Sparta Preparing For White County To Sell Its Landfill

Sparta City Administrator Brad Hennessee said the Board of Aldermen needs to be prepared for the county to sell its landfill.

Hennessee told the Board Tuesday night in a work session that the city has a backup plan prepared. Hennessee said the city needs concrete information from the county before making a decision though.

“It appears to me, and I’m not trying to speak for anybody else,” Hennessee said. “My job is to look out for the best interests of the city of Sparta. My instinct tells me that White County’s preferred option is to sell their landfill.”

Hennessee said if a private company took over the landfill, it would be too expensive for Sparta to use. Hennessee said the Board at some point will have to make the decision to continue the relationship with the county landfill or hull garbage somewhere else. Hennessee said in his opinion, the city is more likely to cut ties with the county.

“In my opinion, that is where we are heading,” Hennessee said. “I reached out to the county executive. They had a meeting with TDEC last week. I’ve asked if the timeline has been updated or changed. I have not got an answer on that. I’m guessing the answer is likely to be no, so we can’t let this just linger on forever. We will continue to march with this, and we will come back to the board with a recommendation when something more definitive comes to light about the timeline.”

Hennessee said originally, the landfill cell was to be closed for no more than six months. Hennessee said from his experience, the landfill cell could be closed up to two years. Hennessee said the city’s current operation cannot function for that long.

“It has worked so far but until we get the tractor and a trailer we are one busted hose away from being on the side of the road and can’t move our garbage,” Hennessee said. “I have talked to Southern Central, Iron and Metal. That’s where the transfer station is that we are going to right now. If we do have some kind of break down, they do have a truck that will connect to our trailer that will keep us going until we have that situation repaired. But, it could be to the point that it is enough time lost that we are sunk anyways.”

Hennessee said in order to separate the city from the county, Sparta would need its own property for brush disposal. Hennessee said that would mean a permitting process with the state as well as finding a site.

“Right now under the agreement the city and county works under, they are still taking our brush at the landfill,” Hennessee said. “So to separate us from the White County landfill, we have got to have a place to take our brush. My experience with that is that it is going to be four to five acres, needs to be clear and relatively flat, needs to be fenced and has to be permitted by the state.”

As for trash, Hennessee said the plan would be to buy a tractor trailer, another transfer trailer and hire a driver. Hennessee said the overall cost would be about half a million dollars.

Sparta traditionally used the county landfill for brush and waste disposal. The cell that took waste recently closed for study causing the city to divert its trash daily to McMinnville.

A repair of the city’s second trailer will be on the agenda Thursday night to help the current situation.