EVANSTON — It was late at night when Jayme Jorgensen was awakened by the sound of someone at the door of her Evanston home. She had been sleeping upstairs because she was feeling ill and didn’t want to disturb her husband who was sleeping soundly in their bedroom downstairs. Due to a severe illness in her family, she went quickly to the door, in case something was seriously wrong.

When she unlocked the door, a stranger forced his way into the house and the two scuffled. The stranger allegedly hit her three times in the face but when she screamed for her husband, the man quickly left the house.

Jayme’s husband, Bob Jorgensen, heard his wife and jumped out of the bed. Still groggy from his slumber, he didn’t grab for his weapon, something they had talked about numerous times. 

“I was still trying to wake up and it didn’t even cross my mind,” he said at the Evanston City Council meeting on April 10.

He did confront the man who had forced his way into the house, and the intruder said he was just trying to get a soda to drink. Jayme called police who seemed to know whom she was talking about and the man was later put in jail.

The man is a client at a Mountain Regional Services, Inc., (MRSI) group home. MRSI has several similar group homes throughout the region. It provides residences for people with development disabilities and other challenges and typically, its clients don’t cause problems, but they are dependent on people to care for them. In this case, the man was to be constantly watched, but officials said they believe the man was able to walk out of his group home unnoticed.

Evanston police officers found the man had gone back to the group home and they arrested him there.

“I’m terrified to be in my own home,” said Jayme Jorgenson. “I’m terrified to let my kids go outside without me. I lock my door and am constantly checking and double checking that they remain locked. My kids should not feel unsafe in our own home.”

Bob Jorgensen said he would like to see the clients moved to more rural areas or, at the very least, that people should be informed when there is a group home in their neighborhood. He said it could save some families from buying homes in the area, which could be dangerous.

City Attorney Dennis Boal said that, in 1988, Congress amended the Fair Housing Act, eliminating bias against people with disabilities.

“We can’t put them all in one place,” Boal said. “I can’t ban the homes.”

It was suggested that some tighter regulations might be beneficial, but since the homes are regulated by the state, the city has little control. 

Some in attendance, who have had incidents with both clients of group homes and sometimes staff, felt that many of the problems were due to lackadaisical employees who they claim are unqualified to work with clients with a variety of challenges. 

There were complaints of clients throwing garbage into people’s yards and making too much noise. 

Some at the meeting voiced their opinions that state budget cuts and future cuts to Medicare will likely lead to reductions of staff, possibly triggering more difficulties.

Evanston Police Chief Jon Kirby said Evanston had a higher percentage of people with developmental challenges than many other towns of similar size. He also said he believes there have been a few more issues lately than in the past. 

No one from MRSI was at the meeting to answer questions or provide explanations about hiring practices and the effects of budget cuts.

“Is there anything we can do?” Bob Jorgenson asked Mayor Kent Williams.

“We won’t have any answers tonight,” said Williams. “Maybe we can use this as a wakeup call for all of us to not be so trusting.” 

“If you have problems,” said Chief Kirby, “call us, so we can help address the issue.”

Councilwoman Wendy Schuler suggested sending messages to MRSI about the issues.

Airport projects

In other business, the discussion about budgets for the city and the airport are in the beginning stages and, so far, the city looks to be in pretty good shape.

The airport has many projects planned through 2034 that could require as much as $29 million. Most of that money, however, will be federal funds; the projects will only require about $2.5 million from local funds. Most of the projects are associated with improvements and maintenance of runways and shoulders. The plans to reconstruct the apron has been pushed back from 2019 to 2020.

Seal coating and marking pavement will begin in 2021 and the rehabilitation of the runway will begin in 2022. The total funds required will be more than $4.6 million. In the next four years, both the county and the city will need to pitch in $124,971.50 as their share. It was suggested that the city could begin budgeting $31,242.75 each year and keep the money in reserve, possibly drawing interest, so they city would not have to come up with a large lump sum.

City budget talks begin

Evanston City Treasurer Trudy Lym provided council members and the mayor with the first look at the proposed budget for 2019, based on revenues that have come in. The city has seen revenues from property and some other taxes go down this past year but noticed an increase in cigarette tax revenues. Some speculated that people from Utah and other locations are buying less expensive cigarettes in Evanston and taking them home. 

The city is not proposing any increase in water, garbage or sewer rates this year. 

Council members will go over the proposed budget and continue discussions over the next several sessions.