Oktibbeha County supervisors had planned to discuss and pass their 4-year road project plan at Monday’s meeting, but they tabled it until the next meeting, June 15.
District 1 Supervisor and Board President John Montgomery said most of the roads on last term’s 4-year plan have been completed thanks to a $10 million bond issue passed in 2017.
“Those roads got done, so that took care of probably three and a half to four years of road work, so the plan we will adopt now will be the updated version that we’ve all been working on,” he told The Dispatch after the meeting.
District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer said the board needs to “establish some consistency” for how to spend money on road projects.
“What needs to happen in my district is different from what needs to happen in (another) district, but if we have some parameters that we agree upon, citizens will be able to come here and say we used these parameters, based on objective input from citizens and supervisors,” Trainer said.
The five roads that will be the county’s top priority are Jeff Peay, Cannon, Harrell, Rice and Poor House roads, one in each district, per a unanimous board vote.
The board held a special-call meeting last week to discuss the road plan, and County Administrator Emily Garrard said she would prefer the supervisors not have to use their allocated $537,000 in road project money for drainage projects. The money could come from a different part of the county budget to give the supervisors more capacity for road repairs, she said.
The supervisors agreed that drainage and flooding is a serious issue in the county, particularly at Hollis Creek. They voted unanimously at the previous meeting to authorize an assessment of the creek, which has flooded residential areas in southern Starkville and Oktibbeha County recently due to the buildup of debris.
The board voted unanimously Monday for Board Attorney Rob Roberson to seek state funding for a Hollis Creek drainage project and to ask for the state Attorney General’s opinion on whether the county can encroach on private property to work on the project.
District 4 Supervisor Bricklee Miller said the county should work with the city to address the creek, since it causes flooding within the city limits as well.
The board took a step toward resolving drainage issues at its May 18 meeting by voting 3-2 to join the Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District. The Tupelo-based state agency does flood control, cleanup and repair projects on waterways of all sizes in 12 northeast Mississippi counties, with Oktibbeha soon to be the 13th. The agency can go on private property to clean up creeks, something the county cannot do without previous consent from property owners.
The board voted Monday to finalize enrollment in the district, including the annual payment of $133,000. Montgomery and Miller voted no at both meetings.
Miller said the board should use the money the county is paying the district — $532,000 in four years — to complete county projects, since membership in the water management district does not guarantee work in Oktibbeha County. District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard said he believes the district will not leave the county hanging.
“If we get one project done in four years and it costs $1 million (otherwise), that’s money well spent,” Howard said.
Trainer said the county should have made the investment years ago.
“We’ve already established we have a problem, and we’re trying to get someone with much more expertise than we do to help address the problem,” Trainer said.
Researching more road bonds
Trainer suggested the board pass another bond issue for road projects “once the dust settles” from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the board voted unanimously to research the feasibility of the option.
Miller said she did not want a bond issue to impose higher taxes on citizens already struggling financially due to the pandemic.
“If we’re going to do a tax increase, I think we need to really think about the pulse of what’s going on in the area and in the state,” Miller said.
Garrard said a revenue bond for road work was refinanced in 2011, a decade after it was first approved, and the county has not generated enough revenue on its own to pay off the bond.
“For the last two or three years, we’ve had to go into a special escrow account to have the money to make that bond payment,” Garrard said.
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.