LEBANON, Tenn. (WTVF) — Lebanon leaders have formed a new committee to find a location for a new sewer plant, and some neighbors are already hoping for some added transparency in the process.
Click here for our previous coverage of the efforts to build a new sewer in Lebanon.
The committee held its first meeting this week.
Among the key takeaways: the city wants 60 buildable acres for the facility, and Lebanon leaders have already met with at least one property owner, with a company called Rockwood that sits near the current sewer plant.
The Rockwood property is one of more than a dozen sites under consideration.
“According to the resolution establishing the committee, members are tasked with evaluating all viable sites and using a matrix to rank them,” said Mayor Rick Bell, who is an ex officio member of the committee.
In response to all this, I sat down with Lebanon neighbor Adrema Higgins, who has been closely following the search for a new sewer.
I asked her why the decision for a new location was so important to her.
"It's going to be the future of where I live. My son lives here, you know, and I want the future to be perfect for him," Higgins said.
Higgins wants the committee to be more open about how it is weighing each potential site.
"They need to come up front... Why is this farm being selected, why is this property being selected?" Higgins said.
She also wants to see more everyday residents involved in the process.
"The main thing I would like to see—them add some regular citizens," Higgins said.
The city website lists some citizen members on the committee, however Higgins said many of them have close ties to city officials or have worked for the city in some capacity in the past.
"It makes me feel like... they're the sole decision makers for everything going on in this town," Higgins said.
A decision on a site will need to be made within the next couple of months in order to get design fees paid using American Rescue Plan Act funds.
I reached out to Lebanon's mayor and spoke by phone with a city council member who is sitting on the search committee, but they were not available for an interview.
The committee will next meet on May 27, 2026.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at robb.coles@newschannel5.com.
This story was reported on-air by Robb Coles and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Coles verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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