Did you know that there’s a grant program in our state that uses penalty money collected from individuals or companies who are found in violation of the “Dig Law”? Here’s a quick refresher: a violator can be ordered to pay a monetary penalty (a fine). The money goes into something called the “Damage Prevention Fund”, and the Underground Utility Damage Enforcement Board (UUDEB) has an annual window of time where stakeholders can submit a grant proposal for up to $40,000 of the money.
In 2024, Clarksville Gas & Water (CGW) was awarded a grant for awareness and education efforts after submitting a successful proposal to the UUDEB. They received the full grant amount and used it to fund the inaugural issue of a customer-facing magazine called The Service Line. I sat down with CGW Marketing Coordinator, Rhonda Fulton, and Assistant Gas Department Manager, Tyler Hayes, to learn more about their initiative.
CGW first became aware of the grant through their grants analyst, who completed the three-page, short answer, grant application available on the Tennessee Public Utility Commission’s website. Discussions were already underway about publishing a new customer magazine, but they were thrilled to learn of the approval of the grant to support this significant undertaking. Rhonda coordinated the assembly and publication of the magazine with the help of a vendor and members of the management staff at CGW.
Clarksville – the “Queen City” – is the fifth largest city in Tennessee, with just over 180,000 residents. CGW is a municipal utility that provides water and wastewater services to an estimated 220,000 citizens in Clarksville and Montgomery County, and natural gas in the same area plus neighboring counties in both Tennessee and Kentucky. The new magazine reaches around 60,000 customers and around 30,000 digital copies reach their electronic billing customers.
A primary emphasis of their quarterly publication is to help prevent damages to their underground infrastructure by raising awareness. In the Winter 2025 edition, they not only cover the back page with an 811 “advertisement”, but they also have a whole section that talks about the importance of calling before you dig and using safe digging practices.
When asked what the biggest challenge was with putting together the magazine, Rhonda replied, “We wanted to ensure our first publication cover was eye-catching and as interesting as possible so customers would open it and read it. But, if that cover didn’t catch their attention, hopefully they would take note of the 811 graphic and messaging on the back cover.”
In the magazine, CGW shared some numbers of how many locate requests they received from December of 2023 to December of 2024 for each type of facility: gas, water, and sewer. They also included a question-and-answer section for homeowners and other stakeholder groups that may think about doing a digging project. Some of the other sections you will find in The Service Line are “The Manager’s Corner” with CGW’s general manager, customer FAQ’s and feedback, service area projects, recipes, and employee recognition. Tyler said, “It allows us to connect with our customers, communicate what projects we have going on, and overall be more personable with our customers.”
Rhonda and Tyler wanted to make a point of giving credit and a big “thank you” to everyone who contributed to the effort:
Mark Riggins, General Manager, CGW
Carlye Sommers, Grants Analyst, CGW
Macy Mayfield, Graphic Design & Marketing Specialist, CGW
Clarksville’s City Council
Joe Pitts, Mayor, City of Clarksville
Jimmy Settle, Communications Director, City of Clarksville
Casey Williams, Communications Specialist, City of Clarksville
Pioneer Utility Resources
Tennessee 811
The CGW Team earned MVP status this quarter because they used grant funding from the UUDEB in a productive way to share the important message of damage prevention while better connecting with customers across their service area.
Do you know someone in your company that fits the bill for a Damage Prevention MVP? What about someone you work with in the field? I would love to spotlight them for a future issue of this publication. Please email me at jfryer@tennessee811.com