OKTIBBEHA COUNTY — Supervisors gave unanimous permission Monday for a Jackson-based insurance adjuster to review the county’s insurance policy for any clauses that might cover the cost of replacing the Oktibbeha County Lake Dam.
Warren Bowen, executive director of Triage Facility Consultants, came to the supervisors’ meeting at District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard’s request and said he will review the policy for free.
If the county can prove the dam’s structural problems have a specific non-natural cause, it might be eligible for insurance coverage regardless of the specific provisions on the county’s insurance policy, Bowen said.
“I don’t want you to have some backing and not use it,” he said. “If you need my help, I’ll help you. But if you don’t, at least you’ll know.”
The county almost issued a second breach warning for the area surrounding the dam last week after heavy rains elevated the water level above where it was Jan. 14 when County Engineer Clyde Pritchard found a mudslide on the east side of the levee. Eight pumps in place since January lowered the water level to the point that the county did not issue the warning.
The supervisors have debated at several meetings in a row, to no consensus, how to fund the $8 million project of completely replacing the existing dam with a new one with larger valves to control the water level and building a new emergency spillway and a temporary detour road below the levee.
The debate came up Monday when Pritchard said the county’s allocation from the Office of State Aid Road Construction within the Mississippi Department of Transportation provided the final piece of funding for rebuilding and expanding a portion of Blackjack Road from Bardwell Street west to Stone Boulevard. The office allocates road and bridge repair funding to every county in the state every four years and gave Oktibbeha County about $2.2 million in January.
The $9.5 million project is jointly funded by the county, the Mississippi Development Authority, Mississippi State University and finally $525,773 in state aid funds, Pritchard said.
Howard had previously suggested that all $2.2 million be used to fund the dam project, and he made the same suggestion for the proposed $525,773 for Blackjack Road. He pointed out that state statute dictates that all incoming funds go to the place they are most needed.
District 1 Supervisor and Board President John Montgomery said state aid funds were not enough to meet the needs of the county’s road projects last term and should go toward Blackjack Road this term.
Montgomery and District 4 Supervisor Bricklee Miller have consistently voted against Howard’s suggestions to immediately fund the dam project, and Howard said he has yet to hear a good reason why. The Blackjack Road project is meant to address safety, but it is no more pressing of a safety issue than the dam, Howard said.
“What it really boils down to, and I hate to say it, is unless a few people get drowned out there, it’s no big deal,” he said. “(If we) let it break and let a few drown, then something will be done.”
Howard was the only vote against using the state aid funds for Blackjack Road.
Board Attorney Rob Roberson said he is working with MSU to secure $2 million that the county could use for the dam project instead of state aid funds, though the money is not guaranteed.
Pritchard will meet with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality on March 2 to discuss the county’s options for what to do with the lake.
The board unanimously approved the awarding of the contract with Columbus-based Burns Dirt Construction to complete the Blackjack Road project. Burns is also the contractor on standby to cut off the county lake dam’s primary outlet valve when the pumps lower the water to a certain level. Cutting the valve will increase by four times the flow of water out of the lake into the spillways, Pritchard said.
The board also gave Pritchard unanimous approval to advertise for bids to fix the mudslide on the levee.
Industrial park bonds
The board unanimously passed a notice of intent to issue up to $3.5 million in bonds for the construction of two building pads at North Star Industrial Park. Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins and attorney Chris Pace will approach the Starkville Board of Aldermen today with the same request.
The city and county previously issued a combined $14 million in bonds in July 2017 to fund the construction of the park. Pace said the two entities have “a unique degree of cooperation that you just don’t see much.”
The board’s March 16 meeting will include a public hearing, as required by the state, for the notice of intent.
The LINK plans to fund the construction of the park with a financial plan called “fee-in-lieu of ad valorem taxes,” in which companies are exempt from property taxes for a set number of years in exchange for a fee paid to the city, county and school district. State law dictates that the fee cannot be less than one-third of what a company would ordinarily pay in taxes.
The Mississippi Development Authority has to authorize all fee-in-lieu agreements.
With the city’s approval, the LINK will authorize the designs of the two building pads, and they will ideally be built by the end of the summer, Higgins told The Dispatch.
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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