OKTIBBEHA COUNTY — Starkville weighs the role of security cameras in public safety. Revival of Highway 182 begins. Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District responds slowly to allegations against a teacher. County supervisors again pursue OCH Regional Medical Center.
Oktibbeha County saw its share of wins, losses, preparation for the future and difficult discussions in 2024. Here are some of the year’s top stories.
OCH Regional Medical Center sale back on the table
After being presented in August with a feasibility study from Raymond James Financial Services, county supervisors voted in September to move forward with requesting proposals to sell OCH Regional Medical Center to a private health care system. That RFP is still in development.
Oktibbeha County has attempted to sell the hospital once previously in 2017, but voters petitioned against it, forcing a referendum and voting against the facility’s sale. But this year, no petitions were submitted by the public to prevent the sale.
Instead, the sale was publicly endorsed by representatives of both Mississippi State University and the Greater Starkville Development Partnership at a September public hearing. No members of the public spoke in opposition to the sale, though some hospital employees asked to be remembered as the administration goes through the process.
Highway 182 Revitalization project begins
While the city has been hoping to redesign a mile of Highway 182 for years, work began in earnest this fall, after the city secured a $20 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant in June to cover the remainder of the project’s cost.
Near the end of September, the city started implementing road closures along the westbound lane of Highway 182 between North Long and Jackson streets for the first phase of the project, which is slated to be completed in the new year.
The entire $40 million project covering a one-mile stretch of Highway 182 between Old West Point Road and Long Street – with roadway expansion, utility upgrades, new sidewalks and more – is expected to be complete by 2027.
Wastewater issues float to the surface
A long-awaited report on the city’s wastewater treatment plant came back in March, recommending Starkville Utilities invest $43.8 million in facility upgrades over the next 15 years or so, accommodating for the city’s growth, along with other issues.
Starkville Utilities announced in October it would move forward with replacing six aerators installed in 2019 that failed, even while a lawsuit against the companies responsible for installing them awaits its day in court. The new aerators, which will cost about $8.9 million, should be installed in the spring.
With East Oktibbeha Wastewater District using Starkville Utilities’ wastewater treatment plant, the district had to put expanding its services on hold until the city’s report came back and upgrades were in place. But once those components fell into place, supervisors agreed in late August to install a new line running parallel to Highway 182, allowing a new neighborhood development with 150 homes to come to the area.
Early in the year, Mississippi State University filed a lawsuit against the wastewater district in circuit court, with the university alleging the district was more than $500,000 behind on payments for its use of MSU pumps. While supervisors organized mediation over the suit, that mediation was closed to the public.
County administrator changes
Oktibbeha also replaced its county administrator earlier this year, after the board voted 3-2 to “vacate the county administrator’s position” following a pair of lengthy executive sessions in August. After the vote, supervisors disagreed on whether the decision meant then-administrator Delois Farmer had been fired or allowed to resign. But either way, Farmer was out of a job.
But the change came in the midst of the county’s budget season, and a county administrator would typically have been responsible for administrative duties and assisting with the annual budget hearing. To fill the gap, the county contracted with Golden Triangle Planning and Development District, which assisted in the interim while the county looked for Farmer’s replacement. Supervisors hired Wayne Carpenter to fill the position during an October meeting.
Cameras, cameras, cameras
While an ordinance that would have required businesses of a certain size to purchase cameras failed early in the year following push-back from business owners, the conversation around cameras did not fizzle out. Aldermen passed an updated alcohol ordinance in November requiring businesses that sell liquor to meet certain camera and security requirements.
Police Chief Mark Ballard also requested the city add 41 new cameras to the SPD surveillance system in the name of public safety. After much debate and giving up their own raises, aldermen budgeted for 21 cameras in Fiscal Year 2025.
Still, what kinds of cameras the city plans to buy with that money is in flux. In mid-December, aldermen voted to spend almost $17,000 on a Currux traffic camera that can monitor intersections and change lights based on traffic flow. After that vote, Spruill told The Dispatch the city is considering using the funds set aside for the police cameras for Currux models, which could also be used for investigations into crime.
