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Petersburg homeowner frustrated after months of trying to get water meter

Posted at 7:41 PM, Aug 10, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-10 20:00:10-04

PETERSBURG, Va. -- A frustrated Petersburg homeowner called the CBS 6 Problem Solvers after she said she has tried for two months to get a water meter installed on a building on her property.

"You know I'm just asking as a resident and taxpayer, just to get service and I can't even get that," Christine Finnegan said standing in front of her carriage house, which sits behind her townhouse.

The carriage house had water service, but when a water leak was detected, the city came by and removed the meter while a plumbing company did repairs.

When Finnegan asked to get a new meter install,  she was surprised by the city's response when she was told.

"There was never existing water to the carriage house," she said city officials told her.

The carriage house.

The carriage house.

Finnegan said that was impossible since her son had lived there.

Finally she said the city agreed to install a new meter and pipes, but was told it would cost her $14,000 to replace.

After talking with the city, Finnegan got the amount greatly reduced. However, she said that after two months without a meter and with no return phone calls or replies to emails, she is

"I can't even get them out here to even investigate, to look at it to try to tell us what we need to do to get the water on," Finnegan said.

Finnegan said last month her husband was at City Hall for three hours with no resolution.

Emails from city leaders promising a quick turn around on the meter did not lead to results, so CBS 6 reached out to officials at City Hall Friday morning.

"I have been able to speak with all of the parties involved and we did actually get it resolved today," Kemi Osoba, a spokesperson for the City of Petersburg, said.

When asked about the delay and lack of response, she apologized.

"There's no excuse and honestly we did extend our apologies, which we will do face-to-face also next week," Osoba said.

City officials and Finnegan confirmed they plan to meet on Thursday to finally resolve the issue.

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