Susan Wagoner — A Salina couple, whose rental property was flooded when someone turned the water meter on, may be forced to sue the town after a tort claim was denied.
Ronald and Michelle Lee own the home at 201 N. Saltwell St. The home belonged to her grandmother, who left her the property after her death.
“After her last renter moved out, my grandmother had someone winterize the house. The water was shut off. He put anti-freeze in the line; left all the valves open and the faucets on to keep air from building up in the lines,” Michelle Lee said. The house is located by the home she shares with her husband and two children.
In the late afternoon of April 14, her husband and son were outside and decided to burn a pile of brush. When they neared the empty house, they notice water pouring from the bottom of the home.
Ron contacted the city utility department immediately and left a message. Realizing the key to the home was with his wife at work, he broke a window and gained access to shut the water off in the house.
The kitchen area had standing water, as the laundry hookups for the house were located there.
“Randall Coon at the utility office called back and said he’d check into the matter,” she said. “The next day, Randall came by and asked me to go turn on the water in the house so he could see which meter went to the house.”
According to her, Coon, the Utility Superintendent, told her that the city had turned service on to the house directly behind hers on that day.
“He asked me why there wasn’t a lock on the meter and if I knew how it got turned on,” she said. “I told him I only knew that my grandma had it turned off and then winterized it in September of 2007 and that it hadn’t been on since.”
Later the couple was advised to file a tort claim with the city, because no one was admitting to turning the wrong meter on.
The meter for the Lee home was only one yard from the home behind it. An easy mistake as neither meter was clear as to which property it belonged.
“I believe whoever turned on the water didn’t know which meter was which, so they turned them both on,” she said, adding that whoever it might have been probably never realized that one home might have been winterized and water would certainly spew out of the open faucets.
The Lees did file the Tort Claim, which was ultimately denied by
the city’s insurance, Oklahoma Municipal Assurance Group, as handled by Senior Claims Examiner Mary Ellis.
She wrote the couple in a letter dated September 17th that read: “I am recommending denial of this claim and find no liability on the City’s part for this claim.”
She went on to say that the city workers “are adamant that they did not turn on the wrong water meter.”
Ellis was contacted, but refused to discuss the matter at all.
In the last city meeting, the city considered the recommendation letter from Ellis. City attorney Bill Gaddis apologized to Lee, then told Board members that he had no choice but to recommend that they accept the denial letter.
He then informed to Lee that she could seek counsel and sue the city for the damages.
The home suffered extensive damage to the kitchen and bathroom areas, leaving them unable to rent or sell the home.
Mayor Darrell Blaylock said he really didn’t know where everything was on the legal channels as he was still learning about the situation.
“I didn’t know anything about it until that board meeting when we discussed it,” he said.
Lee feels that the town is responsible and that shame is most likely the reason the guilty party won’t fess up.
“It’s a matter of doing the right thing,” she said. “It’s not about who’s guilty and who’s not.”
Lee sees the irony in the levee certification that Salina and GRDA have been debating.
“The town can’t understand why GRDA won’t do the right thing about a flood issue,” she said. “And we don’t understand why the town won’t do the right thing about a flood issue.”
The whole matter has left a sad spot when she thinks about her grandmother.
“My grandmother gave that house to us to help us and it’s become a thorn in our flesh,” she said. “It’s sad. That’s not what she wanted.”
