A collaboration between the city and county is being called for to address the drainage ditch that some say has become a hazard for some residents of Gentry Drive.
Ward 5 Alderman Sam Brock Jr. stressed the importance of working together to find a solution that ensures the safety of citizens.
The ditch was widened and deepened as part of a design to prevent flooding at Gentry High School, a top priority for Sunflower County Consolidated School District officials during this current renovation.
Brock suggested collaborating with the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors to approach the school board to locate funds to cover the ditch and prevent accidents from occurring.
“If you have a child playing in the backyard and you’re not paying 100% attention to him, and that child falls in that ditch and drowns or something, who’s gone be responsible for it?” Brock questioned.
He emphasized the need for citizens, the board of aldermen, and the board of supervisors to work together and ensure that the needs of the residents are addressed.
"We don’t need to have a critical situation in our neighborhood," Brock said. "Let’s do what we have to do as citizens, as a board of aldermen, as a board of supervisors, and collaborate together. I do think that we can go before the school board to see if there are some funds somewhere to get that ditch covered."
The Enterprise-Tocsin wrote about the ditch in question last week.
The district clarified this week that the ditch was built according to plan. The district did not run out of money during the dirt work. The original plan presented for bid had the ditch being piped and covered, but that was changed when the bid came back higher than expected and costs of materials started to skyrocket.
The district had to abandon a lot of plans, including extra classrooms, to account for those costs.
Brock said he thinks there is still a solution out there for this ditch to be covered all the way to the end.
"We need to see if we can collaborate with the county and get something moving from that perspective,” he said.
