By Liz McMahan
A Webbers Falls woman who has asked for a town water meter since Dec. 28 may finally be getting one, a judge ruled Wednesday.
District Judge Tom Alford said Polly Turley needs to provide the town with a copy of her deed to the property and allow a town code enforcement officer to inspect her sewer hookup and then should be issued a meter.
Her attorney said he will deliver a copy of the deed Wednesday, and the sewer hookup is ready for inspection.
Turley filed an application for a court order after three months of carrying water in five-gallon buckets to her property. She had made a water meter deposit but been denied service.
Mayor Robert Ogg represented the town at Wednesday’s court hearing and said the town has repeatedly told Turley she needed to allow the inspection and provide a copy of her property deed since she made her application for water service.
He said the town inspector was run off from her property when he tried to inspect the sewer hookup, and skirting has since been placed around the mobile home, so an inspection could not be made.
“I’d like to see her have water,” Ogg said. “It’s money in our pocket. But it’s more than water, it’s also codes and ordinances.”
Turley’s attorney, Troy Poteete, said his client was not home when the inspector says he was run off from the property, and it was a full month between the time the trailer was hooked up to the sewer and when the skirting was put into place.
He said he can find no record that anyone has ever had to provide a copy of their deed or allow sewer inspection before a water meter was set.
He also disputed Ogg’s statement that the town did not protest electric service being provided to the Turley residence.
Alford told Ogg he was not concerned with the possibility that Turley’s mobile home sits too close to her neighbor’s property. That is a matter to be settled between the two property owners and does not concern the town, Alford said.
Outside the courtroom, Poteete said the town denying water service to Turley was more than just enforcing obscure town laws.
“We could easily have supplied these documents if asked for them,” Poteete said. “Polly Turley has been a vocal critic of Bob Ogg and the manner the city has operated in.”
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