Woodmont Apartment Resident Claims Serious Safety Issues

By Alex Malm

During Public Comment at the Monday night, Dec. 4, Town Council meeting, Jessica Butcher, a resident at the Woodmont Commons Main Street apartments, attended the meeting to ask for assistance in solving a problem at the complex.
She told the council that residents in the Woodmont Commons Building are facing a “serious safety issue,” saying that there has been a bug infestation there since the Summer.
Butcher said the management company of the facility has been unresponsive and has been unable to get the issue rectified.
She explained that due to a neighbor letting her trash build up in the hallway, a vile odor has resulted, causing her to think, “someone had died” in the apartment.
As a result of this issue, she said her and her neighbors have been killing between 30 to 40 flies per day.
According to Butcher, the problem began in August and got worse as colder weather developed, but the management company has been “non-existent.”
She added the Londonderry code enforcement officer, Nick Codner, has been one of the only people to come down and take a look at the problem to document it.
She added that she works from home was also told the apartments had been “bug bombed,” but did not think that had taken place.
A new management company has taken over, but she stated they are also unresponsive.
Butcher has been living in the apartment for four years, paid thousands of dollars in rent, and hasn’t had a problem until recently.
After her statements, Town Council Chair, John Farrell, directed the Fire Chief, Bo Bulter, to go to the apartments with the Heath Officer and a police officer, if needed, to see what’s going on there.
Town Manager, Mike Malaguti, offered to contact the new owner of the building also.
Contacted on the following day, Butcher said that the Fire Chief, two firefighters, Codner, and a representative of the newest management company investigated the hallway and apartment where the smells were coming from and assured Butcher that the situation would be rectified.
The original management company was the nationally-based firm, Cushman & Wakefield, but the current firm is based out of Lowell, MA and she’s optimistic this issue will be resolved.
She also mentioned that there is an eviction proceeding underway currently.