Sparta Saves Nearly $700K On Water Department Generator

The city of Sparta saved north of $500,000 on a generator for the Sparta Water Department Thursday night.

Sparta Mayor Jerry Lowery said the city bought the semi-truck-sized generator for some $73,000 from the city of Brentwood. City Administrator Tonya Tindle said a generator of that size typically costs some $750,000. Lowery said the city originally bid some $130,000 but was turned down.

“Apparently there was some kind of issue that they didn’t want to let go of it at that time for that price,” Lowery said. “Then they were sitting down there with it and decided to resell it, and this time it came in at lower bid and we got it. I don’t exactly know what happened on their end, but I’m excited on our end for it.”

Lowery said the city will incur an additional expense to transport the generator because it will require a crane to get it onto a truck. He said a travel expense feels like a small price to pay.

“If the power goes out or there’s some reason that we can’t run power, we can turn that on and control and have the water, the power to run the pumps to supply water to the city of Sparta,” Lowery said. “And it’s something that we have to have.”

Lowery said Public Works Director Dillard Quick deserves the thanks for a great deal on the extra insurance for the water department. He said Quick closely monitored the city’s high bid until it closed around 8:00am on a Sunday morning.

The Kohler Power Systems 550 will sit on a pad already in place at the water department. Lowery said there is no installation timeline as of now. A trailer has been secured to transport it.

In other business, the Sparta Board of Aldermen approved an ordinance to rezone a property at 305 South Young Street from Residential to Commercial. Lowery said a gas station has been on the property for many years. He said upon the owner making plans for renovation and adding another gas station to the property, the city discovered that the property had not been zoned appropriately in all of the years that the gas station had already been there.

“Nothing is changing other than we need to update our records,” Lowery said. “I don’t know how it slipped through the cracks. That was before my time.”

The Board also approved a lease agreement for the Sparta Senior Citizens Center. City Attorney Caroline Sapp said the lease was adjusted to delete a line about the Sparta Senior Center Treasure Chest. She said the Board is still considering whether it will be included in the rent.