership, with most of the answers stating that residents should contact Reeves for more information.
The convenience store and gas station at the park had a large sale Monday, Gardner said, and then closed. The Columbian attempted to call the number listed for the store this morning, but the line appeared to be disconnected.
Gardner said the situation appeared to stem from a dispute between Reeves and John Berman, an attorney based in Tigard, Ore., who previously operated the park through a company called Lewis River RV Park, LLC.
Reached by phone this morning, Reeves said Berman had been managing the park’s business entity for the past 10 months, and that Berman’s LLC had taken over the park’s operations in March 2019 over Reeves’s objections. He indicated the matter was tied to a legal case but said he had to go to a meeting and ended the call before fully explaining the situation.
A Certificate of Redemption of Real Estate filed Tuesday in Cowlitz County Superior Court states that the RV park property was auctioned off Dec. 28, 2018, under the terms of a court judgement, and was purchased for $1.3 million by the Gail A. Reeves Trust but that the property was subject to a 12-month redemption period. The certificate states that Jerry Reeves paid the necessary money to redeem the property Dec. 27, 2019, buying it back from the trust.
Berman said he is the assigned trustee of the Gail A. Reeves Trust. The late Gail Reeves was Jerry Reeves’ wife, he said, although they had divorced before she died. Berman said Jerry Reeves owed money to the trust under the terms of the divorce judgement, and the trust had discretion for how to collect it. It exercised that discretion by prompting the auction of the RV park.
The trust purchased the park in December 2018, took possession in March 2019 and continued to operate it as an RV park. Berman said after Reeves bought back the property, Berman attempted to reach out and coordinate a smooth transition, including transferring the utilities, but did not receive a response.
Reeves said that Berman told Cowlitz PUD to cut off the power earlier this week, although when asked, Dietz again said the district’s decision was based on Reeves’ refusal to create a new account. Berman said he terminated all of his LLC’s utility accounts for the park because his ownership ended Tuesday.
Reeves attended a meeting with Cowlitz PUD staff this afternoon to try to mediate the situation. Later in the afternoon, Dietz said the parties had arrived at the tentative one-week extension deal, provided that Reeves sign the agreement, which she said he indicated he would do this morning.
The long-term future of the park is still unclear. Dietz said Reeves indicated he would continue to look for a more permanent resolution in the coming week. Reeves could not be reached again for comment after the meeting.
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