Columbia is gearing up for several infrastructure projects, including upgrades of water and sewer lines and repaving one of the city's busiest stretches.
The Board of Aldermen plans to open bids May 19 for the repair and overlay of Sumrall Road and Walter Payton Drive.
Those streets near Walmart and other retail businesses are frequently traveled and have been the source of complaints for some time about potholes.
The board approved on Feb. 18 hiring the Butler Snow and McNeese & Hahn law firms to negotiate a $500,000 loan to finance the project. Aldermen plan to use the monies received from the internet sales tax to fund the loan payments.
At Tuesday's aldermen meeting, the board also approved upgrades to some of the city’s water and sewer lines.
The four-month long project was awarded to Mitchell Contracting, who placed the low bid of $437,270. It will be funded by a Community Development Block Grant through the USDA. City Engineer Sean Burns said work should begin in three to five weeks.
The area affected include Willow, Pine and Rowan drives and Hendricks and Dukes streets.
Despite the coronavirus tightening city budgets across Mississippi, Mayor Justin McKenzie said the projects are already set because the outside money has already come in to cover those jobs.
“We hope our sales tax holds up through all of this. I’m concerned about the sales tax, but I am looking forward to seeing what it turns out when it comes in," McKenzie said. "I think March will hold its own. If the next month doesn’t hold its own, we will have to be careful with all of our expenditures."
Hattiesburg is cutting 61 jobs as a result of the sales tax slump, including laying off 39 and eliminating 27 vacant positions, the Pine Belt News reported this week. Columbia has not reached that point, though.
Also, McKenzie recommended and received approval to continue the local emergency declaration for the Pearl River flooding, COVID-19 and downtown flooding until at least the next meeting while waiting to see if FEMA makes a declaration of the disasters.
McKenzie said he believed the threshold for the small businesses to receive help through FEMA or MEMA was not met; however, they have reached out to the Small Business Administration about loans.
The board approved to continue the current COVID-19 schedule with city employees working inside the building to limit the employees’ exposure to the coronavirus.
Due to the virus, the police department has not been able to receive new vehicles yet, which were approved for purchase in 2019. McKenzie said he was advised by Chief Michael Kelly that Kelly has received a call saying the manufacturers are back to work and it should not be much longer.
The city was able to do some spot paving during the week, including on Church Street where work had to be done on a sewer line. Repairs are also going to be done to fix some sidewalks on West and Garden avenues.
