McComb city board members moved closer at Tuesday’s work session to overhauling and resetting leases on city-owned property.
Selectwoman Tabitha Felder Isaac, who for months has decried the long terms of some of the leases, said she still thinks most terms should be shorter, but she could understand some leases being for longer terms, such as Amtrak’s lease for space at the railroad depot.
“I still think most of the leases should be for our term in office, but I can see longer leases for transportation,” Isaac said.
She said she believes different organizations should have a chance to lease space it they want to.
City Administrator David Myers noted that Amtrak has one of the shorter leases in effect at the moment, with a five-year deal that comes up for renewal next year.
Other organizations with leases on city property include the McComb Garden Club, on a house on Michgan Avenue; the American Legion, for its building in Edgewood Park; and the Pike County Arts Council, for the State Theater.
Myers agreed to bring the board three of the leases — two 99-year-leases and a 50-year lease — at the next board work session on Oct. 3, so the board and its attorney can examine them and see if they want to break them and renegotiate with the holders or seek competing offers.
In other business, the board:
• Learned from Mayor Quordiniah Lockley that financial adviser Larry Day had informed him that Day’s firm, Daylight Capital, is having trouble finding buyers for the city’s bonds intended to fund a citywide paving program.
• Noted receipt of a quote from Delta Computers for installation of a program that will send copies of checks issued by the city to the bank, so checks presented for payment can be compared to wwhat the city sent out. City Clerk Rosezea Scott said the program would help prevent thefts like that accomplished by the stealing and altering of a city check for about $13,000 earlier this summer.
• Considered waiving rental fees at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for McComb Branch NAACP wo hold a children’s rally, an election forum and an expungement clinic.
• Learned the Mississippi Department of Archives and History approved designs for the rebuilding of the railroad depot, and wants to see final plans with electrical and other placements before granting final approval to solicit bids from contractors.
An armored personnel carrier is seen outside the city-owned American Legion Hut in McComb.
