At the Jan. 5, 2026 meeting of Akron City Council, a Ward 9 resident stood before council members, tears streaming as she told her heartbreaking sewer story.

Tiffany Smith has lived on Overlook Drive for 21 years. She worked for years in the juvenile court system and served more than a decade as a probation officer. But on Monday night, she was there not as a professional, rather a mother fighting to keep her home and access to clean water.

“I have been having issues with the city for two years,” Tiffany told council. “I have been bullied by the sewer department for two years. My home and my families’ lives depend on making a wrong, right. I am in imminent jeopardy of losing my home of 21 years.”

Tiffany traced the nightmare back to February 2023, when Akron’s sewer department came to her home after a massive tree on a nearby city-owned vacant lot infiltrated her sewer line. What followed, she says, was a series of decisions made over objections from professionals, decisions that permanently damaged her property.

She explained after one drain company could not clear the blockage, a second company was brought in. Workers warned jetting the clay pipes common in the Kenmore neighborhood could cause serious damage.

“They (Superior Drain) opposed it because they said a jet would break the clay pipes,” Tiffany said. Despite those warnings, she said city officials demanded the jetting go through.

“After flooding my garage and basement, with a combined 100 gallons of sewage, 20 minutes later while jetting, water erupted underground like a volcano,” she told council. “Superior workers yelled, ‘We busted the line,’ and they stopped.”

According to Tiffany, city officials assured her the sewer line would be dug up and repaired. Crews began excavation, but soon realized they needed equipment larger than what the city owned. Then Kenmore Construction was called in.

That’s when everything fell apart.

“After 30 minutes, the city and the construction company began to disagree about liability,” Tiffany explained. “The foreman told me they had an emergency and would be back.”

They never returned.

“The excavator was taken off my property after midnight,” she said. “And they never came back.”

Tiffany told council instead of help, she received a letter from Akron’s law office demanding she stop contacting anyone involved.

“They told me to cease and desist,” she said.

Since then, Tiffany said, the pressure has only increased. Letters, visits, and warnings followed, all demanding she pull permits and pay roughly $30,000 for repairs using a city-approved contractor. If she doesn’t comply, the city has warned the cost could be added to her property taxes over the next 10 years.

The human toll this has taken was evident as Tiffany described daily life inside her home.

“For two years, my kids haven’t been able to have company over,” she said. “For two years, Akron’s sewer and maintenance have told me not to put tissue down my toilet. For two years, we have used plastic bags to dispose of tissue after wiping.”

She also told council during this time, city representatives suggested she commit fraud by purchasing sewer protection coverage and filing a claim without disclosing the known damage.

“No drain company will come and fix the mess the city left,” Tiffany said. “Remaining silent is complicit.”

Tiffany came to the meeting with her husband and their three children. One of her sons has disabilities and serious medical needs.

“He may not look like it, but one of my sons has a slew of medical conditions and is disabled,” she told council. “Water is life. I have a letter from his pediatrician that clean water is absolutely necessary.”

She said she recently received another letter warning if she does not comply with the city’s demands, her water service could be shut off as early as Jan. 16.

“I have a dug-up sewer line and no one will help me,” Tiffany told council she has documentation to support every claim she made: texts, letters, emails, Ring doorbell footage, and records she believes show the city is trying to cover up what happened.

While residents are typically limited to three minutes during public comment, Tiffany spoke for nearly five. A council member eventually said they would speak with her privately and called a five-minute recess.

WAKR has reached out to Chris Ludle, Akron’s Public Service Director, inviting him on the Ray Horner Morning Show Friday, to discuss Tiffany Smith’s case. We will update this story on Ludle’s response when it’s available.