The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors voted Friday morning to strip all county-level ordinances related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the county curfew, and simply sync with state guidelines.
Columbus residents will still have to follow city ordinances, which can be stricter than what the state dictates. The city renewed its curfew Friday, banning all travels for residents of 18 years old or younger and nonessential travels for those older, according to the Facebook page of the city’s police department.
The city’s Restart Columbus committee, an initiative announced May 3, has conducted meetings with some of its eight subcommittees, which help city leaders make policies in different industries, such as restaurants, salons and churches, among other things.
The supervisors’ action Friday lifted the countywide curfew, which went into effect late March to ban non-essential travels from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., County Administrator Ralph Billingsley said.
Barbershops, nail salons and gyms in the county are now allowed to reopen following state restrictions, such as operating at a smaller capacity and sanitizing high-contact areas between customers, according to Gov. Tate Reeves’ May 8 executive order to reopen those businesses. The executive order will expire on May 25 unless it is extended.
Reeves ordered Friday to further lift restrictions on restaurants, allowing those serving no alcohol to offer indoor dining 24 hours a day. Restaurants with alcohol must close the indoor dining area before 10 p.m.
The same order allowed the reopening of body piercing parlors and dance studios, provided that they respectively follow restrictions similar to those on barbershops and gyms. Parks and outdoor recreational activities are also allowed to follow normal hours of operations, the order said, and fishing tournaments are allowed to reopen.
District 2 Supervisor Trip Hairston, who moved to repeal the county pandemic ordinances, said the county would be in good hands as long as it follows state guidelines. The state issued stricter guidelines Tuesday for seven counties that are considered COVID-19 “hotspots.”
“If we were to get one of those spikes,” he said, “I think the state would do what it needs to do as far as putting ordinances in place.
“I think we ought to let medical experts dictate all this,” he added.
County shells out $30k to repair five-year roof at fire station
During Friday’s meeting, supervisors also amended the budget to spend $30,900 to fix the metal roof on top of the District 2 Volunteer Fire Department building.
The building, located by Jess Lyon Road, is only five or six years old, said Andy Grant, chief of the fire department. The roof only had a two-year warranty, he said.
Grant said the roof was poorly done when first built.
“I’ve had five people look at this job,” he said. “(One of them said), ‘This is absolutely the worst job I’ve ever seen.'”
The building had several leaks due to the amount of rain over the past two months, he said, and the roof had 50 holes in it. The insulation was filled with water, he said, and the kitchen area had leaks through the ceiling.
“We’ve had leaks that started showing up everywhere,” he said.
It is unclear who was contracted for the construction at the time. The building was estimated mid-construction in 2014 to cost $200,000 upon completion, according to previous Dispatch reporting. County Fire Coordinator Neal Austin could not be reached for comment by press time.
Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders asked for more information on the original contractor and for the county to seek the possibility of reimbursement during the meeting.
“We need to contact them if … we had to sue them for (the work),” he said.
JBH Construction LLC, a Mississippi-based company, is contracted for the roof repairs.
Yue Stella Yu was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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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 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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