Switch to full site

Leavittsburg woman fed up with Warren Water Department and Trumbull Co. Auditors office over delinquent water bill dispute

[image]

Cathy Dean still doesn't have answers about why a more than $3,000 water bill from the City of Warren is still in her name.

“It's not fair for them to keep getting away with doing these things to people,” Cathy said. “They have a job to do, it's not my job to chase them down and make them do their job.”

21 News first covered her issue back in September when Cathy claimed the previous owners of her home already paid that water bill, but she kept getting the charges from the city and when she didn't pay, it ended up on her property taxes.

“I don't understand. The information that I have, that I’ve provided, is black and white and shows the payments,” Cathy said. 

For weeks, 21 News has been reaching out to the Trumbull County Auditor's Office and the City of Warren’s Water Department about if this will be removed from Cathy's name or if she expected to pay it. 

Both departments had a meeting on Tuesday with the county's legal council. The water department director Franco Lucarelli was “very confident this issue will be cleared up after that meeting” but now said he does not want to comment on behalf of the auditor. 

Auditor Martha Yoder said there's no resolution and they’re still investigating. 

Yoder told 21 News before the meeting that it was not a “decision making meeting” and that Cathy’s presence “would not be necessary anymore than it has been necessary when I have met with my own staff to review this matter.”

“I understand and sympathize with her anxiety over this issue, and my staff and I have worked very diligently in the last month to review this.  As I have said before, we are dealing with a matter whose timeline goes back six years with staff in both entities who are no longer employed by those entities.  The paper trail is complicated and tangled. I will be contacting her once I have a resolution,” Yoder told 21 News before the meeting happened on Tuesday.

During the entire two and a half month investigation Cathy feels she’s been left in the dark. 

“It's some shady closed door thing where I'm not told anything,” she said. 

In an effort to try and get answers Cathy reached out to Representative Nick Santucci’s office. In an email from a legislative aid to Cathy, they claim to have received a response from the Warren Water Department.

“We have been communicating with Ms. Dean and the Trumbull County Auditor. At this time it seems the Trumbull County Auditor's office committed an error and are looking into the situation,” the email from the Water Department to Rep. Santucci’s office states. 

Cathy’s property taxes show she owes $4,078.71. The Trumbull County Treasurer told 21 News he will not foreclose on Cathy Dean's home while this water bill issue is under investigation.

Until the auditor and the water department schedule another meeting it's just a waiting game.

“How much emotional distress are they going to inflict on me and my family to avoid taking responsibility for what they did,” Cathy questioned. "I won't be satisfied until it's done and over with and taken care of."

Lucarelli said he plans to reach out to Cathy on behalf of the City of Warren.

You can find our previous coverage about this here. 


© Copyright 2000 - 2025 WorldNow and WFMJ