John Coffelt, Editor

An audit performed in October of 2024 of the Manchester Wastewater Treatment Plant has resulted in an Administrative Order of Consent proceeding with the city of Manchester.

Mayor Joey Hobbs said that he, City Attorney Craig Johnson and Water Department Interim Director Lonnie Foley are currently in the process of responding to the government agency.

“We’ve had some preliminary conversations with them…to go through what they found, what their expectations are and timing for what they want for us to fix,” Hobbs said.

“We are going to get through it. We are better today than we were a year ago. And we will be better next year than we are right now,” Hobbs said.

Hobbs said the chronic over flows fall mainly over with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. He said that the audit focused on the treatment plant and the collections coming to the plant and interceptor lines.

“We’ve had some upsets at the plant with some discharges that were plant related that had nothing to do with chronic overflows except they all happen at the same time because we have such a problem with I&I (inflow and infiltration) that it upsets the whole system from an overflow at a manhole all the way to the plant having an overflow that it can’t the amount of water that comes to it,” Hobbs said.   

Hobbs explained that the EPA performed the audit within months of him taking office as mayor. He said that nothing had been done since then to correct the issues that were found in 2024.

“That’s why we are where we are today,” Hobbs said. “We were sent the documents about 15 days ago. We began to have meetings internally with engineering and the (former) director and assistant director, to make sure we can meet the timelines of what they are asking us to fix the issues that are in the consent.”

An administrative order of consent is a voluntary, legally binding agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and an entity. In this agreement, the entity voluntarily agrees to take specific actions, such as environmental cleanup or corrective measures for violations of environmental laws.

The AOC is signed by all parties involved and requires the entity to perform corrective actions to protect human health and the environment.      

As of Sept. 19 the city has not yet signed the order.

“One would think that since we already knew about it, we would have already started fixing some of these so that we were out in front of it,” Hobbs said. “But zero has been accomplished.”

Hobbs said correcting the violations will be a priority of the department.

“We don’t have any options here but to comply,” he said. “It’s not so big that we cannot accomplish it.” 

Collection system improvements

Over the last few months, the Water Department has reported improvements in the wastewater collection system. During heavy rains in the spring and early summer of 2025, the plant reportedly saw a significant decrease in the amount of rainwater coming into the plant.

“We continue to work on overflows every day,” Hobbs said. “That’s something we do every day in the system. There are dedicated crews finding and addressing them.”

Hobbs said the collection system repairs are a bright spot in the situation. Hobbs said that the Water Department, however, has struggled with long term planning.

“The director was working on solving problems. He just didn’t have an encompassed plan for solving problems. It was, for lack of better terms, a whack-a-mole approach to dealing with problems.”

Hobbs said that the city currently has $6 million in grants for sewer rehab projects happening, plus a $5 million project that will connect the Manchester Industrial Park to the Hillsboro Highway line and bypass any chronic manholes. A $2 million grant will supply a Skinner Flat connection to Willis Farms. 

Wastewater plant plans

Hobbs called for a prioritized plan for what needs to be repaired at the plant, broken down in to “must be repaired things” “needed repairs” and “wants.” 

“We can’t get that list. If a pump is out, we need to replace that pump,” Hobbs said.

Per city code, purchases over $35,000 must go before the Board of Mayor and Aldermen. Major purchases less than that can be approved at the committee level.

Hobbs said that no money has been spent out of the current budget on maintenance at the wastewater plant as of Sept. 19.

“The budget would be passed in July…and no dollars have been spent on maintenance,” he said. “These were the things we were starting to ask when we were trying to figure out why we weren’t making progress (that was being made out in the field).”

Hobbs commended the hard work of the Water Department. He commended the director during the September Water Commission meeting on the job that he and his employees have done.

“We’re just not getting there at a higher level to forecast what the needs are,” he said. “If we need to have more projects and more money that has to come in the form of a request with a plan that I can take to the board and ask them to pass.”

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.