By Katie Northcott, News Director
On Wednesday, March 11, at a water and sewer town hall held by Manchester Mayor Joey Hobbs, Water and Sewer Director Lonnie Foley asked that citizens report overflows directly to the Manchester Water and Sewer Department.
Hobbs held the town hall to address citizen concerns about the Water and Sewer Department. Vice Mayor Mark Messick; Aldermen Julie Anderson, James Threet, Thomas Crosslin, and Donny Parsley; City Attorney Craig Johnson; Finance Director Anthony Burrows; Water and Sewer Commissioners Gary Hunt and Zak Mohyuddin; St. John Engineering Principal and Engineering Manager Adam Carter; a representative from Duke’s Root Control; and Foley were present at the meeting.
Hobbs opened the meeting with his own 30-minute presentation before allowing about an hour for citizen Q&A.
Near the end of the Q&A, Foley asked that citizens report problems to his department instead of submitting complaints to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Foley’s comment was made in connection to a question submitted by Sarah Bradley concerning how his department chooses which manhole overflows to report.
TDEC contacted the city recently regarding two complaints submitted on Jan. 30 and Feb. 3. The complaints alleged that the city had failed to report several manhole overflows. TDEC responded by asking the city to provide contact information where the citizen could report overflows to the city.
The city said overflows may be reported via phone at 931-434-8907 or via email at parni@cityofmanchestertn.gov.
On Wednesday, March 11, Hobbs reported that the city currently has six manholes that experience chronic overflows (five or more overflows per year). Foley said a few more manholes were on the verge of being classified as chronic. Foley said that his personnel cannot catch every overflow during rain events, so he encouraged citizens to report the overflows directly to his department.
On March 15, 2024, the city came out from under a TDEC-administered moratorium on new connections to the sewer system. The moratorium had been in effect since August 28, 2014. However, a complaint was submitted to TDEC on April 4, 2024, regarding 27 overflows that the city had failed to report. In response to this complaint, TDEC placed Manchester under a self-imposed moratorium on April 30, 2024.
On Feb. 9, 2026, TDEC place Manchester under a TDEC-administered moratorium due to a high volume of manhole overflows during 2025. TDEC sent the order initiating the moratorium in response to Peterson Media Group’s request for comment on this article.
Hobbs said that the problems leading to TDEC’s order pre-dated Foley’s leadership. Foley was promoted to Interim Water and Sewer Director after former Director Jeff Perry resigned in September 2025. Foley was hired by the city as Assistant Water and Sewer Director in April 2025.
Find reporting on the circumstances surrounding Perry’s resignation here.
Hobbs emphasized that the Water and Sewer Department’s and city’s commitment to improving the sewer system’s infrastructure. He said the infrastructure at the heart of the city especially has become old and in need of repairs. However, he said that the repairs would take time due to the need for planning, engineering, and funding.
