When Rosheda Moseley arrived at her East Columbus apartment a little after 7 a.m. Friday, she washed her face and went to bed.

Sometime during her slumber, the water service for her and the other residents of Cypress Park Apartments, a 144-unit complex at 300 South Lehmberg Road, had been shut off.

Columbus Light and Water General Manager Todd Gale said service had been disconnected to the complex for nonpayment of its water bill, although he would not disclose how long the management company operating the complex had been in arrears or how much it owed on its bill.

“I’ll just say it’s a substantial amount of nonpayment,” Gale said.

For residents like Moseley, the disconnection came as a shock, especially since water is included in their rent payment to Beztak Properties.

“I had no idea at all,” Moseley said. “… All I know is I’ve been here since March and haven’t been late on a rent payment, not even once.”

Moseley said she first heard of the disconnection from a neighbor, who texted her to ask if she had water in her apartment.

“I told her yes because it was working when I got home,” Moseley recalled. “She said I’d better check again.”

Residents first assumed the water had been cut off for maintenance, but after a couple of hours, they began calling city officials and CLW.

“The people at the water department said there was nothing they could do since the bills weren’t being paid,” said Shirley Harris, whose daughter lives in the complex.

Both Harris and Moseley tried to reach the apartment manager at the complex but never got a response.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Moseley said. “Any time I’ve put in a maintenance request, they never respond. You can never get them.”

Gale said CLW had its own problems reaching that apartment manager.

“I don’t know how many times they’ve changed management there,” Gale said. “I do know that we had been trying to reach them about their bill and never reached anybody. So (Friday morning) we disconnected service.”

Gale said CLW Chief Financial Officer Mike Bernsen finally reached Angelique Del Campo, a manager at the Beztak Properties headquarters in Michigan and struck a payment agreement to have water service reconnected at the complex later at about 4 p.m. Friday, about eight hours after the disconnection.

Columbus and Lowndes County firefighters stood by to ensure emergency responders could provide water to the complex if a fire or other emergency occurred while the service was turned off, city Fire and Rescue Chief Martin Andrews told The Dispatch.

Del Campo attributed the failure to pay the water bill as a mix-up with the complex owner. Ownership changed hands at some point recently, she indicated, but the management company is responsible for collecting fees and paying bills.

“It caught us by surprise,” Del Campo said. “When you go through a transition of ownership … they just didn’t give us the information we needed about the bill. But we’re making sure we get this straightened out so this doesn’t ever happen again.”

Del Campo declined to say when the ownership transition occurred or answer any questions about the arrangements made to restore water service at the complex.

The Lowndes County Tax Assessor’s website lists Columbus Partners LP as the owner of the complex since 2003. That company is managed by Cypress Park LLC out of Valdosta, Georgia.

Gale said CLW goes to great lengths to avoid disconnections, especially at apartment complexes where water service is often part of the rent.

“We understand the people who live there haven’t done anything wrong,” Gale said. “So we are slower to disconnect at apartment complexes than we would be at a home.”

Asked if CLW made any attempt to alert Cypress Park residents to the issue by placing a door-hanger on each unit, Gale said no.

“But it’s probably a pretty good idea,” Gale said. “We may start doing that.”

Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].