Aldermen narrow list of streets to be paved in bond project
Published 7:00 am Thursday, February 6, 2020
- Poplarville Fire Chief Jason Bannister addresses the Board of Aldermen during Tuesday’s meeting. Photo by Cathy Cook.
The Poplarville Board of Aldermen adopted an updated list of streets that will be paved as part of the 2019 Road and Bridge Bond project during Tuesday’s meeting.
The list of streets has decreased significantly since they were initially discussed last year, because more bond funds have been committed to drainage work than anticipated.
The updated list includes Church Street, East Dove Street, East Larkin Smith Street, East North Street, Jordan Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, North Barnett Street, North Dauphine Street, Pine Street, South Allen Street, South Cowart Street, South St. Charles Street, South Strahan Street, South Haynes Street and West North Street, West Beers Street, West Brainard Street, West Rouse Street and Woodard Street. The list includes two alternates that can be added to the project if there are funds available: West Larkin Smith Drive and Todd Street.
The range of the base bid amount is estimated between $457,946 and $573,981, while the range of the alternate amount is estimated between $136,658 and $170,170. Bids will be opened in March, said Jason Lamb of The Walker Associates.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Poplarville resident Alethea Jarvis said she was not satisfied with a report the police department filed conerning a car accident she was involved in last November. Jarvis said she was dissatisfied with the police department’s response to her request for a new report, and asked the city’s Mayor and Aldermen for another report on the accident, but has not received a response.
Alderman Kevin Tillman explained that the Board is not involved in accident reports, and that they must be handled through the police department. In a comment issued after the meeting, Chief of Police Greg Hartley said that he replied to Jarvis’ requests for changes to the accident report with an explanation for why the report was written as it was and could not be changed. Hartley said the department also added a statement from Jarvis to the report.
Also during the public comment portion of the meeting, Jarvis alleged that Board member Tillman dumped trash on private property, and said she did not believe that he had a license to wash cars on his property. Tillman responded that he has the appropriate license, and city attorney Manya Bryant suggested Jarvis file a written complaint with the clerk’s office. Jarvis said she was told to bring her complaints before the Board, but declined to share who instructed her to do so.
The Board entered executive session to discuss personnel matters in the police department and the fire department and to discuss potential litigation.
In other business, the Board:
—Approved hiring James Bolton as a part time police officer, effective Feb. 10. The Poplarville Police Department still has two full time officer positions open.
—Authorized travel for Police Chief Greg Hartley to attend the 2020 National Incident Based Reporting System Training in Pearl, Miss., but declined to authorize sending Captain Al Tynes as well because the Board was concerned about sending Chief Hartley and Captain Tynes to training at the same time.