When city officials credited the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors as partners in procuring $2 million to renovate the Highway 82 bridge across the Tombigbee River at a press conference Wednesday, the supervisors were as surprised as anyone.
“I think one of the reasons we”re concerned is nobody on this board knew there was a $200,000 obligation out there for this board until Wednesday,” said Board President Harry Sanders Monday at the supervisors” April meeting. “And it was announced in front of everybody and the highway commissioner (Northern District Transportation Commissioner Bill Minor) that the county was responsible for half of a $400,000 (match) we didn”t know anything about and it”s not in our budget. And my understanding was the city was going to put up the match through this process, then we get surprised that we have to do it.”
The announcement served as a reminder that the board had pledged in 2006 to chip in $200,000 when the city first applied for the bridge restoration grant from the Mississippi Department of Transportation. However, after Columbus put up $200,000 — independent of the match funds — to conduct engineering and environmental survey studies, MDOT funds ran short.
“There wasn”t enough funding to complete the project,” said George Irby, Columbus” director of federal programs and building inspections. “We got our foot in the door by putting up $200,000 for the study. MDOT said if they got money in the future, then it would become available.”
MDOT surprised the city last month when it notified Irby the funds were again available, and Irby admits he made a mistake by not reminding the supervisors of their four-year-old commitment before the press conference announcing the grant.
In Monday”s meeting, District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks asked Board Attorney Tim Hudson to investigate whether or not the supervisors remain legally obligated to pay the $200,000.
“That”s a lot of money right now for a bridge when there are some other things (that need funding),” said Brooks. “If we”re legally obligated, we”ll do what we”ve got to do. I just want clarity on what has got to happen.”
Sanders agreed the county is ill-prepared to make such a large donation for a recreation project.
“Economic times have changed, and it”s not in our budget. We were surprised (by the announcement). Blind-sided, I would say,” said Sanders.
Questions over the necessity of spending $200,000 to turn a bridge into a walkway have infiltrated city politics as well, serving as the catalyst to a physical altercation between Mayor Robert Smith and Ward 5 Councilman Kabir Karriem Thursday night.
Irby was on his way to the state”s capital Monday to speak with MDOT officials to find out what would happen if the county could not pay its half of the match funds.
“I doubt if that would derail (the grant),” he said, speaking from his cell phone on the way to Jackson.
The city is obligated to provide 20 percent of the total cost of the bridge renovation to receive an 80-percent grant from MDOT; $2 million is an estimated total, and the cost to the city and county could be less than $200,000 each after a bid is accepted.
Irby and Sanders spoke Monday morning prior to the supervisors” meeting and discussed whether the city could give the county until November, in fiscal year 2011, to provide the match funds. Irby said he would ask MDOT Monday when the match funds were due.
In other matters, the board:
- Authorized $150,420 for a rail line project near Severstal and $8,508 for fencing near Stark Aerospace, both already budgeted for.
- Gave County Fire Administrator Sammy Fondren permission to pursue $64,264 in fire prevention grant money to purchase a training trailer.
- Gave Road Manager Ronnie Burns permission to advertise for a part-time mechanic opening for six months while an injured county mechanic recovers at home. Maximum pay for the job is $17 per hour and will be adjusted according to the applicant”s experience. Supervisors also authorized Burns to give away leftover, unusable pieces of plastic culverts shorter than three feet.
Burns also informed the board that work was completed on the last road on the county”s road plan Friday, but money is already being sought for repairs to additional roads.
District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith suggested special consideration be given to Godfrey Road and Lott Field Road near Crawford.
- Passed a resolution to support the Mississippi National Guard and Military Reserve at the request of Lt. Col. Aubrey Ray and John B. McRaney of the Mississippi Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.
- Heard from Southern Procurement Services owner Vaughn Blaylock, who offered his company”s services in administering reverse auctions to drive down bid prices for construction and equipment purchases.
- Heard from Department of Human Services Director Yvonne Brown regarding the Alternative Work Experience Community Service Program.
The program falls under the agency”s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families work program.
A federal law now requires personal responsibility and work responsibility, “calling for participants who are on public assistance to become self-sufficient,” Brown explained this morning.
“The whole objective is to improve the participants” work skills by offering training and experience,” she said.
In exchange for their public-assistance benefits, various agencies place TANF clients in positions to receive skills and training, at no cost to the agency.
Brown is asking Lowndes County to partner with the DHS and “to receive a many clients as they can place.”
The board took no action on the request.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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