The city of Magnolia is building a new park on South Quinlivan Road behind South Pike Junior High School.
Alderwoman Mercedes Ricks brought the idea to the board of aldermen in June. The board decided they would put the equipment needed for the park in a bond issue.
“We heard from our kids, and they wanted something to do, so we’re going to build them a park,” Mayor Anthony Witherspoon said.
The park will include a new half-court basketball court, playground equipment and benches for seating.
Keith Lott of Neel-Schaffer engineering consultants said there’s already a concrete slab at the site of the new park that they will convert to a new half-court basketball court complete with a basketball goal.
There is also a tennis court right beside the concrete slab that can be utilized.
“We need something for the younger kids as well as the older kids,” Witherspoon said.
A drawing depicting what the park would look like showed swings, a slide, monkey bars, seating and other playground equipment.
“This isn’t etched in stone. If you don’t want something on this drawing, we can take it out,” Lott said.
Alderman Lonnie Cox said that since the city built the walking track, there has been no money spent on parks.
“We can start small and build. A little bit is better than nothing,” Cox said
Witherspoon said the city needed to be conservative. He said there are other areas in town under consideration as the site of another park.
“We need to give access to all children,” Witherspoon said. “Those that live out on Highway 48, they can’t just walk to the park in town, so there are other areas around town that we are also looking into,” he said.
The park on South Quinlivan is just the beginning. Witherspoon said there is a baseball field on Poplar Street the city can also renovate.
“There have been people who have come to me asking to bring the little league back to Magnolia, and we want to meet them halfway,” he said.
Also, Witherspoon cleared up some misinformation about the city’s farmers market.
“People have been calling us saying we’re trying to keep people from selling. We are not,” Witherspoon said.
He said Magnolia used to be a certified farmers market city and it wants to get back to that status. When the city becomes certified again, then he and the board of aldermen can apply for grants.
To be certified, the city must ensure that only southwest Mississippi-grown vegetables are sold.
“We don’t want people coming up here with Louisiana produce. The state Department of Revenue will visit you,” Witherspoon said.
The board also heard from Tabitha Wilson of the Tobacco Free Coalition of Southwest Mississippi. Wilson wants to help the City of Magnolia become a smoke-free city, which could make the city eligible for grants that would provide funding for some of the projects the city is preparing to complete.
In other business, the board:
• Approved travel, mileage and meal reimbursement for Laurie Evans and Rosezea Scott on September 21-23, and for Servia Fortenberry on October 26-28, for clerk certification.
• Authorized Neel-Schaffer to begin advertising for road work. Lott said the work can be bid out by line item until all of the work is complete.
• Received and accepted the audit from Tom Windham of Windham and Lacy LLC for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2015.
• Approved budgeting $1,656 for Pike County’s Recycle One Program.
• Approved Aundrea Everett’s request to replace her mobile home located at 100 East Holly with a new one. Witherspoon said Everett was grandfathered in and didn’t need approval.
• Approved a change order for $4.84 and all final payments, and for Witherspoon to sign all documents with the community development block grant closeout package with the Mississippi Development Authority, consent of surety, contractor’s warranty statement and affidavit of contractor’s release of liens for the North Street project.
• Accepted the interlocal agreement between South Pike School District and the City of Magnolia to use the Magnolia Police Department as security at $15.75 an hour for the 2016-2017 school year.
• Approved Witherspoon and the Board of Aldermen to attend the Mississippi Municipal League 2016 Small Town Conference Oct. 12-13 in Natchez.
•Approved adopting a tree ordinance making Magnolia a Tree City USA community.
