CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – When the City of Clarksville leaders introduced the 2026 budget, they spoke about stormwater drainage being a short- and long-term priority. During the City Council meeting this week, Gas & Water General Manager Mark Riggins expanded on the city’s plans.
“Due to the apparent issues with stormwater throughout the city, in different areas, through many conversations with our department, the Street Department, Mayor’s Office and beyond, we felt the need to at least study the possible need to create a Storm Water Utility,” Riggins said Tuesday.
After a comparison with other utilities, and other cities the size of Clarksville, Riggins said in most cases a Storm Water Utility is overseen by departments that deal with water and/or sewer, not streets. This is why management of the city’s stormwater infrastructure may be moved from the Street Department to Gas & Water, as previously reported.
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Storm water study, hiring of expert
Riggins said in the fiscal year 2026 budget, they’ve proposed two things: budgeting $1 million for a stormwater study and hiring a stormwater operations division manager, who is expected to be an expert in the field. Gas & Water is having a “water reuse” study performed, which is a yearlong study costing a half-million dollars. Riggins expects the stormwater study to take a year as well, but at double the cost.
Gas & Water has been looking into what grant funds are available. If there isn’t a viable grant option, Riggins said they have a list of consulting engineers they could partner with.
‘Get an expert in house and let them drive that study’
As for budgeting for a stormwater operations division manager, Riggins said the idea is for the position to drive the stormwater study.
“Get an expert in house and let them drive that study. See what we actually need and make sure we’re hitting all the parameters of this study,” he said. “The fundamental topics of the study, as you can imagine, would be to survey, inventory and assist the existing infrastructure with miles of ditch, miles of pipe, injection wells, retention basins, things of that nature.”
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Riggins said they will also look at the condition of the existing infrastructure, the need for replacement/expansion in some areas, as well as existing records, permits, easements and FEMA flood maps.
“Another piece that we will be looking into, and I don’t know if this will be included in the study or it will be something that comes later, but also modeling the capacity of the infrastructure and the functionality. We have that with gas, water and sewer now,” he said.
The study will help identify short-term, mid-term and long-term capital improvement projects for what needs to be done. A master plan will also be formed for maintenance of existing infrastructure, the capital projects, and the transition of shifting duties from the Street Department to Gas & Water.
‘There’s not negative tone or connotation’
“I want to stop right there and make sure I say this: What we’re planning on doing, there’s no negative tone or connotation to the Street Department,” Riggins said. “This is something that we see as moving forward. It’s a situation where, without a dedicated funding source, in my opinion – from what I’ve seen in other places and what we’ve looked at – I don’t know if they would ever have the means to do what needs to be done without a dedicated funding source.”
Riggins said staff recruitment will be one of the main parts they’ll have the most influence with in the study. “That’s how we handle that recruitment after the fact,” he said. “In discussions with the mayor, (Street Department Director) David Smith and myself, we’ve made sure to talk to the entire Street Department work force about how we’re going to handle this moving forward. We want to make sure everybody understands that we aren’t talking about anyone losing their job, we’re not talking about forcing anybody to move from the Street Department over to Gas & Water, it would be posting jobs that they can apply for, and if they are the most qualified, they’ll be hired.”
Riggins said by letting the Street Department keep their number of employees and letting Gas & Water deal with stormwater management, the Street Department will now be fully staffed, and they can take positions and reform them. “They’ll be fully staffed for the first time in decades,” he said.
3 flood-prone areas identified
According to previous reports, the Street Department has also been working with a consulting engineering firm to address three flood-prone areas in the city. Clarksville Now confirmed Tuesday that the three areas are Woodstock, Love Street and Elberta Drive.
“While we don’t know yet the official and final price tag for the targeted areas, we are committed to getting this right and are prepared to come back to you for changes in our financing plan,” Mayor Joe Pitts previously said in his budget letter to the City Council.
Last year, the City Council designated $500,000 to study drainage mitigation in the areas of Elberta Drive and Love Drive.
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