The Starkville Board of Aldermen held a marathon meeting Tuesday night and dedicated three roads in Ward 6 as public roads for the city, in addition to a slew of other items on a heavy agenda.
The dedication of three roads in Ward 6, including Fannie Dale Road, Roundhouse Road, and Hendrix Road, were each voted on. The first motion for each individual road was to accept it as a public road, where it will be under the city's management. The second motion for each individual road was to pursue getting the road graded and graveled.
This will be done under a joint effort with Oktibbeha County as part of an interlocal cooperative agreement, which was a resolution passed by the Board in 2016.
"There was a lot of discussion and the mayor showed strong support," Vice Mayor Roy A'. Perkins said in an interview with the SDN. "With the interlocal agreement … the county provides labor and equipment for these roads."
Perkins said the city will pay 50 percent of the material cost and 50 percent of any overtime cost. Additionally, he said the county will pay 50 percent of the material costs and the city will designate the scope of the improvements that are done, depending on the consent and agreement of the county.
The city is currently pursuing the dedication of two more roads within Ward 6, these being Jesse Road and Treasure Lane. Jesse Road lacks two signatures from private property owners and Treasure Lane lacks four signatures.
The roads were annexed in 1998 and Perkins said the purpose of dedicating and regrading the roads is to provide the property owners with drivable roads in their area. Even with emergency services, just one second can save a life, Perkins said.
Other items covered on the Board's agenda included:
- Unanimously approving a $150,664.01 contract with Shafer and Associates Architects for Starkville Police Department renovations. This includes structural as well as aesthetic improvements for the building project. Some items include pipe maintenance and structural work to the east and west wings. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History is the permitting route for the building and requested that Spanish oak barn doors be installed on the west side of the building. The doors were part of the design for the original structure.
-A presentation from Atmos Energy, which will begin a $2 million project to replace infrastructure in Starkville. Robert Lesley, the director of public affairs at Atmos, said that the project will happen later in the year. They will replace the main lines, as well as the service lines going to about 300 homes. Lesley said now is the perfect time for replacements because of the current low natural gas prices. Miller Pipeline is the company that is carrying out the work for Atmos. In regards to future development of the industrial park Atmos is focusing on land and right-of-way acquisition to plan laying future lines for the park.
-The Aldermen also listened to a presentation on a fixed-based operator proposal from Airport Management Solutions. AMS would manage the airport and improve on operations and commercial aspects of the airport. Representatives said that they will be willing to retain the employees that are currently working at the airport. AMS currently manages Tupelo Aviation Unlimited, Mid Delta Aviation in Greenville, South Carolina, and Shelbyville Municipal Airport in Shelbyville, Tennessee. If the contract is accepted, it will begin as a one-year contract trial period and will then extend to a four-year contract if both parties wish to continue working together. There were no actions taken on this issue other than viewing a presentation.