In his report to the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors, County Engineer Ron Cassada affirmed that $3.1 million doesn’t go nearly as far as it once did.
He requested an increase in the programmed amount for road repair projects on two county thoroughfares, which necessitated the county transferring funds within the state-aid money pot.
A total of $1 million including contingencies was programmed to reseal Sykes-Tindal Road and do a base repair and level on five miles of Moorhead-Belzoni/Three-Mile Lake Road, but because the roads have deteriorated so much and are now falling apart, additional money needs to be allocated. “It has taken a lot more base repair than originally designed,” Cassada said.
The new figure to build the jobs is $1.2 million, which includes an additional $40,000 for Sykes-Tindal Road and $250,000 for Moorhead-Belzoni/Three-Mile Lake Road. It is all a part of the $3.1 million that the county is allotted for state-aid roads and it is only issued every four years.
The remaining funds now have to be divided between the reseal project on North Airport Road and the reconstruction of a portion of Airport and Fisackerly roads. “That’s it, that’s all we were able to do,” Cassada said. However, any contingencies leftover from the project goes back to the pot.
In other business,
The county lawmakers voted to close county offices on Nov. 12 in observance of Veterans Day.
Approved a budgeted $1,750 request from Sunflower County Family and Children’s Services and agreed that going forward the agency would need to provide detailed information on how the funds are being used.
Approved the hiring of a new deputy, a full-time jailer and four new part-time jailers for the sheriff’s department and voted to issue pay increases for the dispatchers and jail officers.
They voted to take the bids for new culverts under advisement. Only two bids were received and the bid from Tri-State Culverts was more than $18,000 less than the one from G&O Supply, however they apparently did not quote based on the supplied specifications.
The board voted to pay half of a $1,262.55 settlement amount for a tort claim against the tax collector’s office and the Mississippi Department of Revenue. The issue developed from an error on a car title transfer that neither department intercepted.
The county’s supervisors also conducted interviews on eight applicants applying for the emergency management position being vacated by Ben Grant at the end of the year. No decision had been made as of press time.
