OKTIBBEHA COUNTY — In a flurry of split votes, the board of supervisors on Monday committed all $9.6 million of its American Rescue Plan Act funds to three projects.
When it was done, the board had designated $6 million for East Oktibbeha Wastewater District sewer infrastructure, $2.6 million toward repairing the Oktibbeha County Lake Dam and $1 million to finish paving work of Sturgis-Maben Road.
None remains to support a new county administration building at the former Felix Long Hospital site, a project that supervisors had long discussed as a possible use for some of its ARPA funds. The measures also shift primary responsibility for fixing the lake dam to a Natural Resources Conservation Service grant for which the award amount is still unknown.
John Montgomery and Marvell Howard, supervisors for districts 1 and 3, respectively, scrambled successfully to claim what was left of the ARPA funds after arguing in vain against giving so much money to a wastewater district that only serves residents of the eastern part of the county.
“I’m disappointed in the vote,” a visibly frustrated Montgomery told The Dispatch after the meeting regarding the wastewater district’s share of the ARPA funds. “There are needs everywhere in the county with water and sewer, but I see a lot of money going to that part of the county. … I respect issues that aren’t in my district, but I don’t feel like this is fair to the citizens in the rest of the county.”
Dwight Prisock, manager for the wastewater district, approached supervisors at their Monday meeting in the chancery courthouse asking for the $6 million ARPA commitment. He had previously asked for only $1.7 million, but he decided to up the request in light of news the county might receive more than $13 million from NRCS for the lake.
Board attorney Rob Roberson told the board the county had received a letter from NRCS confirming approval for grant funding, but it did not include a dollar amount. He told The Dispatch after the meeting that NRCS engineers would first study the needs at the dam and likely award the money in phases. The county might be responsible for the funds upfront, and the grant — which may be more or less than $13 million — would come as reimbursement.
Any ARPA for the wastewater district would qualify for a 100-percent state match, Prisock said, but he noted the supervisors needed to decide what it could do quickly since the deadline for applying for those matching funds is Sept. 30. That application must show proof of what the county will provide.
“Anything you can give us, we’ll try to get it matched,” Prisock said.
The East Oktibbeha Wastewater District covers about 30 percent of the county — running from Rockhill Road on the north around Starkville to the east along the county line to Robinson Road in the Oktoc community to the south. Its current infrastructure only serves about 1,600 customers in a portion of that area.
With $12 million (assuming the state match), Prisock said, the district can run sewer line down Old Highway 25, as well as most of Williams, Bethel, Poor House and Blackjack roads.
Both Montgomery and Howard, whose districts are mostly in western Oktibbeha County, raised concerns over so much ARPA money going toward one project that benefits only the east side of the county. However, initially the board had looked at dedicating up to all its ARPA funds to repair the lake dam, which is in Howard’s district. It pivoted from that plan after it learned the project did not qualify for state matching funds since it wasn’t a drinking water lake.
Board president Bricklee Miller, who represents District 4, and Joe Williams of District 5, argued for leveraging the county’s ARPA on a project the state would conceivably match.
“I’m afraid if we don’t move forward on something, we’ll miss the opportunity,” Miller said.
Williams later echoed, “When are we going to have this opportunity again?”
District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer, who joined the meeting by phone and had been quiet throughout the discussion, moved to fill the wastewater district’s $6 million request. That passed 3-2, with Montgomery and Howard opposed.
In response, Montgomery moved, with a quick second from Howard, to take $1 million in ARPA to help pave Sturgis-Maben Road. The county has $1.3 million designated for the project, but rising material prices have pushed cost estimates for the work to more than $2 million. That motion passed 4-1, with Trainer opposed.
Howard then moved to take the remaining $2.6 million for the lake, with a second from Montgomery, which passed 3-2 as Miller and Williams opposed.
Miller has routinely opposed funding dam repair projects, instead advocating for decommissioning the lake. Williams, for his part, did not want the lake receiving all the remaining ARPA because he wanted to use a piece of it to help pave 11 miles of Oktoc Road in his district.
After the meeting, Prisock told The Dispatch the majority of the wastewater district’s investment has been in District 2, which Trainer represents.
He said he hopes to expand the wastewater district to the western side of the county over time. With each expansion, he said he would apply for federal funds to extend service.
“Any money that comes available, we would apply for it and take it as far as it can go,” he said.
That process, he admitted, would take years.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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