by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

“I was told when that grinder pump went in, when I paid for it, SUD was responsible for it,” said SUD customer Ronald Summer at the Dec. 17 Sewanee Utility District Board of Commissioners meeting, objecting to the new policy charging all customers with grinder pumps an $8 monthly fee. “I don’t think I should have to pay $8 a month,” Summer insisted. He maintained customers who already had grinder pumps should be “grandfathered in” as exempt from the fee.

“I don’t know if I signed anything,” Summer acknowledged. He had nothing to document his claim. He said when he bought his house in early 2000, the property had a septic tank, and he did not want to connect to the public sewer system but was required to.

SUD manager Ben Beavers explained University policy requires Domain residents to connect to public sewer at the time a house sells, even if a septic system was serving the previous homeowner’s needs. A grinder pump is required for a sewer connection when gravity flow is not sufficient to move wastewater through the pipes.

The unwanted grinder-pump sewer connection cost Summer $3,000, and the expense delayed his purchase of a heating unit for several years.

In the 1990s, SUD policy was customers paid for the pump and pump maintenance. SUD took over maintenance of the pumps in the early 2000s, Beavers said, because customers could not find anyone to service them. A recent change in state law mandates water utilities to service customers’ grinder pumps.

Grinder pump repair and replacement cost SUD nearly $37,000 in 2024, Beavers said. At the November meeting the board discussed how to recover the cost. The options: one, raise sewer rates for all customers; two, charge customers with grinder pumps an $8 monthly fee.

The board will take Summer’s complaint under review.

“I’d feel the same way,” acknowledged board member Johnny Hughes

“I don’t doubt he was told that,” observed Board President Charlie Smith.

“But we don’t know who told him,” board member Donnie McBee pointed out. “It could have been a backhoe operator.”

“I’ve never seen anything in writing [regarding grinder pump maintenance],” Beavers said.

Hughes suggested, going forward, when new sewer customers purchased grinder pumps, the contract stipulated the customer paid a monthly fee subject to change.

In a related issue, Beavers said he received questions about the fee when two or more customers were serviced by the same pump. One-third of the grinder pumps in SUD’s system service more than one residence. Beavers said all customers serviced by grinder pumps would be required to pay the $8 fee, regardless of how many homes the pump serviced.

The board added Chris McBee to the slate of candidates for the upcoming commissioner election for a single open seat. The board will continue to accept candidates until the first of the year. Candidates must be SUD customers and return a petition signed by 10 SUD customers by Jan. 2. Petitions are available at the SUD office. Voting is during regular business hours from Jan. 2–28, the date of the January meeting. The meeting was moved forward one week to allow more time for voting.

In their next bill, Jump Off customers will receive a survey to determine if the customer needs a backflow prevention device. In some circumstances, backflow prevention devices are needed to prevent contaminated or untreated water from entering SUD water supply lines. SUD is required to survey all customers every five years. SUD will survey one area of the district each year, to stagger the workload of follow-up inspections sometimes required by survey responses.