Sparta Using General Fund For Carter St. Bridge Lighting

Sparta has started the process to install new lighting on the Carter Street Park Walking Bridge.

City Administrator Brad Hennessee said the city is soliciting for bids with the goal to start the project this spring.

“There are some lights on South Carter Park now, and this would be in addition to those,” Hennessee said. “On the north side will be new lights that match the lights that are on the South Carter Street side.”

The city has explored grant funding for the project, but Hennessee said a good fit was not found. Hennessee said instead, the general fund will pay for it. Hennessee said the city wanted to go ahead and look at quotes for the project now due to long lead times.

“Now was the time to bring it up and look and see for quotes and get it in the pipeline for the spring,” Hennessee said.

Hennessee said Sparta’s budget should be healthy enough to take on the expense. Hennessee said other capital projects have came in under budget.

“We’re kind of seeing mixed results on the project work that we are doing plus the other capital items,” Hennessee said. “We’ve had some come in over budget, some come in under budget and some about what we anticipated. So, we think in the end it will be something close to a wash.”