John Coffelt, Editor

A group of county residents who live on J.E. Sartain Road approached the Manchester Water and Sewer Commission at the May 8 meeting to voice that they were told that the costs projected to run city water were cost prohibitive.

The year-long ongoing effort by the residents of J.E. Sartain to get water to the road met with another snag in the process. The group said at the meeting, when they were told that the project would cost approximately $600,000 to run six-inch lines with fire hydrants that would connect to lines at the northern end of the road. This loop, in addition to providing water in the area, would provide adequate fire flow and prevent a dead end in the system where in-going stale water could become a health concern.

The members of the group say that they were told prior to the meeting that the cost would be too expensive to continue. The group did not clarify who made that decision.

Rural resident and unofficial spokesperson for the group Judy Pugh said there is interested parties in further developing areas of the road.

“I have nine people who are committed and maybe more,” Pugh said.

“We were told in February that we would have city water by the summer,” she said. “And then we received news in April… We were told that we would not receive city water because it would cost $600,000 to take water down that road.”

Manchester Water and Sewer Department Director Jeffrey Perry said that a preliminary engineering cost estimate was performed by J. R. Wauford & Company Engineering and also submitted to the Coffee County Mayor’s Office.

“In order to run water, we would have to have an engineering report,” Perry said. “That report would be more detailed than the initial cost estimate.”

“Nobody wants to spend the money for the engineering,” Mayor Joey Hobbs said. “If they would do that, we could give you a very accurate (estimate).” 

Early on, the county agreed to purchase the pipe needed to run the water, and the city has agreed to do the labor. Initially a resident had offered to dig the trenches for the pipe, but the city discouraged that saying the Water Department would have to do that too.   

Pugh said the figure she was told seems a bit excessive. She asked also that cost savings could be added by running smaller four-inch line and cutting the fire hydrants.

“(County Commissioner) Tim Morris was really adamant about having six-inch lines and fire hydrants,” Pugh said. “We don’t have to have six-inch lines. We don’t have to have fire hydrants. I don’t even have fire hydrants on my road, none.” 

Fire flow has recently been a heavily discussed issue in the county. The county Planning Commission recently recommended a zoning resolution that if passed would expand the current setbacks in A-1 agricultural areas due to the prominence of inadequate fire flow that’s prominent in much of the rural county areas.   

Hobbs said the city’s holdup is waiting on the county. Both Hobbs and Perry agreed to go to county meetings to further discuss the project.

“We’re not saying we’re not going to support the project,” Hobbs said. “It just keeps going back to the county. If they want to engineer it with those types of pipes, we’re just following the lead that we’re given.”

Hobbs said the city could not afford to spend $400,000 in materials (at the specs given in the report) to put in a new service there. 

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.