Young and Jones are honored

The City of Sparta began their latest meeting with a special order of business. The current board of mayor and aldermen honored the previous mayor, Jeff Young, and long-time alderman Hoyt Jones as they presented them with memorials for the time they served on the board and their dedication and commitment to the betterment of the city.

After a brief ceremony honoring Young and Jones, the current board began conducting the city’s business and worked through the meeting’s agenda.

The first item was an ordinance that would establish Robert’s Rule of Order as the official set of procedures for conducting business at meetings of the board of mayor and aldermen. However, after a discussion, no motion was taken to pass the ordinance as it was determined the item needed more discussion at a later time before being brought up again for a vote.

The board did approve Resolution 22-573 to apply for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation program’s American Rescue Plan funds. The application will include a comprehensive sewer system rehabilitation, along with administration by the Upper Cumberland Development District. The total cost of the project is $1,793,000. The ARP funds will cover $1,072,232.25 of the project, with the city of Sparta being responsible for the remaining $720,767.25.

The next item on the agenda was to make a tax adjustment for the property at 113 Bockman Way that once housed a branch of Citizens Bank. The bank owned the property for just 59 days of the current tax cycle before the county bought the property. The adjustment was to reflect that Citizens Bank would only be taxed for a pro-rated amount based on the 59 days of ownership.

As an order of business, the board approved the solicitation for applications for firefighter as Danny Webb submitted his resignation and will be moving to a different department soon.

Additionally, the board approved an application for a parade permit by Tyler Thompson with the White County High School baseball team. The team will host a fundraiser 5K, on Oct. 29.

Before the meeting was adjourned, the board revisited a discussion that was begun at the first meeting in October. On Oct. 6, alderman Brian Jones had made a motion, which was seconded, to adjust the city fire chief’s pay grade and salary to be the same as that of the city’s police chief. Jones had made the argument that both chiefs were responsible for emergency situations and were of equal importance to the safety of the city. While the motion initially passed by unanimous vote, on Oct. 6, due to Opens Record Law, the motion was not valid as it needed to be put in terms of a Resolution and placed on the agenda.

“We made the discovery [that the motion was invalid] after the motion had passed.  The motion came from the floor and in the motion mentioned two different numbers to raise the pay,” Mayor Jerry Lowery explained. “There was a question to our city attorney about rescinding the first motion from the floor based on the open records law that was made.  The board voted to rescind [the] motion and add [it] to [a] future meeting.”

After listening to reports from each of the city’s department heads and with there being no new or old business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned.

The next meeting for Sparta Board of Mayor and Aldermen will be 5 p.m., Nov. 3, at Sparta City Hall.