01/08/2026
(The Element on Main Street in Sun Prairie,Wi)
Hi everyone,
Ethan here from the Sun Prairie Star. You are receiving this email because you have reached out to me about your experience living at the Element as a current or former tenant.
I've gone ahead and put you all in the same email chain simply because it will be much quicker for me to get this information to all of you this way. With that being said, if you have any follow up questions for me it's probably best to email me directly unless the question may benefit the entire group. It's possible that putting you in contact with each other may help you organize going forward as well.
Before I get to some of the resources I've been forwarded, and steps you folks can take, I want to touch on what the paper will be doing going forward. Some of you have reached out in recent days about going on the record for another story. At this point, our role in this as a newspaper is coming to somewhat of an end. We have reported on the ongoing lawsuit and shared some of the property's main problems with folks in the community who may not have been familiar before. As much as I value your efforts, we can't run a new story every week and the subjects we have to cover are always changing.
That being said, if there are serious developments in the lawsuit I may reach out to follow up. Anyone else you know is also always welcome to contact me, even if it doesn't make it into an article.
With that bit out of the way, I have included some of the information the city attorney has shared with me. It is important to note that this isn't legal advice from Kathleen, nor can she, herself, represent you.
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Some existing community organizations that deal with renter's rights:
Community Justice, Inc.
https://www.communityjusticeinc.org/
(608) 204-9642
State Bar of Wisconsin has a lawyer referral service
https://www.wisbar.org/forPublic/INeedaLawyer/Pages/i-need-a-lawyer.aspx ($30 fee if completed online)
(800) 362-9082 (free)
Neighborhood Law Clinic at UW Law School
https://law.wisc.edu/eji/nlc
608-890-0678
Tenant Resource Center of Dane County
https://www.tenantresourcecenter.org/get_help
(608) 708-6008 (Sun Prairie office)
Some steps you should consider taking, if you haven't been doing so already:
1) Keep a log of all contacts with management
2) Keep proof of rent paid (cancelled checks, receipts, online statements)
3) Document all issues with your unit by photo or video.
4) Consider recording any phone calls you have with management. Wisconsin is a one-party consent state, meaning you can legally record any conversation as long as you know you are doing it.
5) Tenants Work together. Let your neighbors know what steps you're taking and tell them how they can do the same. I'm no lawyer, but maybe its possible your experiences could be used together in some way in the future (?)
I want to thank you all again for taking the time and courage to reach out to me to share your stories, you folks are what make reporting on stories like this possible. I wish I could be more help but I will share any other news/resources that come my way.
Best,
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Ethan Ferrell
Municipal Reporter, The Star, The Tribune, The Leader Independent
Adams MultiMedia