OKTIBBEHA COUNTY — A public hearing Monday could reveal the future of Oktibbeha County Lake.
Supervisors set the hearing for 6 p.m. in the Oktibbeha County Community Safe Room at 985 Lynn Lane. The Mississippi Soil and Water Conservation Commission, in partnership with the National Resources Conservation Service, will present a report from its monthslong study of the lake dam, and possibly recommend how the county should address it.
NRCS will fund the ensuing project if supervisors approve the recommendation.
“They will give us the solution, whatever that solution is,” board attorney Rob Roberson said. “The choice will be still on the board to accept that solution. And if they accept that solution, they can accept the money attached to that solution. If the board determines that it does not want to accept that solution, then it would be left to the county to come up with the money to fix it.”
In 2020, the lake was drained to an unusable level after county officials reported the dam was in imminent danger of breaching.
The board of supervisors tasked NRCS in late 2022 to oversee a study of the lake. It hired Tennessee-based WSP USA Environmental and Infrastructure Inc. to conduct the assessment and come up with four alternative options for the lake and dam.
At the first public hearing in December 2023, the engineering firm presented two options: repairing the lake or decommissioning it. But Board of Supervisors President Marvell Howard said Monday’s presentation will include some options “in between” the two that the public hasn’t gotten to hear before.
“My hope is to leave that meeting with a lot better understanding of which direction we’re headed with the repairs of the county lake levee,” Howard said.
Supervisors favor repairs
Howard said he is excited to hear opinions from the public and options for the future of the lake, as he believes the county lake is a valuable resource that should be rehabilitated if possible.
“It generates funds for the school district,” Howard said. “It helps to not depreciate the value of the property… in that area. It would be a great source of emergency water in the case of a drought or something like that. And having the lake restored has 100% spurred on economic development. Just the conversation about the lake being repaired, there has started to be new construction out there.”
District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer said the same, with the caveat that the option chosen to address the lake must also consider what is financially responsible for the county and for property owners that live around the lake.
Since 2020, supervisors have fielded two estimates for rehabbing the dam — $8 million from Pritchard in 2020 and another from Mississippi Engineering Group (MSEG) in 2022 estimating costs of $15 to $17 million.
“I would like to see the lake become fully functional again,” Trainer said. “A lake with water, and that it be used for recreation. That would be my desire. I don’t know the dynamics and the costs, but that would be my desire.”
District 1 Supervisor Ben Carver said he also favors repairing the lake, as he hasn’t heard any concerns from citizens who oppose it. But Carver said he is still open to listening to the public and the costs first.
“I think we’re going to bring the glory days of the county lake back,” Carver said. “Again, just from a tax base, it contributes that – and then the quality of life, it contributes a place to spend time with friends and family.”
District 4 Supervisor Pattie Little and District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams did not return calls from The Dispatch by press time.
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