Parking overnight in any city park is now illegal

The City of Sparta’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen held their first, and only, meeting of the month on July 17. The altered schedule came after the Juneteenth and July 4th holidays created some rescheduling for the board. During the meeting, aldermen made decisions about safety, purchasing, and personnel while also hearing updates from the city’s various departments.

In the interest of safety and preserving the integrity of the city’s parks, the board approved a new ordinance that makes it illegal to park overnight at any of the city’s parks. City administrator Tonya Tindle told the aldermen the city has been having issues with activities in the park that are taking place after dark as well as an increase in people staying in the parking lots overnight. She explained that the city’s police officers had no way of correcting the problems or issuing citations as there was no city ordinance forbidding staying in the lots overnight.

With the new ordinance, which the board approved unanimously, it is now against city regulations to park overnight in any city park or parking lot associated with them. Police officers are able to issue warnings and/or citations beginning at 10 p.m. The ordinance does make an exception for those people using the city’s EV charging stations for the purpose of recharging their vehicles at any hour.

In other business, Mayor Jerry Lowery presented the idea of creating a Reserve Firefighter Program similar to the city’s Reserve Police Officer Program. Lowery said he felt the success the city has had with the police program in terms of training new officers both to assist full time officers as well as being ready for the possibility of full-time employment when a vacancy arises could be duplicated within the city’s fire department. The board approved Shayne Johnson and Jordan Johnson as being the city’s first two sworn-in reserve firefighters.

The board listened to updates from the heads of the city’s various departments, including the codes department. The codes department informed the aldermen that permits have been issued to Waffle House and the company is permitted to begin work on their new Bockman Way location. It was also stated that work on the new Dairy Queen is progressing, while Home Church had plans to remodel the Old Depot location.

Mayor Lowery also informed the board that a groundbreaking was held at the location of the future Splash Pad that is to be installed where the old city ball parks were located.

“Hopefully we will see some action soon,” the mayor said, adding that he hoped to see the splash pad opened sometime during the 2026 summer. “This was planned three years ago, and it has taken this long to get started.”

The next meeting of Sparta Board of Mayor and Aldermen is scheduled for 5 p.m.,  Aug. 7, at city hall. All of the city’s meetings are open to the public and are offered for viewing via livestream on the city’s YouTube channel.