Committee makes progress on Starkville Municipal Complex Starkville Aldermen Jeremiah Dumas, left, Roy A. Perkins and Mayor Parker Wiseman are three of the four members of the newly formed municipal complex committee. Alderman Richard Corey, not pictured, is the fourth member. / Tim Pratt
The city of Starkville is set to form a citizens committee to help determine a site for a new municipal complex.
Each member of Starkville's newly formed municipal complex committee, which is made up of aldermen Jeremiah Dumas, Roy A. Perkins and Richard Corey, along with Mayor Parker Wiseman, plans to nominate two people to serve on the citizens committee. Wiseman also plans to nominate a chairman, which would bring the number of citizens committee members to nine.
The city's municipal complex committee will recommend to the entire Board of Aldermen Tuesday which nine people will serve on the citizens committee. The group was still undecided on potential candidates Thursday, except for Perkins, who said he would like to see one of his constituents, former Starkville public works director Bill Webb, serve on the citizens committee.
"I think it is very important for the public to be involved in this (municipal complex) process from the beginning," Perkins said.
Once the Board of Aldermen selects the members of the citizens committee, the group will report to the city's municipal complex committee, who will then report to the full Board of Aldermen. The two committees will not only look at prospective sites for a municipal complex, but also the size and scope of the project, what functions the complex would serve and other issues.
During the city's municipal complex committee meeting Thursday, the group agreed to recommend the city retain Gary Shafer as the main architect for the project. Shafer has a previous contract with the city which dates back to the Board of Aldermen's attempt to construct a municipal complex in 2004.
Starkville City Attorney Chris Latimer will be instructed to work with Shafer's attorney to amend the 2004 contract and keep Shafer on as the main architect, and serve as a consultant throughout any feasibility studies, Wiseman said.
Perkins said he hopes a feasibility study can be completed and a concrete municipal complex construction proposal can be ready for a public vote by April 2011. Considering construction could take anywhere from 18 months to two years, depending on the scope of the project, Perkins said he hopes the municipal complex will be complete by the end of the current Board of Aldermen's term in 2013.
