After months of wrangling between the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors and residents of Co-op Road, the board reached a unanimous decision Monday morning: The county will abandon the road and remove all barricades, reopening it to residents.
The motion amends an Oct. 31 vote to abandon the road and allow a railroad company to erect barricades blocking entrance or exit and limiting residents to two access points — Bethel Road and 14th Avenue. Co-op Road is northeast of Columbus off Highway 82 and runs parallel to Military Road.
Columbus and Greenville Railway and Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway use the railroad tracks, which intersect the roads, leaving 35 residents sequestered on the east side. C&G wants to extend the tracks, according to Roger Bell, vice president of business development and former CEO of C&G.
Residents, including attorney Hal McClanahan, contend that limiting the access points created a safety hazard. The Bethel Road and 14th Avenue access points are often blocked by C&G trains, and Bethel Road is only 10 feet wide whereas Co-Op Road is 20 feet wide.
McClanahan appealed to the board once more on Monday, saying in addition to the safety factor, the county’s abandonment will decrease property values.
He asked supervisors to remove the barricades, re-open the road and require C&G to repair the easements along the tracks and maintain them. He said residents are prepared to take the issue to the circuit court.
The board stopped short of making any stipulations about the railroad’s responsibilities, with District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks saying there was “never any malicious intent” in the board’s decision to close the road and it was never their intent to cause a hardship to the residents.
“This is a problem between the railroad and the landowners,” District 1 Supervisor and Board President Harry Sanders said. “… The county should have never been involved in it to start with. … The county doesn’t have any dog in this fight anymore.”
The road is in District 2, which is represented by Bill Brigham, who took office in January. Brigham inherited the issue from previous District 2 Supervisor Frank Ferguson.
In other matters, the board voted 4-1 to reappoint Bart Wise as the business and industry representative on the board of the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau. Brooks cast the lone dissenting vote.
Wise, president of Trustmark National Bank in Columbus, just concluded a one-year term in the position. Fred Kinder also applied.
The board also voted to change county employees’ payment system, holding back one week of pay. Under the current system, employees are paid on the 15th and 31st of the month, but their pay period ends on their payday, so time sheets must be turned in two days before the pay period ends in order to print and distribute the checks. If employees call in sick or don’t come to work on one of those days, they may be paid anyway.
To make the transition easier for employees, one day of pay per pay period will be deducted through May instead of all at once.
The county will also move to a paperless payment system, using direct deposit for payroll checks. Employees who do not have a checking account will be offered a debit card, which will be loaded with their wages each payday.
Trustmark Bank has offered to give $25 to county employees who open an account with them. At the request of Brooks, other area banks will also be given the opportunity to woo the potential new customers.
The board also took the following actions:
· Granted County Purchase Clerk Terry Thompson permission to advertise semi-annual bids for the road department;
· Voted to request $125,000 from the Mississippi Legislature on behalf of the United Way of Lowndes County, which will then distribute them to local agencies from 2012 to 2014;
· Granted County Tax Assessor Greg Andrews permission to hold a late tax sale March 26 for several parcels of land;
· Appointed Lowndes County Chief Deputy Marc Miley as assistant receiving clerk so he can sign for deliveries at the sheriff’s office;
· Signed off on the Southgate Sewer District’s board appointments;
· Re-approved a statewide mutual-aid contract, which states that Lowndes County will come to the aid of other counties whenever there is a natural disaster or other catastrophe;
· Agreed to place a $500 ad in the Tennessee Williams Tribute brochure and a $1,400 ad in Columbus magazine;
· Approved the execution of documents for the Tennessee River Valley Water Management District to begin a dredging project at Magowah Creek to remove silt and undergrowth from the creek.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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