TOLEDO, Ohio — We so often take running the faucet for granted. Angelique Sheean from Toledo said she did until the evening it was gone.
"I have a 16-month-old at home and we had no water last night. Luckily we have in-laws close so we could use the shower, can't flush the toilet," said Sheean.
While at first she had no idea why her water stopped flowing, she soon found the answer hanging off her front door. It was a notice from the City of Toledo saying her water had been shut off because she hadn't scheduled her new water meter installation.
"So I got two postcards in the mail, the second one I finally called in March, scheduled an appointment, my daughter ended up getting sick so I had to reschedule that, and then Johnson Controls never showed up to the appointment," said Sheean. "Never heard anything else."
But according to city records shared with WTOL 11, on Nov. 9, Sheean was mailed a letter warning of a shutoff, and then on Dec. 5, a notice was put on her door asking her to call the city, and even shared of photo of the notice on her porch.
Sheean said that's her porch, but she never got the memo.
"Yeah, I never saw the door hanger on my door," said Sheean. "I don't know if it was windy that day or what but I've never seen it on there."
Sheean said according to the city's own installation map, she still had time before she needed to act.
"Our address is still in green saying we have time to schedule this," she said. "It's not in the orange where it says it needs to be scheduled immediately or it will be shut off."
The city heard her complaints and turned her water back on, but it's because of stories like Sheean's that city leaders said not to delay scheduling your appointment.
"We understand that life gets busy and the last thing we want to do is shut our customers' water off. We make numerous attempts to communicate with customers the need to schedule their appointment, but in order to complete this project by the end of next year, we need customers to respond promptly. All you need to do to avoid disconnection is call to schedule your appointment," wrote Rachel Hart, a member of the communications team for the City of Toledo.
City leadership has previously said they want to get all 116,000 installs complete before December 2024.
If you've gotten your postcard and it's time for you to schedule your appointment, call 1-866-270-9629.
Meanwhile, Sheean said she feels shutting off people's water isn't the best way to encourage people to get the install, especially if they're paying their bills on time.
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