“The (park renovation bond) is not dead,” Vice Mayor and Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens told The Dispatch Tuesday afternoon. “I see it coming back up for another vote, and when it does I’m on board with it.”
Mayor Keith Gaskin broke a tie during a special-call council meeting Friday morning to reject the sole bid for about $3 million in revenue bonds necessary to provide the bulk of the funding for a $4.4 million park renovation plan, with the majority going to Propst Park. Mickens was among the three council members to vote against it.
Friday morning Gaskin, Chief Financial Officer James Brigham and Government Consultants Financial Advisor Nnamdi Thompson presented an offer from Mississippi Development Bank at an interest rate of 5.35% over 10 years.
Mickens, along with Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene and Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco, voted no, while Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart, Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard and Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones voted in favor before Gaskin’s no vote broke the tie.
The council voted in August to begin the process of selling the bonds, which would have complemented about $1.7 million in proceeds from the 2% tourism tax the city already has on hand.
The tourism tax collects an extra 2% on prepared food and beverage sales within the city limits. The funds from that tax may only be used to fund recreation.
Mickens said Tuesday his problem wasn’t with the parks plan, it was with the fact that the city only received one bid. He questioned why local financial institutions didn’t submit bids.
“I want to know why one of them won’t float this note,” Mickens said. “We haven’t defaulted on no notes I know of, and we’ve got $400,000 in funds guaranteed to come in for the next 10 years.”
Mickens said he had asked for the bond issue to be put on the agenda for Thursday’s work session.
“I’ve talked to (Brigham) and asked him to talk to (Government Consultants) so we can have another price,” Mickens said. “I’m quite sure it’ll be called for a vote Thursday, or no later than Tuesday.”
Stewart told The Dispatch she still supports the bond issue and would back it again if it came back to a vote.
“Right now the biggest obstacle is making sure we get the best interest rate,” she said.
The plan calls for the baseball and softball facilities at Propst to be swapped, and the baseball fields turfed. There are also planned upgrades and repairs to buildings, pavilions and the splash pad at Propst, better lighting at the Field of Dreams and the addition of pickleball courts.
The overall plan also includes renovations and repairs at all of the neighborhood parks.
Beard said he still supports the renovation plan, and he also suggested doing whatever was possible with the approximately $1.7 million the city has on hand now.
“I’m always for Propst Park,” Beard said. “… We’ve already got $1.7 million, and can probably use that to do the (baseball and softball) fields and maybe get the concession stand done. (The bonds are) just a stepping stone that we’ve got to step over.”
Jones said the city is doing its due diligence to see if it could get a better interest rate.
“(Mickens) said he wanted to check with other banks to see if any local banks could do it better,” Jones said. “If that doesn’t happen, then we may proceed if the interest rate doesn’t go up. If it goes down, we’ll definitely proceed with it.”
Greene, for his part, said he still would not support the issuance of bonds.
“We do not need to borrow money for Propst Park,” Greene said. “I have taken that stand, and I will vote against it at every step.”
Greene said the way forward was to use the money already in hand.
“We’ve got $1.7 million sitting in a pot somewhere,” Greene said. “That’ll fix a whole lot of baseball fields if we decide not to do turf fields.”
The Dispatch was unable to reach Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco by press time.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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