John Coffelt, Editor

The Coffee County Health, Welfare and Recreation Committee voted to repeal its recommendation for the county to purchase four-inch water lines for the residents of JE Sartain Road during the Dec. 18 meeting.

The move is one more hang up on a multi-year negotiation between the County, Manchester City and a group of county residents. On Aug. 28, HWR voted to fund smaller four-inch water lines for the residents on JE Sartain Road.

The County Commission voted on Nov. 18 to postpone the budget amendment that would have allocated $34,000 for the purchase. 

On Dec. 18, Commissioner Dwight Miller made the motion to reconsider the matter and Rose Anne Carden Smith seconded it.

Miller voiced opposition to the purchase.

“My motion is that we do not go forward with the $34,000 and (instead) recommend that to the full commission that we are not pushing it anymore,” Miller said.

HWR Chairman Jimmy Hollandsworth asked if the matter should be postponed until Commissioner Tim Morris was present. 

The committee felt it needed to address the purchase prior to it going before the full commission in January.

Smith said that she had been absent for the initial recommendation vote and would not have voted for it.

The motion to reverse the recommendation passed 3-0 with Commissioner Jackie Duncan voting yes with Smith and Miller. 

The group of residents of JE Sartain Road approached the two governments well over a year ago with a plan to split the project costs between the city, who would do the installation, and the county, who would supply the pipes. Initially the residents would dig the trenches for the pipes, but that idea was rejected early on.

In the years since, the project has gotten approval on both sides only to be met with problems.

Initially, Former Manchester Mayor Marilyn Howard vetoed the project suggesting the city should use all available resources to repair the sewer problems for the city’s current customers. Then the question of engineering reports arose and who would fund that.

In August Water Commission meetings, MWD then-Director Jeffery Perry suggested that the line should make a pressure loop, connecting to a six-inch line at the other end of JE Sartain Road at 16th Model Road.

The cost estimates provided to the county were $71,000 for six-inch lines or $34,000 for four-inch lines. The six-inch quote does not include fire hydrants, while the four-inch line would not likely provide enough water flow for a hydrant. 

Commissioner Tim Morris said at the time that he was told by MWD that the city did not want to run four-inch water lines because it’s six inches on top and four inches at the lower end of the road. The line is to be about three-fourths of a mile rather than a dead-end line that stops at the creek.

Morris suggested that the county has only purchased four-inch lines for other rural areas in the past.

“There’s four inch all throughout the county that we’ve paid for,” Morris said. “At least we’re doing what’s fair.”

Commissioner Dwight Miller suggested it would set a bad precedent.

“I don’t think the county is in the business of water,” Miller said. “If we’re going to contribute to get it going, we ought to get some claw back and get a percentage of the revenue.”

HWR passed the motion made by Morris to fund up to $35,000 for the project by a 3-1 vote with Miller offering the dissenting vote. 

In November, Morris said the county was seeking grant funding to help offset the costs. The commission voted to postpone the matter over the recommendation of County Mayor Dennis Hunt to conditionally approve the budget amendment contingent on the situation of any available grant money.  

Manchester Water Commission member and Vice Mayor Mark Messick in August told the Times the two governments need to learn to think ahead and plan for future expansion.

“Those folks that live on JE Sartain Rd have needed city water for a long time, and I have tried to get it for them and have been met with resistance from the city every time I tried. It’s just being short-sighted to put in a four-inch line. I trust what the city is asking for. It seems that there are a lot of lines in the county that are too small to provide fire protection,” Messick said.

Messick updated his statement by adding that “These people deserve to have access to water. It’s the job of government to serve the citizens of our county.”

Manchester Mayor Joey Hobbs, who also served on Budget and Finance as former County Commissioner, told the Times “the county and city have done these types of projects for years.”

For the last rural water project, the county purchased $500,000 in water lines for the city to install.

Hobbs said the city then used a comparable amount of man hours for the instillation. He said that for a $75,000 project, it would take the city about 50 years to see a return from water sales.    

During the May 2025 Water Commission meeting, Judy Pugh, the mother of a JE Sartain resident and unofficial spokesperson for the group, returned with concerns that the process was stalling.

“We were informed in February that city water would be available by this summer, 2025. We are hoping for an update on the timeline and confirmation of this commitment,” she told the board.

The area currently lacks adequate water supply, with some residents relying on insufficient or unsafe water pumped from a shallow creek.

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.