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Officials warn Spring Hill is "on the clock" for sewer capacity; $250 million program and reorganization proposed
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Summary
Spring Hill utilities staff told the Budget and Finance Committee that the city faces a December 2025 sewer-capacity limit and outlined a proposed $250 million design-build expansion program, a new enterprise reorganization (SPARTAN) and a $7 million advanced-purification pilot that the state will help support.
Spring Hill officials told the Budget and Finance Committee the city is close to exhausting sewer capacity and must move quickly to expand infrastructure. Utilities leadership said a prior projection indicated the city could run out of sewer capacity in December 2025, putting the city "on the clock." The committee reviewed operational water and sewer budget items and a proposed organizational restructuring and delivery approach intended to accelerate projects.
"The year of the projection to run out of sewer capacity was 2025, and the month was December. So we are, we are within the window, so we are definitely definitely on the clock," Mister Allen said, opening the water-and-sewer presentation. Allen framed the proposal as both a budget and organizational change to enable a rapid, large-scale build-out.
Staff proposed a new enterprise-wide structure to be called Spring Hill Water and a four-division organization led by four assistant general managers (AGMs) focused on compliance and technology; water reclamation; water treatment and distribution; and a new strategic project acceleration and resilience group (code-named SPARTAN). The SPARTAN team is intended to centralize capacity modeling, procurement standards and a rapid-project execution function; staff proposed hiring two mid-career professional engineers and a special-projects logistics officer to coordinate high-pace delivery.
To speed the necessary expansions, staff proposed pursuing a design-build delivery handled through the city’s Industrial Development Board — a path other Tennessee jurisdictions have used — and retaining a national owner’s representative to prepare large, performance-based solicitations. Allen said preliminary package estimates for reservoir, sewer expansion, an advanced purification facility and interconnecting piping and pumping are $225,000,000 with a $25,000,000 owner contingency for a total program cost of $250,000,000.
"I think we could restructure and reorganize this part of the unit and get it put together to go get all this stuff. And then the last part of it is a, what we're calling a special projects logistics officer... I do think it is possible if we lay all these things out, we put these things in place, it it's gonna be a lot of work, but I do think it is possible for us to achieve a 24 month construction time period for a $250,000,000 program. And that's the goal," Allen said.
Staff also described an advanced-purification pilot project estimated at roughly $7,000,000, noting the city had secured a competitive grant that will cover about half the pilot’s procurement costs. Allen and consultants said the city has agreed with the state to maintain the pilot as an ongoing test facility for Tennessee rather than decommission it after approval; staff suggested other jurisdictions may use Spring Hill’s pilot for testing rather than each funding a new pilot.
On staffing and timing, Allen said the budget request includes 19 new positions overall (12 operational backfills and the remainder for planned reorganization). Of those, the board would see four new assistant general manager positions and a special projects logistics officer under the SPARTAN concept. Several existing employees were identified as likely AGMs if the board approves the reorganization; those reclassifications would be voluntary and would create cascading internal promotions to be filled from within and then outside when necessary. Allen said the reorganization is planned to take effect July 1 if the board approves the budget.
The committee also discussed water-plant filter work. Jeremy Vanderford, the water plant superintendent, said the plant’s original filters are about 23 years old and recommended obtaining spare underdrain nozzles to reduce outage risk. He offered three near-term options staff are evaluating: cleaning and topping media with anthracite (estimated under $100,000), full media replacement including underdrains (staff cited a $300,000–$600,000 range), or moving to membrane-based filtration timed with larger plant upgrades tied to the broader program. Staff noted certain membrane products carry long lead times — about 18 months from order to delivery — and that replacements or retrofits should be timed to low-demand seasons.
No formal board votes were taken during the committee meeting. Board members pressed staff on timing, procurement risk and whether staffing and organizational changes should be postponed until a new city administrator is hired; Allen said he expects to lead much of the early work and to transition responsibilities as the new administrator becomes established.
Ending: Staff asked the committee for general authorization to advance planning, recruit for the proposed positions and return detailed project scopes, funding plans and procurement documents for board approval; the program would require multiple future board decisions about procurement, funding and schedules.
