Since the recent split between the economic development district and Pike County Chamber of Commerce, a large portion of the McComb Railroad Depot is vacant, but not for long.
McComb selectmen on Tuesday unanimously approved a lease agreement for the city’s railroad depot museum to take over the empty space that the chamber and economic development district once shared.
The museum will pay $10 per year for the city-owned building. The city will continue to pay utilities and maintain the building, but the museum will have to keep the building clean and be responsible for telephone and Internet services if it chooses to have them.
The lease also states that the city will insure the contents of the museum since the artifacts, bells and whistles are city property.
The lease begins as soon as it’s signed, and city officials expect museum director Winnie Len Howell to sign the lease Friday.
The board also:
• Heard from Krewe of Locomotion member Lee Ellen Haskins about its upcoming Mardi Gras Madness fundraiser, set for 7:30 p.m. to midnight Saturday at Buddy’s in McComb. The fundraiser will benefit the McComb Animal Shelter.
• Appointed Selectman Ted Tullos as chairman of the committee to build a new McComb Animal Shelter. Police Chief Scott McKenzie, recreation director Joseph Parker, Michelle Lombas, Sonya Jackson and Haskins also will be members of the committee.
• Authorized emergency water line replacements under Virginia and Louisiana avenues by Greenbriar Digging of Brookhaven for $110,000 from the capital improvement fund. The water mains were breached during the milling process to repave the roads.
• Authorized a $45,877 payment to Live Oak Construction of Natchez for press boxes and concession stands for fields No. 3 and 4 at the McComb Sports Park. Selectman Tammy Witherspoon opposed, citing a longstanding opposition for sports park funding while the Martin Luther King Center gym remains condemned.
• Approved the appointment of Robbin Daughdrill to the Historic Preservation Commission board to fill Pat Randall’s seat until Term A ends May 31, 2015. Mayor Whitney Rawlings broke a 3-3 tie between Sharon Burk and Daughdrill, with selectmen Witherspoon, Andranette Jordan and Melvin Joe Johnson in favor of Burk, and Selectmen Tommy McKenzie, Michael Cameron and Tullos in favor of Daughdrill.
• Approved $100-per-day lease agreements for three voting precincts in McComb for the upcoming municipal elections this summer: Storehouse Church for Ward 2, New Hope Baptist Church for Ward 3 and Lifepointe Church of the Nazarene for Ward 4. The other two precincts, The National Guard Armory for Ward 1 and the Martin Luther King Center for Ward 5, are owned by the city.
• Approved a permit for AT&T to install fiber optic cable underground across Sherman Drive and a permit to install telephone cables along Lakeview Avenue between Lund and Stewart streets.
• Approved the travel of Rawlings to the Mississippi Municipal League board of directors meeting February in Jackson.