County coughs up $2.3M from reserves to fund budget
During the budget season for Fiscal Year 2025, supervisors decided to add $2.66 million to the county’s general fund budget. Among the budget changes were creating 11 new positions, new vehicles, new road equipment and 3% raises for full-time county employees.
But without increasing taxes, the projected revenue for the general fund could not cover all of the budget’s expenses. To pay for that without increasing taxes, supervisors decided to pull from the county’s $2.8 million in general fund cash reserves, spend roughly 82% of that fund to cover the gap.
The budget leaves only $500,000 in general fund cash reserves, but board attorney Rob Roberson said there is no statutory minimum the county must keep there. Supervisors also discussed the possibility of not filling all the budgeted positions right away and seeking more grant funding as ways to offset the jump, though how the county proceeds is yet to be seen.
Main Street water and sewer upgrades wrap up
While construction work on the first phase of the city’s Main Street Master Plan redesign is slated to begin in January, other work to prepare Main Street for the redesign has been going on throughout the year.
Starkville Utilities rolled out a $2.5 million project upgrading water and sewer lines downtown between May and October 2023. The cost was largely covered by American Rescue Plan Act funds.
But after the water and sewer lines were replaced beneath East Main, Lampkin, Washington and Jackson Streets, the streets had to be patched temporarily and then repaved. Those road improvements were made at the end of February and beginning of March.
Industrial development and business changes
Growth at NorthStar Industrial Park has continued with the opening of Amazon’s last mile facility and $2.5 million in state funds secured for a new 200,000-square-foot pad to be developed at the park. The new pad in-progress is located off Highway 82 near the Louisville exit, and Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins called it a “marquee location.”
Higgins also secured tax incentives from the city and county for a potential $10 million Candlewood Suites hotel to locate in Starkville, which he said would be an 85-room hotel between Academy Sports and Hollywood Premier Cinema. If built, it would knock a dent in what the LINK estimates is a 300-room shortage in Starkville’s hotel capacity, he said.
Starkville has also seen shifts in retail, including Miskelly Furniture opening in July next to Ace Hardware at the old Vowell’s Marketplace on Highway 12. Harbor Freight also started planning a Starkville location at 311 Hwy. 12 W. in Middleton Court shopping center.
Plus, the Starkville coffee scene saw some changes this year, after 929 Coffee Bar announced it would be moving locations to 115 E. Main Street, the former location of the Occasions gift shop. A new coffee shop and board game cafe, High Ground Coffee, opened up in October in the former 929 location across the street.
Parks projects roll forward
Rejuvenation at McKee Park rolled forward, and with pickleball on the upswing, the city resurfaced some of the park’s tennis courts into 12 pickleball courts, which opened with a dedication ceremony in March. Other enhancements to the park also started in September, as construction began on new playgrounds, a splash pad, pavilions, restrooms and more.
Over at George Evans Park, the city tore down the former 6,000-square-foot Needmore Community Center in 2022. But construction on a 3,000-square-foot replacement community center began last summer. At the end of October, the city held a ribbon-cutting for the new center.
The city also added the centerpiece to Cornerstone Park – a statue honoring James “Cool Papa” Bell. The late Bell, born in Starkville in 1903, made his name in the Negro League and is the city’s only Baseball Hall of Famer. The statue was originally commissioned in 2021, but it couldn’t be delivered and dedicated until August.
SOCSD slow to tell authorities of allegations against teacher
A Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District teacher, Kelvin Stanfield, was arrested in May on four counts of touching children for “gratifying his lust, or indulging his depraved licentious desires.” The arrest came after a school counselor filed a report with Child Protective Services and notified the superintendent.
State law requires school officials to contact the district attorney, the Mississippi Department of Education and Child Protective Services in a timely manner when they learn of credible allegations of a school employee inappropriately touching a student.
Even so, SOCSD didn’t notify MDE until several days later, and Superintendent Tony McGee didn’t reach out to District Attorney for the 16th Circuit Court Scott Colom’s office until 15 days after the police began investigating the allegations and a week after the teacher was arrested.
McGee told The Dispatch after the incident that contacting the DA and MDE quicker will become a part of school district protocols.
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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 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
