“Rough ain’t the word,” said Annie Chiodo of the challenges faced by West Point when she started working with the utility district. Westpoint was nowhere near state compliance, and it needed help.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation referred the utility to Communities Unlimited. Under a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Chiodo of Communities Unlimited provided the technical assistance the West Point utility district needed to get back on track and ensure drinking water safety.

The utility’s long-time manager, Linda Misenhimer, had passed away in 2024, leaving a leadership void in the 130-hookup water utility district that serves unincorporated Westpoint, Tennessee. When Misenhimer passed decades of institutional knowledge. In her absence, it took months of concentrated effort to bring the utility district back into compliance with state regulations.

Into the void stepped Chris Sutherland, the utility district’s volunteer board president. The retired airline pilot also serves on the Lawrence County commission and helps lead the Westpoint Community Club.

“I didn’t want to just sit down and twiddle my thumbs,” Sutherland said of his move back to his hometown. Still, he didn’t exactly envision spending his retirement reading water meters.

Testing is done every day. “I’ve got to get the chlorine residual test today,” Sutherland said.

He drives his own vehicle around town to change out meters and figure out where water might be leaking. “I’m on the pointy end of the spear in that regard,” he said with a laugh.

When Sutherland and Chiodo started working to bring the system into compliance, the utility district lacked an office. The board hadn’t met in three years. Records were scattered, the system wasn’t mapped, and some files were missing. The master meter hadn’t been recalibrated since 2007 and the last audit was in 2008. 

Chiodo pulls up photos of the utility’s decrepit water storage tank, a run-over fire hydrant and a cut-off valve with a busted collar. “This girl went to work,” Chiodo said. A former cross-country truck driver, Chiodo cut her teeth in water systems at the Waynesboro, Tennessee plant and shepherded the department through multiple, devastating floods.

“Her and I hit it off perfectly,” Sutherland said. “We’re cut from the same cloth.”

A major line break during bridge construction hampered the utility’s forward momentum. Emergency management provided bottled water and pressured the Tennessee Department of Transportation to fix the problem fast.

Further complications for the West Point Utility District surfaced from the sudden departure of the system’s certified water operator, amid investigations into inaccurately reported sample results. A certified operator hadn’t submitted records in more than three years.

“The public doesn’t fully realize the things we’re trying to deal with,” Sutherland said. “We were trying desperately to drag ourselves back into compliance.”

Lead and copper testing later showed West Point to be within state drinking water parameters.

“We’re 150 percent better than what we were,” Sutherland said of compliance with state regulations.

The most visible sign of their progress is a small, tidy, red-trimmed building, little larger than a glorified garden shed. It is the first office in the history of the utility district. “I’m happy with our progress,” Sutherland said. “I take pride in the fact that we have an office building.” They also hired a certified operator and a bookkeeper, Jamie English, who formerly ran his own computer store. “This is a cooperative effort with all parties involved,” Sutherland said.

The first water rate increase since 2008 will help pay to bring utility infrastructure up to speed. “With 130 customers, it’s not really enough to support this utility,” Sutherland said. The district buys water from nearby Loretto.

After traveling the world, Sutherland moved back to Lawrence County because he remembers growing up in “paradise,” running barefoot and hunting deer. He wanted to share these experiences with his children. “It’s just small-town America,” he said. 

People in Westpoint are sometimes resistant to change, Sutherland said, because they don’t want to lose what they’ve got. “They’re very protective of their family and protective of their lifestyle,” he said. “I’m that way a little bit, too.”

By ensuring the safety and reliability of the water utility district, Sutherland is protecting his family, his neighbors, and the lifestyle he loves in Westpoint.