10% Sparta City Employees In Quarantine

Ten percent of city of Sparta employees are currently quarantined from COVID exposures.

City Administrator Brad Hennessee said having eight employees unavailable makes daily operations a challenge.

“We have had to shift people around a little bit,” Hennessee said. “Have people that normally work day shifts work night shifts. That type of thing. So far, our city staff, the department heads along with staff members have all been cooperative.”

Hennessee said many of these vacant positions need certifications limiting in house replacements.

“We appreciate their cooperation and their efforts,” Hennessee said. “For the most part, these have been jobs that have some sort of certification that not every city employee has. Our pool to draw from has been a little limited because of that, but so far, everybody has done everything they can do to keep things going.”

The quarantines are evenly spread between four departments. Public works, the Police Department and the Fire Department have seen some cases of overtime work due to the limited staff.

“We have tried to minimize that as much as possible,” Hennessee said. “But, there has been some do to people picking up an extra shift or part of a shift. If we know it and can plan for it, we have asked some of the employees to take off early one day if they know they are going to work in another area the next day.”

Hennessee said most of the employees will return in the coming weeks.