LIBERTY — Amite County supervisor Jackie Whittington told his fellow board members on Tuesday that he’s doing all he can to prevent a bridge tragedy, but someone is undoing all his safety work.
Whittington said the bridge over Foster Creek on Nebo Road is near collapse. He has put signs and barricades on either side of the bridge and has piled up six loads of gravel to prevent drivers from going across the structure.
“That gravel is all that’s holding a 30- to 40-foot drop” from the bridge, he said, adding that he’s spent $1,200 on signs that have been taken down and stolen and the gravel has been taken away. “I’ve put up barricades. They’ve moved them and I’ve put them back.
“If I find out who they are, I’m bringing charges against them,” Whittingon said.
Nebo Road runs through Amite and Wilkinson counties. The bridge is actually in Wilkinson County, and Whittington said he has notified authorities there that the bridge is unsafe.
Flooding in August gave Amite officials plenty of road and bridge headaches, and they’re still trying to catch up with repairs.
After hearing from county engineer David Cothren, supervisors agreed to his request for speedy work on another road.
The board gave Cothren authority to seek bids for emergency work on Lower Centreville Road. Cothren said there are several areas on the State Aid road that need swift attention. Because it’s been declared an emergency project, Cothren won’t have to go through the normal route of advertising for bids. Instead, he’ll get quotes from several construction companies for the work. He hopes the 180-day project will be 100 percent reimbursable.
Cothren also addressed the chip seal road project, which he said is going to exceed the budgeted amount by an estimated $400,000.
“We’ve got to cut about half of the roads,” Cothren said, delivering the news to supervisors that they will need to address many of the base failures on roads in their individual districts to keep the project within budget.
“I’m asking y’all to try and do as much as you can before State Aid” kicks in. “We may have to trim the roads to stay within budget.
Cothren also said AT&T is seeking a utility permit to bore another 300 feet for cable on Hamp Lea Road. In addition, Saltwater Disposal Pipeline wants approval to bore five feet under the bottom of a ditch on Terrell Lane to transport saltwater from an oil well to a disposal site.
In other matters, the board:
• Gave approval to Sheriff Tim Wroten to send Jake Bellipanni to an instructor’s workshop in Gulfport in November and to pay for lodging and meals.
• Approved requests from tax assessor/collector Eunice Blake to pay Constable Murry Toney $1,470 for process fees on mobile homes during the 2015 mobile home tax sale; and $400 to Circuit Clerk Debbie Kirkland for filing delinquent 2015 mobile home tax liens.
• Took under advisement the request by Amite County School District bus supervisor Billy Honea to approve annual school bus turnarounds.
• Approved Chancery Clerk Jana Causey’s request to approve the 2015-2016 amended budget and advertise the final document.
• At Causey’s request, deleted a group of assets, including a 2001 Dodge Intrepid from the sheriff’s department, a copier from central repair, an antenna from its site on Highway 569 North, and a copier from the chancery clerk’s office. The board also transferred a mobile radio from E-911 to Constable Jerry Bates.
• Approved Causey’s requests for mileage reimbursement for Causey and Patrice Cook to attend a homestead exemption workshop in November in Clinton; and for reimbursement for Causey to attend a chancery clerk’s legal responsibilities workshop in Jackson in November.
• Renewed the county membership in AirMed, at $55 per person.
• Learned that county offices will be closed on Dec. 26 for Christmas, the Friday after Thanksgiving and Jan. 2 for New Year’s.
• Heard from Nationwide Investors representative Leigh Donohue, who is pitching a different deferred compensation plan to the county. Donohue said the plan would guarantee a 3.5 percent minimum return on investment, more than twice what is being paid to enrollees now.
She said the plan would also apply to current retirees, who would have to switch to the Nationwide plan if the county adopts it.
“Participation in Mississippi is very, very low,” Donohue said of deferred compensation. “We’re trying to increase that.”
Causey noted that 11 employees and four retirees are enrolled in deferred compensation.
