Lowndes County supervisors voted Monday to approve advertising to solicit public comment on a proposed land swap between the county and its school district.
Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders made the proposal near the end of the board’s regular meeting, saying the move will help ensure the county has access to state grants that are being jeopardized by the current use of the New Hope girls’ softball field, which was built through a grant issued to the county. The New Hope High School softball team’s field is on county-owned land.
“What has happened is that because that softball field was built through a grant, it has to be open to the public,” Sanders said. “For the past 12 years, the state has done an audit every three years and what they have found is that, at some point in time, the field isn’t open to the public.”
A grant request that would have funded a playground at the Columbus Soccer Complex was rejected because of the restricted access to the New Hope field, Sanders added.
Sanders said that the school district has agreed to a land-swap of a comparable size located near the school. He said the swap would relieve the county of any obligation to keep the field open to the public.
“That will allow us to continue to get grants from the state without having to worry if there is a padlock on that field,” Sanders said.
Sanders said to proceed with the swap the county is required to advertise its intentions and invite the public to make their feelings known.
“This isn’t a request for a public hearing,” Sanders said. “It’s public comment. If people have something to say, they can add their comments to the record.”
In other business
The Board also approved a 10-year exemption for CalStar for its expansion, which will add 36 jobs and increase the value of the property to $4,937,640.
Supervisors also awarded a bid for concrete work at the county-owned site being leased by Mississippi Steel Processing. The concrete work provides additional parking on the site and is funded through a grant the county obtained to improve the infrastructure to make it more appealing to industry.
Two bids were opened Monday with Phillips Construction winning the job with a low bid of $157,254. Osborne Construction submitted a bid of $158,365.
The board also approved a change in the polling place in Caledonia. After today’s run-off election, voters in the area will vote at the new Caledonia Community Center at 205 S. Main St.
The board also heard updates on bond refinancing, the county’s Community Counseling programs and the county fire district.
County fire administrator Sammy Fondren said new fire stations in Crawford and Caledonia are ready for concrete work and that the metal buildings have been ordered.
“The wet weather has been a problem for us,” Fondren said. “But we now have all the dirt sites completed and we are ready to pour the concrete.”
Supervisors also reappointed two members to the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau board. Rissa Lawrence and Scott Hannon were both reappointed. Lawrence and Hannon were the only applicants for those positions.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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