Sparta Purchases Year Supply Of Transformers As Precaution

Sparta has purchased a year’s supply of transformers as a precautionary measure against lead times.

Utility Manager Belva Bess said the electric department wants to avoid getting caught in stormy weather without a healthy supply of transformers.

“They’re telling us now that our lead time for transformers are about 24 to 34 weeks,” Bess said. “That’s if all the metal comes in and they get here. So, we are having really long lead times of getting transformers in.”

City Administrator Brad Hennessee said he recommended the purchase to not take chance with the electric system. Bess said in the past two weeks, four transformers have blown.

“The outages we had, we had a traffic light down on Church Street, that transformer,” Bess said. “With the hotter weather, we’ve noticed more transformers going out.”

The some $68,000 budgeted purchase was approved unanimously Thursday.

In other business, the Board of Aldermen approved the purchase of two police S.U.V.s in the amount of $66,674.00. Police Chief Doug Goff said the dealer has 50 vehicles available, so the city should receive them despite supply issues.

Members of the board also approved purchasing a 1999 line truck from Sparta Electric for the water and sewer department. Public Works Director Dillard Quick said the plan is to purchase a garbage bin and transition the vehicle to a dump truck.