SPARTA — The city offices of this booming Gallatin County farming town are bursting at the seams.

        The Sparta City Building, which holds the fire and police departments, as well as the city clerk's office, measures a snug 36 feet by 24 feet.

        There are no partitions in the one-room office, which at one time was a carryout store, said city clerk Jayne Smith, and it can be a next- to-impossible work environment for the three city departments.

        For instance, an eight-ve hicle pileup Tuesday on Interstate 71 — only a quarter-mile from the offices — caused a commotion in the tiny building on Boone Road.

        “It was total chaos,” Ms. Smith said. “I wasn't able to do anything because of the police and the scanners and the firemen coming in and out. It's all in one room and everybody can hear everybody else.”

        Things could be worse, though. Two years ago, the city offices were in even smaller quarters — an 8-foot-by-10-foot room in the firehouse, Ms. Smith said.

        The city, which has seen its population nearly double in 10 years — from 133 in 1990 to 230 in 2000 — is in the initial stages of relocating. The city has no budget for a new building.

        Ms. Smith attributes the growth not to the Kentucky Speedway, which opened in 2000, but to the city's soon-to-be-constructed public sewer system.

        “Everybody's got their own septic tanks, and it's a mess,” Ms. Smith said. “They are knee-deep in some of their back yards. We've never had a sewage system, that's what's bringing all the growth.”

        Bill Osborne is general manager for Carrollton Utili ties, the company that will be in charge of Sparta's planned 18-mile, $7-million sewer system. He said that in his experience, a new sewer system “absolutely” increases an area's population and development.

        Construction is under way in nearby Glenco on a portion of the Sparta system. Carrollton Utilities is under a 240-day contract for the job.

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