City officials discuss recent paving project

 Sparta Board of Mayor and Aldermen discussed the progress being made on paving projects on several city streets during their most recent meeting.

“The public works department, their crews, water crews, supervisor staff are all juggling several projects,” city administrator Brad Hennessee said.

Hennessee said the paving jobs being completed around the city are a testament to the efficiency of all of the departments and their ability to work together.

“Nearly daily adjustments are having to be made,” he said. “We have a lot of work left to do, but we are trying to devise plans to get those done in a timely manner.”

Hennessee said the paving projects that are creating better roadways inside the city limits wouldn’t be where they are without the local sales tax option that residents voted in favor of last year.

“And that wouldn’t be where it is without Mayor Young and Mr. [Jim] Floyd going door to door,” he said.

Hennessee said the willingness of city officials to take the time to explain in detail to the residents of Sparta the benefits they would be receiving from the increased tax, created the opening for the projects and improvements they are seeing come to fulfilment now.

“They paved the way to the paving,” Hennessee said.

Hennessee continued by saying the project lacks just one mile between Turntable Road and Churchill Drive to reach completion.

“We are hoping money rebuilds, and we can do some more paving this fall,” Hennessee said, as he mentioned that sales tax revenues have been slightly down recently because of the COVID-19 pandemic and reduced spending. “We should be able to look at some streets that don’t have water or infrastructure needs to be completed.”

 Mayor Jeff Young asked about Howell Street and when it would be scheduled to be paved.

“It is the worst in the city and was number one on our list of streets to be paved,” the mayor reminded Hennessee. “We told the people there that it would get done.”

Dillard Quick, public works director, explained there were questions about the integrity of the water and sewer lines on the street that needed to be addressed before the paving could begin.

“It is a 50-to-60-thousand-dollar paving job, and if we have to go back and cut it for manholes and water lines, it will be bad,” Quick said, explaining there had been conflicting opinions on the condition of the lines. “We are scheduling it for sewer line cameras, and, once those are in and we can determine the condition of those lines, Howell Street will be put back to first on the list.”

In other business, the board approved the transfer of bad debts by the Sparta Electric Department and, after some discussion, agreed to look into the logistics of being able to report those debts to the Credit Bureau.

They also approved the solicitation of bids for Body Worn Cameras for the city police department and the purchase of a 2020 Caterpillar 420 Backhoe Loader for the public works department. The board also approved the hiring of two new street laborers.

Under new business the board approved a resolution to endorse the slogan “Sparta, Tennessee – Bluegrass USA” for the gateway monument signs to be erected near the north and south city limits, on Highway 111.