A roadside herbicide business representative tried to talk Pike County supervisors into using his company’s services Friday but did not have much success.
Ben Fleming of NaturChem in Gonzales, Louisiana, said his company sprays herbicide along roads for counties in Mississippi and Louisiana.
He said he was aware Pike County supervisors tried roadside spraying in the past and discontinued it, and wondered why.
“In Amite County I’ve watched it pretty good over there and it’s pretty unsightly,” said Supervisor Gary Honea. “I haven’t seen that much of a benefit to it.”
Honea said he’s also been unimpressed by the Department of Transportation’s herbicide program along state highways.
Board president Chuck Lambert said Pike County didn’t have good results with spraying in 2013.
“The year we tried it, it didn’t work,” he said, noting it rained after a spray and the weeds actually seemed to grow stronger than usual.
Fleming said a company other than his did the Pike spraying.
He said spraying cuts down on the amount of bushhogging necessary.
“The main idea is to cut out at least one mowing,” he said.
On the average for counties in the Southeastern United States, it costs $110 per mile to mow and $60 to $80 to spray, he said.
Fleming recommends applications of chemical three times a year to curtail unwanted broadleaf plants. “Over time you want to encourage just Bermuda (grass),” he said.
Supervisor Faye Hodges asked about environmental and health dangers of spraying. Fleming said the chemical — applied at a rate of 10 ounces per acre — interrupts the photosynthesis process in specific plants and doesn’t affect humans.
Honea questioned the effectiveness of herbicides in keeping down vegetation along roads.
“There are so many fertilizer trucks and spreaders running the road that whatever you do is going to be counteracted by that,” Honea said.
Fleming said his company also offers “side-trimming” once every three years. “It will kill every limb that it touches but won’t kill the tree itself,” he said.
Lambert said he will talk to Franklin County officials to see what they think of the program, and will consult with county road manager Mike Duncan.
In other business, supervisors:
• Agreed to use extra State Aid funds to overlay Airport-Fernwood Road from Interstate 55 to Highway 51.
• Adopted a resolution transferring ownership of Beacham Memorial Hospital to the South Pike Hospital Association.
• Approved an extension on Pike BioEnergy’s option to purchase to the end of the year. This is the fifth and final extension allowed in the contract. The company is buying industrial land from the county for a wood pellet mill. Supervisors also approved payments of $13,368 to Neel-Schaffer and $5,000 to Southwest Mississippi Planning and Development District for work on the project.
• Received an Attorney General’s opinion approving an interlocal agreement between the city of McComb and Pike County supervisors regarding the creation and development of Gateway Industrial Park.
• Approved payments of $133,060 to Greenbriar Digging for work on the Gateway Industrial Park sewer line project, and $49,775 to L&A Contracting for work on the Leatherwood Bridge project.
• Approved the county Emergency Communication Commission’s annual allotment of $2,000 each to county fire departments, law enforcement agencies and the civil defense department.
• Approved a $436 travel advance for juvenile drug court employee Charley Hensley to attend a three-day symposium in Biloxi this month.
• Approved payment of $1,887 to the McComb-Pike County Airport Board. The amount represents the county’s share of 5 percent in matching funds for a grant to install wildlife perimeter fence and a precision pathway approach at the airport.
• Authorized AT&T to lay buried cable along Highway 568.
• Asked Keith Lott of Neel-Schaffer engineering firm to look into whether any county roads qualify for entry in a Mississippi Scenic Byways Program.
• Noted the reappointment of Ola Berry as circuit court reporter at the order of Judge Mike Taylor.
• Noted the resignation of sheriff’s deputy Ryan Stokes and raises for sheriff’s investigators Todd Dillon, Jason Duncan and Travis Fite.
• Appointed county administrator Daniel Calcote and Supervisor Tazwell Bowsky to attend training for a Mississippi Department of Transportation grant program that’s funding a walking trail at the county multi-purpose property.
• Took under advisement a $69,336 bid from Empire Truck Sales of Brookhaven for a new dump truck.
