McComb officials are seeking the cleanup of a dumping ground north of Tractor Supply Co. between Leggett and Bendat streets.
Selectman Albert Eubanks complained that the area was filled with discarded tractor-trailer parts, other scrap metal and fallen timber, and that children could get hurt playing in the unsecured area.
Public Works Director Chuck Lambert said code enforcement officer Philip Blanchard was investigating a complaint about the property, which he said Seago Lumber had used as a gravel pit and a place to park old equipment.
“Can we get this taken care of expeditiously? (Clean-up) needs to happen quickly,” Eubanks said.
Selectman Donovan Hill asked if the review process and cleanup could be wrapped up in 30 days, with Eubanks adding that he considered the site a “clear danger.”
“Nothing in the law will allow that,” board attorney Wayne Dowdy said, noting that the city must hold a public hearing on the matter, and the property owners have to be given notice.
Mayor Whitney Rawlings suggested holding a hearing at 5 p.m. before the board’s next regular meeting on May 8, and the board agreed.
In other business:
• Public works director Chuck Lambert reported on a plan to develop a subdivision in East McComb.
The city planning commission already approved the plan by DreamBuilders to construct one- and two-family brick residences in and around a block bounded by Myrtle and Cherry streets, Bacot Avenue and Avenue A.
“This would create housing where there is none and raise the tax base,” Lambert said.
Eubanks asked about the possibility of the company widening the roads in that area.
“They have a year to submit a final plan,” Lambert said. “Everything in East McComb is tight. If we tell them they need to (widen those streets), they will.”
The board took no action on the proposal.
• Rawlings said the city had received calls from two food vendors asking about requirements for food trucks.
He presented sample ordinances on regulating food trucks from Jackson and Amory, and suggested McComb should adopt some rules for food trucks as well.
While food trucks are required to be inspected and permitted by the state Department of Health, Rawlings said the city should consider controls on where the food trucks may set up, requiring business licenses and certificates of insurance, and mandating maintenance conditions.
The board could consider action in a future meeting.
Selectmen also:
• Recognized Marlon Varnado for five years of service as a jailer. Varnado did not attend the meeting.
• Hired Richard Bruce Bynum Jr. and Steven Kyle Brady Jr. as probationary police offers. Both come to McComb from the Brookhaven force.
• Authorized the annual “Pops in the Park” fireworks display, set for May 12 at Edgewood Park.
• Approved the sale of service weapons to retiring police officers Deska Varnado and Lyle D. Tadlock for $1 each.
• Accepted reimbursement of $4,460 from the county 911 commission for purchase of a computer, and $95.20 from the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics from seized property.
• Authorized Neel-Schaffer to advertise for purchase and installation of a new generator for the police department.
• Accepted the bid of Little Dixie Yard Works for $29,990 for lawn maintenance and landscaping at various sites across the city.
• Paid the sheriff’s department $19,606.83 for housing of city inmates in November.
• Directed Lambert to investigate a gravel road in south McComb that was annexed into the city in the 1980s.
Lambert said the city had never maintained it, and county workers he had spoken to did not remember maintaining it either. The city could begin working on the road soon if it is listed in the annexation order.
Selectman Donovan Hill said the road’s condition made it difficult for emergency vehicles to travel on it.
