No sale was the consensus of the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors on Monday after hearing opinions on whether or not to sell a county building in Drew to the T.J. Beall company.
The matter was tabled after a July 6 meeting when Sunflower County Economic Development Director Fred Washington asserted that the site was worth more and should not be sold for less than $200,000.
At that meeting, a representative of T.J. Beall, along with their attorney, had offered to buy the 40,000-square-foot structure and the surrounding 11 acres for $120,000. Washington was tasked with researching the matter and returning with a recommendation.
On Monday, Washington told the county leaders that he met with the economic development board and they are recommending that the county accept the offer; however, when asked his opinion, Washington said he was not in agreement with that.
“I think we’re cutting ourselves short. I think that we should never allow somebody to come and say I’ll give you this and we just jump at it,” he said.
He recalled how the site was valued at $500,000 when he started working for the county, but after coming to a realization that all of the advertised components no longer existed and a reassessment, the price was lowered to $200,000 in 2019.
“So to get 11 acres and a 40,000-square-foot building for $200,000 is already a steal. So, my recommendation is that we stick to the minimum of $200,000,” Washington said.
President Riley Rice stated that he has received calls from citizens who expressed concern over a possible board decision to sell it at the reduced price. District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald also had thoughts regarding the proposal.
“I want to say it loud. I want to say it clear. I think they're playing this board. I think it’s a friendship, buddy-buddy situation,” Donald said.
He reminded the members of their prior conversation that specified that the county has not had the property appraised and they only had the word of the buyer’s paid agent regarding the value.
“I think its wrong for them to approach us like this. I think they’re belittling us. They’re disrespecting us with $120,000 for a 40,000-square-foot metal building. It's ludicrous,” Donald added.
Washington will be the one to convey the message to the company. T.J. Beall is currently leasing the building.
In other business,
McWilliams told the county leaders that the North Sunflower County Airport, which is owned conjointly by the county and the cities of Drew and Ruleville, is eligible for a $70,000 Federal Aviation Administration Grant. This is a regular disbursement and normally the grant would come with a match, but due to the COVID-19 crisis, there is no match required.
A nearly $300,000 roadwork construction project for base repairs, level and reseal on an access road leading into Delta Protein Products just outside of Sunflower is already underway. And on Monday County Engineer Ron Cassada said he was giving the county leaders a “heads up” that there might be some cost overage. “Total construction number that we had on that was $294,000 for that job, which only left about $6,000 in contingencies,” he said.
Noting that it is hard to determine final cost when dealing with the types of material they are using, Cassada reminded the members that any overages would have to be paid out of the county coffers. The money used for the reconstruction was from a Delta Regional Authority Grant.
Also, after going back and forth with the Mississippi Department of Transportation on specifications for a turning lane on U.S. Highway 82 near Irrigation Equipment, the project came in $80,000 over budget.
On Monday, the county supervisors approved a recommendation to submit a letter to Central Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons requesting that MDOT share in the cost of that overage.
Cassada had been tasked with contacting Simmons about the possibility of an equal outlay and he said Simmons had indicated the likelihood of MDOT contributing the amount if the board members would submit a letter of request.
A public hearing to abandon a portion of Ward-Riddick Road resulted in no opposition on Monday. McWilliams explained that the portion in question consisted of a deficient bridge that had been closed years ago. He said they avoided spending nearly $1 million to repair the bridge structure by paying a property owner $8,000 for a piece of land that provided a suitable detour.
