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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Nashville Banner) — Metro Water Services is taking steps toward possible discipline of John Honeysucker, the department assistant director currently on leave amid a federal investigation.
A charge letter was issued to Honeysucker on Wednesday by Metro Water human resources manager Juanita Davis.
It states that federal agents seized Honeysucker's Metro-issued phone on the night of July 21. Rather than informing MWS leaders about the seizure, Honeysucker the following morning contacted an IT colleague and said he had "messed up" his phone during flooding at his home, according to the letter. He showed up to Metro Water before 6 a.m. the morning after his phone was seized, according to employee access logs obtained by the Banner, but he arrived similarly early on other days.
"The department's concern is not based upon the service of the federal warrant itself," the letter continues. "Rather, the concern arises from your conduct following that event. Specifically, you did not inform [department leadership] that your Metro-issued device was seized by the federal government, and you were dishonest ... as to why you needed a replacement cellphone."
The actions "raise serious concerns regarding [Honeysucker's] judgment, and accountability," Davis wrote. The letter lists potential violations of civil service rules regarding dishonesty, behavior that discredits the department or Metro and conduct unbecoming of an employee of the Metropolitan Government.
The department is considering disciplinary action, including demotion, suspension or dismissal, according to the letter.
A disciplinary hearing has been scheduled on Monday morning. Honeysucker signed the letter indicating he plans to attend the closed meeting. He confirmed to the Banner he had received the letter and said his “attorney will be advising from that point.”
The Banner reported last week that Honeysucker had been placed on administrative leave following the execution of a federal search warrant. Earlier this week, the Banner reported that Nashville businessmen Roy Dale and Mack McClung were also subjects of the investigation. Federal authorities have not confirmed the nature of the investigation but a court docket entry indicates investigators are interested in the tax information of Honeysucker and entities tied to Dale and McClung. The Banner also reported that Dale and Honeysucker worked on a real estate project together.
Honeysucker started at Metro in 2014 and has been steadily promoted, seeing his pay increase from $44,000 to $143,000 over the years.
The employee reviews included in Honeysucker’s Metro personnel file, obtained by the Banner, are glowing.
The most recent evaluation, a 2023 review signed by Metro Water Director Scott Potter, expressed some concern about injuries on duty and preventable vehicle accidents in the waste division managed by Honeysucker but was otherwise enthusiastically supportive.
“He will always do the right thing and will refuse to do otherwise,” Potter wrote. “We need more people like John Honeysucker in service to our city.”
The review praised Honeysucker for managing the response to the collapse of Metro’s trash pickup contractor.
“There is no one in Metro Government who could have accomplished what John has in the past year with Waste Services,” Potter wrote. “The level of daily challenge of meeting the demands of inadequate staffing, uncertain fleet availability, and the Red River bankruptcy (and the utter lack of demonstrated competence by this company and their representatives), placed incredible stress on John. ... It is not possible to adequately express the extraordinary challenges John met and subdued. … Most people would find John's operating environment overwhelming and would become irritable due to the unrelenting stress. John has an aura of calm competence: there is no drama, no panic. It provides great comfort to me as a citizen of Nashville that John is a member of the core leadership team at MWS that will lead this utility for the next 15 years.”
Earlier reviews were similarly positive.
“Above all, I want him to know that I trust him,” supervisor Jim Snyder wrote in 2018. “We are very fortunate to have him at MWS.”
This article first appeared on Nashville Banner and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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