The City of Columbia has been hard at work over the past 18 months repairing storm drainage issues and paving roads, and it has plans to deliver much more to its citizens.
Contractors for the city recently completed paving several streets in the G&K subdivision, which included Askew and Bennett streets, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Aztec trails and Broadmoor Avenue, all of which was funded by the internet use sales tax.
The city is also in the beginning stages of investigating the potential paving of Church Street, Lakeview Road, East and West Lakeview drives, a portion of National Guard Road, Duff Street, Giles Drive, an apron on Horseshoe Bend, Middleton Lane, Pope Street and East and West Rankin streets, according to City Engineer Parker Dungan.
“I know that East and West Rankin are in dire need, and those three streets off of Lakeview, that section in the city National Guard north, it’s just horrible,” Mayor Justin McKenzie said during the Board of Aldermen meeting April 4. “That was one of the promises in the annexation. We see it, we want to fix it and we have it on the list of priorities, along with every one of these.”
The mayor added that Church Street is a high priority, but that it wouldn’t make sense to pave right away while storm drainage repairs are ongoing. He said it would probably make sense to make plans for it around January 2024, which is when funding will become available once again.
He also mentioned Giles Drive being a priority because of its heavy traffic from school buses. McKenzie said by the middle of the school year, the potholes that get filled in prior to the school year return to being gaping potholes once all the dirt is kicked out and that an entire bus tire could fit in some of those potholes.
McKenzie recognized Jeff, Parker and Herman Dungan for working exceptionally hard to finish the SportsPlex’s parking lot in time for opening day, and the three of them received a standing ovation from the board.
“There were countless hours, days and nights that they were down there spreading the crushed concrete, working it again and again night after night and packing it,” McKenzie said. “It was kind of a group effort — the four of us put in a whole lot of time down there — but Mr. Herman is primarily the one who did most of the work. He’s not one to seek publicity, but he deserves it, for sure. He did a whole lot of free work.”
The mayor added that when weather permits, Herman Dungan will begin smoothing out all of the dirt for The Pitch, the soccer fields that will be constructed as part of the SportsPlex right next to The Yards.
Opening day was a smashing success for the city, but it also was a big boon for the surrounding businesses. The city tracks data of where people go after leaving the SportsPlex, and Walmart, Fox’s Pizza, Magnolia Grille, Raquel’s, Stacey’s Skillet and Kane’s Catfish Seafood and Steakhouse were all extremely busy, according to McKenzie. He added there were 11,000 visits over the first two days of The Yards being open.
“It’s really good to see that it’s paying off. Driving by you can see it, but here we have paper data,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie said the city recently received $500,000 for additional drainage and sewage work downtown and $300,000 for the retention pond from the Mississippi Legislature, which was spearheaded by Rep. Ken Morgan, R-Morgantown. Jeff Dungan said, through looking over the language of the bill, the city could potentially receive reimbursement for what it’s already spent on the retention pond.
In other actions, the city approved a new contract with the Mississippi Association Planning and Development Youth Program, which allows adolescents in the GED program to work for the city as job skills training at the program’s expense. The contract had recently expired.
The board also approved a memorandum of understanding to renew an agreement with the Mississippi Department of Mental Health for the police department to have its Narcan supply replenished. Narcan is used to reverse the effects of opioids when a person has overdosed.
The city used to produce a report for the Bureau of Behavioral Health Services on how many doses were used, and it would be sent new doses to replenish the stock each month. The city has not received any doses in at least a year, and police are down to what the officers carry on them. Police will be back up to 40 boxes (80 doses) upon first delivery, which will be the status quo when shipments are sent each month.
The Board of Aldermen will host its next meeting May 2 at 4 p.m. at City Hall.
