Broadmoor Valley resident Jesus Rodriguez was among the people who gave comment during a public hearing on the planned closure of the Broadmoor Valley mobile home park, held Wednesday night.

MARSHALL — Residents of the Broadmoor Valley mobile home park said it’s a place they’ve called home – and they were calling for help to keep it from being closed down.

“We are part of Marshall. We are residents from Marshall, and I want to stay here,” resident Anais Rodriguez said during the hearing.

“It would be really hard for me to start all over,” another resident said in a written statement read at the hearing.

More than 60 people, including Broadmoor Valley residents and Marshall area community members, attended a public hearing held by the Marshall City Council on Wednesday night. The city was required to hold the hearing as part of the process for closing the mobile home community. Broadmoor Valley owners Schierholz & Associates have announced plans to close the park next year.

Mayor Bob Byrnes said the council would mainly be listening to testimony at the hearing, and not commenting. Before opening the hearing to the public, council members voted to appoint Angela Larson, family services director at United Community Action Partnership, as a neutral third-party arbiter during the closure process.

“We’re here to answer questions,” or to help residents find options to relocate if the park closes, Larson said.

Some Broadmoor Valley residents may be eligible for state funding to help them relocate, said Marshall city attorney Pam Whitmore.

Some residents at the hearing said they wouldn’t be able to afford to live elsewhere if Broadmoor Valley closed. They also said they didn’t want to lose the community they had with other residents.

“This is our home, and we demand to live with dignity,” one resident said at the hearing. “Sometimes we feel no one has listened to us.”

“After 30 years, we don’t want to start over,” said residents Deb and Vince Ertl.

Several written comments were read by community members from outside Broadmoor Valley, on behalf of residents. Some Broadmoor Valley residents were afraid to speak in person, said area residents like Al Kruse. “They are being silenced by retaliatory scare tactics,” Kruse said.

Some of the testimony at Wednesday’s hearing criticized park owners for conditions like poor roads and lack of maintenance at Broadmoor Valley. Residents said they had been calling for solutions to those problems for years.

“I kind of feel like a lot of this has been a bash on the owner,” Broadmoor Valley manager Hilary Giebner said at the hearing. Giebner said Schierholz “just wants support to make the improvements.”

“We’re not bashing. We’re asking for what’s right,” said Broadmoor Valley resident Jesus Hernandez. “All we’re asking is for our rights to be recognized.”

Paul Schierholz, of Schierholz & Associates, was present at Wednesday’s hearing. Although Schierholz had said in a letter to residents that he would be giving a presentation that night, he did not speak.

“The meeting tonight wasn’t helpful,” Schierholz told the Independent after the hearing. “We’re surprised that they (residents) rehashed the same things.”

“I want to keep the place open, but we need outside funding to do it,” Schierholz said.

Schierholz is currently facing a lawsuit from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, which alleges Schierholz & Associates broke a 2022 grant agreement.

At the end of Wednesday’s hearing, Larson was given a chance to introduce herself to Broadmoor Valley residents.

“We’ve been talking to the city administrator and some others about helping with this program to assist those who may want to relocate their home,” Larson said. She said she and UCAP staff could help answer questions or applications for relocation.