City officials approve appropriations and hear from department heads

 Sparta Board of Mayor and Aldermen addressed business matters during its July 6 meeting and also postponed a special presentation of Life Saving Awards for J.T. King, Justin Cunningham, and Austin Edwards because some recipients were unable to attend the meeting.

Next on the agenda, the board unanimously approved appropriations for Financial Aid to Public Service, Nonprofit, and Charitable Organizations for the 2024 Fiscal Year. The board also approved the City Recorder’s financial reports and soliciting bids for a new 300 horsepower pump for the water plant, resealing and striping the courts at North Carter Park, and the purchase of six streetlight poles and LED lights to finish the lights on Sparta’s east side.

Mayor Jerry Lowery momentarily closed the board meeting to convene a meeting of the Beer Board to rule on an application for an On-Premises Beer Permit for Casa Luna located at 184 Churchill Dr, After responding to Vice Mayor Robert Officer’s question about how the business would ensure that beer would not be served to minors, the board unanimously approved the permit. The mayor closed the Beer Board and reconvened the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

During the department heads’ reports, Electric Utility Manager Belva Bess explained that a recent city power outage was caused by a squirrel. She explained that safety systems designed to protect workers and others from continued electrocution cause power to be cut when a line is grounded, even by a squirrel. As a combination of new and old unfinished business, the mayor called for a solicitation of bids to run cameras in city sewer lines. Lowery said this was something the city really needed to get ahead of. The city recently had a smoke test done of the sewers and is still waiting for those results. The board unanimously approved soliciting those bids.

The meeting ended with citizen comments with Christopher Sapp being the only citizen to speak. Sapp was there to ask the board to consider altering the codes concerning food truck operation in the city. He was upset that a popular food truck business was cited by city code enforcement for connecting to the electric service of the business she was renting parking space from and for not having written permission from a competing brick and mortar business located across the street from her location. Sapp said that it is “very unfair” that a food truck operating on private property would have to acquire permission of another business to operate and that an owner of private property couldn’t choose to share electricity with a food truck operating on their property. The meeting was adjourned without addressing the food truck situation. 

The next meeting of Sparta Board of Mayor and Aldermen will be 5 p.m., July 20, at Sparta City Hall.