The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors discussed a four-year road improvement plan and a maintenance agreement for TSX voting machines and scanners during Monday’s meeting.
The four-year road plan has a couple of phases, said County Engineer Les Dungan. The first phase assessed the county’s road map and made the necessary corrections to it, which has been completed. The second phase involved an assessment of the 800 miles of county maintained roads, which is broken down to 3,800 road segments, said Dungan.
“We have inspected each of the segments and assigned them a grade in a number of categories that range from drainage, condition, right-of-way width, and other categories of that nature. That phase is complete from an academic stand point,” said Dungan.
The roads are prioritized on a scale of 1,2 and 3; one represents an immediate need for the road to be repaired, two means it needs attention pretty soon, and three means the road is in satisfactory condition and receives routine maintenance.
Dungan said there are 674,000-square-yards of priority one road surfaces in the county.
“The budgeting aspect of this project is very important, so if we can prioritize the roads appropriately then the project will go smoothly,” said Dungan.
District III Supervisor Hudson Holliday suggested Dungan put together an analysis so the Board can use some bond money from the project to put together a task force to oversee this project throughout the four years. Holliday said the task force would prevent unnecessary maintenance, such as repairing a road twice.
Dungan agreed with Holliday’s suggestion.
“Maintenance of the roads is similar to that of your home. You can paint a wood home today and prevent it from rotting. All you’re spending money on after that is cleaning the paint. If you wait, you are going to end up replacing wood and paint. This is the same with roads. If you maintain the surface of roads today, it will prevent further damage of the roads in the future, saving cost,” Dungan said.
In other news:
− The Board approved an order concerning additional state funds for project SAP-55(18)M. The change order pertains to construction on the north end of West Union Road. Heavy rains washed out a section of the road on April 28, said Dungan. He recommends increasing the project funds to cover the addition of necessary culverts. The installation of the two culverts is estimated at $86,000 plus contingencies. Any unused money will be returned. The construction will consist of increasing the opening of the drainage structure near the road using the culverts.
− The Board approved a maintenance agreement between the Circuit Clerk’s office and the SNS for maintenance of the TSX voting machines and scanners. The voting machines are over a decade old. In order to repair the machines, they have to be shipped to Jackson. However, the proposal was for a maintenance agreement to fix the machines in-house. This annual agreement can extend the life of the machines for up to six years said Election Commissioner Reggie Hanberry. Hanberry said if they do not act on this now, nine machines would need to be replaced. The cost of a new machine is almost $900, said Hanberry.
− SMPDD scholarship recipients Shaniece Powe and Lucas Williams were recognized for academic excellence by the Board.
− A motion was approved to sell the old superintendent of education building in Carriere. Appraisal will soon be made to determine a value of the building.
The next board meeting will be Monday, June 20.