OKTIBBEHA COUNTY – Supervisors on Monday reneged on part of their funding commitment to the East Oktibbeha Wastewater District, potentially jeopardizing a multi-million dollar sewer infrastructure expansion project.
Whether and how to fix the Oktibbeha County Lake dam took center stage in the discussion, which at different points devolved into name-calling between two supervisors and the board president publicly accusing her colleagues of fraud.
The board voted Sept. 19 to allocate $6 million of its American Rescue Plan Act funds to the wastewater district to build sewer lines down Old Highway 25, as well as most of Williams, Bethel, Poor House and Blackjack roads. District manager Dwight Prisock took that commitment and applied by last week’s deadline for a dollar-for-dollar match from the state.
But on Monday, a split supervisors vote cut $1 million from the county’s ARPA commitment to the wastewater district and reallocated it to help pave 11 miles of Oktoc Road in District 5.
“This is not a good long-term decision, in my opinion,” Prisock told The Dispatch after the meeting. “We’ll have to modify our request and refile with the state. Whether it can be modified at this point, or whether the state will kick it out (because of this), I don’t know. This action effectively took away $2 million out of the wastewater project, and it could take out $12 million.”
The county received $9.6 million in ARPA as part of a federal COVID-19 relief package. At its Sept. 19 meeting, supervisors also designated $1 million to help repave Sturgis-Maben Road in District 1 and the remaining $2.6 million for fixing the lake dam in District 3.
District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams asked Monday if $1 million in ARPA could be shifted to help pave Oktoc Road, a project that has already secured $1.8 million in county and state commitments but is well short of what is needed due to rising material costs.
Orlando Trainer, who represents District 2, suggested taking it from the wastewater district’s share and Marvell Howard and John Montgomery – of Districts 1 and 3, respectively – jumped on the idea with a motion and second.
County Administrator Delois Farmer urged caution, since Prisock had already submitted the application seeking matching funds.
“Yeah, but it hasn’t been approved yet, and it’s going to be a long time,” Trainer replied.
The vote passed 3-2, with board president Bricklee Miller of District 4 and Williams opposed.
Williams then moved to instead take the $1 million for Oktoc Road from the lake’s ARPA allocation, which drew ire from both Howard and Montgomery before failing 3-2.
“Why would we do that?” Montgomery asked.
“We’ve given you a solution to get your $1 million and you’ve (tried to turn) it down,” Howard told Williams.
The back-and-forth then became more heated between Howard and Williams.
“Why do you interrupt me when I let you talk?” Williams asked Howard.
“Because you beg too much if you want to know the truth,” Howard said.
Williams replied, “I think that’s you. You beg too much.”
Both Howard’s and Montgomery’s districts mostly lay in the western part of the county, outside of the wastewater district. Williams’ district would benefit from the sewer expansion immediately.
However, Williams said his hope is for the wastewater district to one day span the whole county and “we have to start somewhere.”
“You can save all that, the pomp and circumstance you’re talking about,” Howard said, later adding, “I hope this is the last we hear about this, which it won’t be.”
It wasn’t.
Miller attacks dam grant request
Board conversation then turned to the county’s ongoing efforts to receive federal Natural Resources Conservation Service funds to repair the lake dam west of Starkville.
NRCS notified the county Sept. 6 it had been approved for funds, but the specific amount would be determined after a study of what work is needed. A design for the work, as well as construction – all of which NRCS would be involved – would follow.
Miller, who opposes fixing the dam and has instead advocated for decommissioning the lake, questioned the validity of the county’s grant application.
The board voted in February to apply for federal funds, which Miller opposed, then she refused to sign the grant application for NRCS’s Emergency Watershed Program – deferring instead to Trainer, the board’s vice president.
That letter pointed to the lake’s structural woes dating back to the 1970s. But Trainer also signed a letter on April 29 noting a rain event in January 2020 that caused evacuations from the area after the dam was determined to be in danger of breaching.
Miller on Monday said the board never reviewed or approved the April letter and maintained both it and the February application contained falsehoods that made them “fraudulent” – namely that the rain event caused the damage.
Her board colleagues took her accusation with a grain of salt.
“Well, I guess I’ll be going to prison for Oktibbeha County,” Trainer joked.
“I’ll come see you,” Montgomery said.
Howard, who lives near the lake, asked Miller why she was trying to keep the county from receiving federal funds.
“What I have heard is this: that you and some other residents want to kill the lake down there so you can apply for money to build a lake down South Montgomery somewhere. … Is that true?” he asked.
“No, it’s not,” Miller said.
Board attorney Rob Roberson told both the board and The Dispatch he could not find any issues with the county’s application and NRCS has not raised any concerns.
He told The Dispatch after the meeting the February board order supports the application, and the April 29 letter provided “supplementary information” that established the lake as part of the Trim Cane Watershed and added the rain event as a reason for the emergency need for funding.
“The additional information enhanced the application,” he said. “We were pretty sure our application was dead, but the (April) letter gave us new life.”
Jason Keenan, acting state conservationist with NRCS, told The Dispatch he was unaware of the circumstances surrounding the county’s application but it is “very common” for NRCS to seek more information during the granting process.
Roberson said the board did not vote specifically on the letter in April but that it has no policy mandating separate approval to provide supplementary information for a grant for which it had already approved applying.
At Monday’s meeting, Howard was more glib.
“All I need to know is we haven’t done anything Supervisor Trainer has to go to prison for,” he said.
“I don’t think so,” Roberson replied, laughing.
“We’re good then,” Howard said. “Let’s keep moving.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
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 45 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
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 45 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion