WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - For the first time, KAKE News is releasing an exclusive conversation with the owner of the Towne West Mall from when his payment issues first started, and he assured us it was nothing more than a simple oversight that he would fix.

"Hi, this is Mike Kohan. Please leave a message."

These are the words Towne West business owners keep hearing in their search for answers as mall owner Mike Kohan of Kohan Retail Investment Group in New York once again didn't pay the power bill.

"We are in the back room of our outreach center at Towne West Square," said a Passageways spokesperson.

Non-profit group Passageways posted this video Thursday showing the pitch-black conditions at its Towne West outreach center. Evergy cut the power again Wednesday, and mall management completely locked the building up during business hours.

"Here's the doors that our agencies go in to come help homeless veterans shop and get items they need for their homes. Everything's locked. No notes on the doors. We haven't had any direct communication from Towne West or Mike Kohan at all," Passageways said in another video.

The problems all started last year when KAKE News investigated a number of mall employees claiming their paychecks started bouncing.

In June, KAKE News spoke with owner Mike Kohan, who said he wasn't even aware of any problems with payments.

"I don't know what kind of issue it was. I mean, I don't have anything in front of me to confirm or to try to deny what was done," said Kohan.

However, Kohan guaranteed us that any payment issues with his company are nothing more than simple clerical errors.

"If anything happened, I could assure you there was oversight," Kohan said.

But little did we know during this conversation, his issues with late payments had only just begun.

In September, Evergy finally pulled the plug after Kohan went months with late payments.

Even though the lights eventually came back on, Evergy had to cut the power again... and again... and again.

Evergy says Wednesday marked the fifth time in just seven months it's had to shut the power off, and that doesn't even include the many other disconnect warnings Kohan has narrowly escaped.

In June, this is how Kohan ended our phone call when his payment issues first started:

"I wish I could give you more information. But if you want to call me back, I'll find out exactly what the situation was."

KAKE News has not heard from him since.

We've tried to contact Kohan dozens of times since for further comment as these businesses struggle to survive, including again on Thursday, but we've had the same luck as everyone else: No answer, and no call back.