Everyone is ready for the opening of Oktibbeha County School District”s new central office.
OCSD Superintendent James Covington is ready to get his staff out of the cramped cubicles at the old Kroger building on Louisville Street. County Administrator Don Posey is ready to stop paying $4,500 a month to lease the old Kroger building. And Oktibbeha Board of Supervisors President Marvell Howard is ready to see how the new Unity Park is received.
Posey said Tuesday the $1.98 million, 9,000-square-foot, two story building on Main Street is on pace to be completed some time in July. The project is the culmination of a considerable amount of legwork on behalf of the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District, which secured a $1.67 million federal grant for the building after Hurricane Katrina tore the roof off the old OCSD administration building.
After receiving a paltry $85,000 from insurance following the storm damage — which holds the distinction of Katrina”s northernmost damage in Mississippi — the county began looking for locations to house its school district administrators. Initially, it looked as though Oktibbeha was ineligible to receive federal grants due to the storm. But during a meeting with GTPDD Project Analyst Phylis Benson, Posey asked if the school district qualified for the Community Development Block Grant since it met the criteria of serving a population which included 51 percent of families living on low-to-moderate income.
Benson began submitting paperwork for the grant request and Oktibbeha made the cut.
Howard credits the previous board with championing the project through its early stages.
“Then the new board picked up right where they left off,” he said.
He said the $310,000 in matching funds required of the county was never a road block because the county would spend that much after six years of renting the current OCSD office space anyway.
Anco Construction of Corinth began work on the building in June 2010 and, despite requesting a 30-day extension due to lost time this winter, will still finish ahead of the 15-month timeline Posey estimated for completion.
Now invested parties are eagerly anticipating the benefits of the new spot.
“We”re excited to have a new place to finally call home,” said Covington, who was a district employee but not superintendent when Katrina damaged the old building. “It”s been over five years since the district had a place to operate.”
He said parking will likely be an issue downtown just as it is at the Louisville Street location, but he and the 14 central office employees are more than willing to make that trade.
“The building we”re in makes it hard to conduct business because we”re set up in cubicles. It leads to very little privacy when conducting business. We have board meetings in there and administrative meetings in there,” said Covington.
Howard believes a splash of grass and trees called Unity Park will be the crowing jewel of the building. The small yard located behind the building will feature benches and plaques commemorating seminal moments in Oktibbeha”s African American history, such as the first black elected official in 1870 up to Sylvester Croom”s hiring as the Southeastern Conference”s first African American head football coach.
Posey said the park was added in part to offer a space for memorials after the board had to begin turning down requests to post new memorials in front of the courthouse.
“They were starting to look like tombstones out there and it got to be a hassle for the board,” he said.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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