Picayune’s City Council considered abandoning an easement in the Woods Subdivision, approved advertising for additional bids for a set of road projects and recognized a group of missionaries visiting the city from a small island in the English Channel.
Mayor Ed Pinero Jr. said the petition was lodged to ensure the cul-de-sac where the easement is would not be converted into a through street.
However, before the city can abandon that easement, a few steps must be completed. City Attorney Nathan Farmer said after the city acknowledged receipt of the petition, which was completed Tuesday night, it will now head to the Planning Commission to hold a public hearing to seek comment on the matter.
After the public hearing, the matter will come before the council for a final decision.
Pinero said the easement in question is at the end of a cul-de-sac, and residents are petitioning for abandonment of it to ensure a road, and subsequently traffic, does not come through there.
City Engineer Brooks Wallace updated the council about the project that will overlay a section of Memorial Boulevard overlay and provide lighting to Highway 43 N. He said only one bid was received for the project in November of last year, which was for more than 10 percent the estimated cost. Wallace said the Mississippi Department of Transportation requires projects to be rebid when only one bid is received and that bid comes in at least 10 percent more than the estimate.
Additionally, Wallace said that MDOT has opted to add more funding to the project, which will allow the city to revert back to the full scope of the projected lighting on Highway 43 N. Initially that project was slated to install street lighting from the intersection of Highland Parkway all the way to the intersection of U.S. 11. However the initial lack of sufficient funding caused the project to be scaled back to the intersection of Read Road. Now that more funding is promised, the project can install lighting all the way to U.S. 11 as originally planned.
The natural gas replacement project is nearing completion. Wallace said the installation part of the project is slated slated for completion by Feb. 28. Once that part of the project is finished, crews will focus on line abandonment.
At the beginning of the meeting the council recognized two teams of missionaries from Quennevais Evangelical Church in Jersey England. They are in Picayune conducting their own missionary work as reciprocation for missionary work provided in their area by the New Palestine Baptist Church.
In other business the council:
— Reappointed Edward Stubbs to the Picayune School Board of Trustees.
— Appointed Martha Sheppard to the Pearl River County Library System Board of Trustees.
— Approved new cemetery rules that deal with placement of figurines on headstones.
The next council meeting will be at 5 p.m. on March 3.