New mayor and aldermen sworn into office Aug. 18

Jerry Lowery was administered the oath of office for mayor by Lynn Omohundro, City of Sparta’s attorney.

Bobby Officer was appointed to serve as the new vice mayor.

Travis McBride, a newcomer to the political arena, will serve as alderman.

Brian Jones, who is a U.S. Air Force veteran with a PhD in business management, was appointed to fill the seat of alderman vacated by Jerry Lowery.

Jim Floyd was re-elected to another term in office and administered the oath of office at the Aug. 18 meeting.

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The Aug 18, meeting of Sparta’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen opened with a special order of business: the administering of the oath of office to the city’s new mayor and the aldermen who were elected, or re-elected, during the Aug. 4 election.

“I would like to congratulate the new aldermen. Welcome to the board and welcome back to a lot of you and welcome to some in new roles,” city administrator Brad Hennessee said and further stated that he and the city’s staff are eager to work with the board and encouraged them to reach out if he could be of any help to them. “We look forward to maintaining the positive momentum that I feel like the city has built.”

The city’s new mayor, Jerry Lowery, was the first to take his oath of office and then take his seat at the center of the board, moving from an alderman’s position into his new role.

Lynn Omohundro, the city’s attorney, administered both Lowery’s oath of office and then those of the returning aldermen, Jim Payne and Bobby Officer, along with a newcomer to the board, Travis McBride.

With the new board seated, a couple of quick business matters were attended to and reports from each of the department heads were heard, following which the new mayor brought up some items for the board to vote on under the ‘new business’ section of the agenda.

“I would like to recommend to the board that we appoint, by board approval, Mr. Bobby Officer,” Mayor Lowery listed his first item under new business as the appointment of vice-mayor. “He has been an alderman for many years and has always had the good of the city in mind.”

The vote for the vice-mayor was confirmed with a unanimous roll call vote, with the exception of Officer who abstained from voting for himself.

The second item of business that Lowery brought to the board was the appointment of a new alderman to take the chair that he had vacated when being elected mayor.

“I would like to recommend to the board for approval Mr. Brian Jones,” Lowery said, reminding the board that the appointment will be for only the two years that remained on his previous position before the seat is up for election and then read Jones’s qualifications for the position. “He is a resident of Sparta. He has a bachelor’s degree from MTSU. He has an MBA from Vanderbilt. He has a PhD in business management from the University of Pittsburgh. He is a United States Air Force officer and veteran, a former Air Force pilot. He flew [19] missions in Desert Storm. He has 22 years as a professor at Tennessee Tech, teaching business at the college level. He’s been the chief financial officer for a private school system where he was responsible for a $20 million budget, and he coordinated several building projects for the school system. I think he’s going to bring a wealth of knowledge and business practices and his savvy accounting principles and conservative values. I would like to recommend to the board that we appoint Brian Jones as alderman.”

Once again, the board approved Lowery’s appointee with no objections, and Jones was administered the oath of office and then given a seat among the other aldermen.

The next meeting of the Sparta Board of Mayor and Aldermen, which will be the first complete meeting with the new sitting board, is scheduled for 5 p.m., Sept. 1, 2022, at Sparta City Hall.