Restoring the old river bridge mostly will benefit tourism, the Columbus City Council said Tuesday, asking the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau to pay a required $400,000 match for funds to do the work.
The council unanimously voted to approve a resolution asking the CVB to pay the match on a $2 million Mississippi Department of Transportation grant to renovate the historic Highway 82 bridge across the Tombigbee River into a pedestrian walkway.
Mayor Robert Smith noted Board President and District 1 Supervisor Harry Sanders said the supervisors Thursday will be asked to approve a similar resolution; previously, the city had asked the county, which owns the bridge, to pay $200,000 toward the grant, with the city to pay the other half.
Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens and Ward 4 Councilman Fred Stewart were absent from Tuesday”s meeting, but Smith said both had expressed their support of the resolution to him.
“I think this is one of the missions of the CVB board, to fund capital improvements, things that enhance tourism to our city, which I think the bridge is going to do,” said Sanders. “I think it”s a long-term investment that needs to be done. The tourism board has over $1 million in their account and they can do that. I think that”s their responsibility to do that.”
CVB CEO James Tsismanakis this morning said he did not find out about the resolution until Tuesday afternoon.
“I heard some things about it during the afternoon. The council has asked to meet with us, and we have put them on the agenda for the meeting,” he said. We will find out more then.”
The CVB board of directors next will meet Monday at 4 p.m. at the Stephen D. Lee home at 317 Seventh St. N.
Staff Writer Allen Baswell contributed to this story.
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