Addressing the lack of storm shelters in west Lowndes County, the board of supervisors unanimously voted Monday morning to prioritize certain areas west of the Tombigbee River as potential sites for three community storm shelters.
The decision came months after supervisors discussed in May the possibility of installing multiple shelters across the county and pay the cost over several years, The Dispatch reported. The three shelters would be the first batch, said Emergency Services Director Cindy Lawrence.
The prioritized areas for community shelters include the towns of Artesia and Crawford. They also include areas closer to Columbus, such as neighborhoods near the Elm Lake Golf Course, Prairie Waters and houses along Highway 45 South, said District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks, who moved to put those areas at the top of the list Monday.
District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith, who has brought the issue before the board multiple times since January, told his colleagues Monday morning that residents west of the Tombigbee River are in dire need for storm shelters, especially when many of them live in mobile homes and trailer parks. More than 4,000 mobile homes were spread across the county, Smith said in January, with 65 percent of them located in west Lowndes.
“People down there are isolated all by themselves on an island. They travel a long distance to get to a storm shelter,” Smith said.
There is only one storm shelter west of the river, which is located at District 5 road department barn a few miles west of Columbus, The Dispatch reported. The shelter, which allows for roughly 15 people, is mainly for road department employees, Road Department Director Ronnie Burns previously told The Dispatch.
There are only three public storm shelters across the county, all of which are located in school buildings east of the Tombigbee River, Lawrence told The Dispatch on Monday afternoon. The three sites — located respectively at New Hope High School, Caledonia Elementary School and the Career Technology Center on Lehmberg Road — can each hold up to 200 people normally, she said.
But the COVID-19 pandemic will likely reduce the maximum capacity to between 75 and 100 people or even less, Lawrence told The Dispatch. Additionally, the three shelters are only open to the public when school is not in session, she said.
“I know that most times we have storms, it’s daytime — early, sometimes before school is out,” she told The Dispatch. “Schools use their own shelters for their staff and students. That’s why we are trying to purchase something. Now, we may not get every citizen, but try to get every citizen we can.”
District 1 Supervisor Harry Sanders acknowledged the need for more shelters but said the county should focus on more densely populated areas, such as Steens, Caledonia and New Hope.
“I don’t want to eliminate anything east of the river,” he said. “You got a lot of people living there and they don’t have any protections. … One of the criteria we are prioritizing would be where most people live with the least amount of protection. I think we need to look at a real big list before we make a major decision today on where they are going to go.”
Smith disagreed, pointing out the county’s three shelters are all located in east Lowndes.
“I understand what you are saying in terms of numbers. Yes sir, we do need to address the more populated areas, but we’ve got areas that are more sparsely populated that have nothing, nowhere to go,” he said.
The new shelters would each hold roughly 50 people and cost approximately $30,000, Lawrence told The Dispatch. Scouting for potential shelter locations, she said the structures could be placed at county-owned buildings, including schools, community centers and fire departments. The ideal locations would also have parking spaces for residents who drive to the shelters, she said.
In west Lowndes County, the community centers in Artesia and Crawford are good candidates, she said.
To seek funding for the shelters, supervisors also authorized Lawrence to apply for grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Monday. The grants would require a 25-percent match from the county and reimburse the county for the rest 75 percent of the total cost, she said.
During the meeting, supervisors encouraged municipalities, such as Artesia and Crawford, to apply for the grants as well. If they receive funding, the county could spend its money in areas outside those municipalities, Brooks said.
“If they don’t get their funding, they don’t lose their priority,” Brooks said. “Sometimes, small cities are more apt to get stuff than Lowndes County will. For them to not be able to apply, I think would, for the lack of another word, be irresponsible.”
Apart from public shelters, three of the six road department stations are now furnished with shelters that would each house 12 to 15 department employees, whereas stations in Caledonia, Crawford and on Jess Lyon Road are operating without, Lawrence said. Supervisors voted in May to order three more shelters to those stations at a cost of $25,000, she said, and they will be delivered this month.
County gives green light to $500,000 grant application for road extension
The board unanimously voted to apply for a $500,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to help fund a 1.2-mile road extension at the International Paper plant.
The project would provide International Paper employees with a second access route, said Meryl Fisackerly, vice president of economic development for the Golden Triangle Development LINK, which works on the project with the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District (GTPDD). The plant borders the railway on the north, and trains that derailed or parked on the tracks would block the plant’s only entrance and exit, making it hard for employees to get home or come to work, The Dispatch previously reported.
To solve the problem, the project would connect the south end of Manufacturers Drive to Bent Oak Road to the east, looping around the wastewater management plant, Fisackerly said. The new two-lane road would be owned and maintained by the county, she said.
The original estimated cost of the project was $5.3 million, including the cost of paving the road, Fisackerly told The Dispatch. That price tag was reduced to roughly $2.5 million after the GTPDD and the LINK decided to leave the extension as a gravel road, she said.
“It will not just help International Paper. It will help us in our future recruitment efforts, and we still have an industrial site that we market regularly on this road as well,” Fisackerly told the board Monday.
Fisackerly said the LINK is currently seeking funding for the project. Through House Bill 1730, the state Legislature approved the issuance of general obligation bonds to provide $1 million in funding to the project during this year’s session, she said. The county has not received the funds yet, County Administrator Ralph Billingsley told The Dispatch.
If the county receives the $500,000 grant, it will still be responsible for roughly $1 million of the project cost. Fisackerly said the LINK is prepared to ask the state Legislature for funding again. But if the money doesn’t come through, the county would shoulder the cost, she said.
“We are going to continue to tackle the resources on this project,” she said. “The county would be one of those we would eventually ask for funding.”
Yue Stella Yu 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 52 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.