Oktibbeha County will spend whatever is necessary to repair the county lake dam from its American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Just how much that will be remains a matter of some debate.
Supervisors on Monday unanimously approved dedicating ARPA funds to repair the dam, which purportedly fell into danger of imminent failure in January 2020. The lake was drained and has sat virtually empty since.
The county will receive roughly $9 million in ARPA by the end of next year. However, the county is awaiting a report from Flowood-based Pickering Firm to determine what the exact cost will be.
Original estimates for total replacement were $8 million, but a preliminary report from Pickering said necessary repairs would cost closer to $2 million, board attorney Rob Roberson told The Dispatch on Thursday. Pickering’s final report is expected some time in January, he said.
“The dam could cost $2 million, or it could cost $10 million,” Roberson said. “We really just don’t know until that report comes back.”
Representatives from lobbying-firm Clearwater Group met with the board Monday to discuss ARPA funds and the county’s potential legislative plan for getting state matching funds in the upcoming session for ARPA. Broad usage categories for ARPA include tourism, water/sewer/broadband, assistance to businesses and families disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and premium pay for public employees, according to federal guidelines. Based on a priority list the county provided to Clearwater of projects that it wanted funded, associate lobbyist Ryker Lackey suggested fixing the lake as part of ARPA’s tourism feature because Clearwater does not think the Mississippi Legislature would fund its repairs otherwise.
“Tourism is one of the impacted industries that you’re allowed to use ARPA funds on,” Lackey said. “Based on other conversations with relative entities … a lot of other counties are starting to push the envelope because they don’t know what to spend the money on, and a lot of them are looking toward tourism.”
Supervisor Marvell Howard, who represents District 3 where the lake sits and has been lobbying for repairs for almost two years, said the board has put the issue off for too long.
“This is a board’s problem that the board is going to have to solve regardless,” Howard said. “If it takes the ARPA money, it takes the ARPA money, but to keep bouncing this thing around, the board knows it’s sitting there. The board knows it’s gotta be fixed. Let’s fix it and move on.”
Longstanding problems with the dam
Several residents around the lake were forced to evacuate after County Engineer Clyde Pritchard reported the near breach in early 2020, but the lake has had issues dating back to the 1970s, Roberson told The Dispatch. The county has said previously that the solution to fixing the dam’s issues is to remove the existing dam and build a new one that would better control the water level.
Roberson, along with Howard and District 4 Supervisor Bricklee Miller, met with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality at the end of November to discuss the next steps moving forward with the lake. Once Pickering completes its investigation and core analysis at the dam, the county will submit that information to MDEQ, along with an application for a modification of repairs, supporting design plans and hydraulic modeling for MDEQ to review and approve.
The preliminary report Pickering conducted Aug. 12 notes the dam is not an immediate threat to public safety, but there are several critical items that need to be addressed, such as repairing the dam’s slopes and roadway drainage.
Miller has been consistently opposed to replacing the dam but said she supports using ARPA funds to pay for the dam because it is the most likely funding source, and she thinks after the board receives the report from Pickering, the county will have a clearer cost estimate than the numbers thrown around so far.
“After Oktibbeha County receives the newest engineering reports from Pickering and has approval from MDEQ, we will know more costs associated with the project,” Miller said. “I believe if there are remaining ARPA funds they should be used on roads that would qualify. … We need to be fixing roads and other infrastructure with the ARPA funds.”
Other potential ARPA projects
The board also voted to hear presentations from ARPA fund administrators. Three companies are looking to partner with the county to help manage the ARPA allocation process. Each group will provide a contract to Roberson and present to the board what they can offer at the Dec. 20 board meeting.
Because the cost estimate for the county lake repairs is still undetermined, Clearwater Group representatives told the board there might be funds to complete other projects as well. Miller suggested completing repavement of Oktoc Road because it is the street that runs to and from the Mississippi Horse Park, a major tourism attraction for the county.
“If there is extra money, can we use that to supplement and finish Oktoc Road the way it needs to be finished,” said Miller, the Horse Park’s director. “… I think that it could fall under tourism.”
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