Metro Water Services official used his office to benefit developers for years while under FBI investigation, city's own charge letters show

Metro Water Services' internal disciplinary charge letters, obtained by the Nashville Banner, describe former Assistant Director John Honeysucker's 'sustained misuse of official position and Metro Government resources to advance private interests,' including expediting permit approvals for developer Mack McClung's Vastland company and others while requesting cost estimates from those same developers for his own private real estate projects, using his Metro email for private business, and failing to file required financial disclosures from 2020-2023. The FBI executed a search warrant and seized Honeysucker's phone in July 2026; he retired in August 2026 ahead of a disciplinary hearing rather than face termination.