Construction at the Martin Luther King gym is being expanded into the facility’s existing parking area.
McComb officials approved using an area containing six parking places by a 3-2 margin at a special meeting Wednesday afternoon that lasted a little longer than four minutes.
Selectmen Ronnie Brock and Devante Johnson, who attended the meeting by phone, supported the expansion. Selectmen Ted Tullos and Michael Cameron opposed; since the project started, both of the Republican selectmen have taken the position the city cannot afford the gym.
Mayor Quordiniah Lockley broke the tie and voted in favor of using the extra space.
Board Attorney Marcus Williams attended the meeting by phone and Selectmen Donovan Hill and Shawn Williams were absent.
Lockley said soil testing on the site revealed that some of the ground was unfit to build on. He said someone put debris on the soil near the parking lot and covered it up, making it hard to build any of the facility there without extensive cleanup efforts.
Lockley estimated the gym will be moved 10 to 15 feet forward on the property. After the gym is built over the six parking spaces, Lockley estimated there will be 30 spaces left in the parking lot.
“After they found out they had some bad dirt, they moved it so many feet forward,” he said. “Now, it’s time for parking, sidewalk and all that.”
Lockley said the additions will cost an extra $4,080. He said $85,000 was budgeted out of a contingency fund to build the gym when the project started. That fund has about $20,000 left.
