Valerie Smith announced as new director of Water Resources Department

City Manager Darren Gore has approved the appointment of Assistant Murfreesboro Water Resources Director Valerie Smith to the promotion of director of the Murfreesboro Water Resources Department (MWRD), effective Sept. 8, 2024. Smith replaces Gore, who became City Manager, July 2, 2024.

Personnel changes within MWRD come as the department relocates from administrative, customer service, and engineering offices on Broad Street near City Hall to 316 Robert Rose anticipated in December 2024.

Smith graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering. Smith began working for the MWRD in November 1998 as an Engineer in Training, received her State of Tennessee Professional Engineers license in July 2001 and was reclassified as an Engineer in September 2002. Water Resources promoted Smith to Engineering Manager in July 2011 and then to Assistant Director of Engineering & Compliance in July 2013. Smith’s promotion to director of Water Resources became effective September 8, 2024.

In 1999, the Water Resources Department acquired Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) Review Authority, affording the department with “in-house” approval of any water/sewer/repurified water main extensions for development. Under Smith’s tenure, Water Resources approved 1,700 main line extensions.

As Engineering Manager and Assistant Director, Smith had oversight for the Sanitary Sewer Flow Monitoring and Sewer Rehabilitation programs. The department expended $15.2 million through 2021 and has another $16.9 million under contract for sewer infrastructure rehabilitation, reducing infiltration and Inflow along with sewer inflows at the WRRF amid tremendous Murfreesboro growth. This growth has required the extension of sewer mains.

and expansion of pump stations at Overall and Puckett Creek, Rockvale, Salem-Barfield, Elam Farms and Buchannan, allowing the City to extend development.

With the promotion of Smith to director, Water Resources Recovery Facility (WRRF) Plant Manager John Strickland has been promoted as Effective Utility Management (EUM) Coordinator. The EUM Coordinator initiates, monitors, and measures MWRD performance in accordance with the attributes of effective utility management and serves as a technical resource in water and wastewater treatment operations, process evaluation and data management.

The City Water Resources Department hired Strickland as Plant Operator in January 1993 and promoted him to Master Plant Operator I in June 1997. In September 2012, Strickland became superintendent of the Wastewater Treatment Plant then Plant Manager of the WRRF in July 2013. Strickland’s promotion to EUM Coordinator became effective September 8, 2024. Strickland holds a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from Georgia Institute of Technology, a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Computer Information Systems from Middle Tennessee State University and a Post Graduate Public Leadership Credential in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School.

The WRRF, located at 2032 Blanton Drive, formerly known as the Sinking Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, increased capacity 50 percent following a major expansion in 2017. The $30.5 million expansion increased the plant’s processing capacity from 16 million to 24 million gallons per day. The Plant received The William Hunter Owen Award in 2014 as an Outstanding Wastewater Treatment Plant from the Tennessee Water and Wastewater Association and the national Utility of the Future Today award in 2016. The plant also received the Kentucky-Tennessee Operational Excellence Award eleven consecutive years during Strickland’s tenure.

With Strickland’s promotion, MWRD will advertise internally and externally for the vacant WRRF Plant Manager position.

For more information on the Murfreesboro Water Resources Department, visit https://www.murfreesborotn.gov/2635/Water-Resources or call 615-848-3209.