District One Supervisor Robert Graham wants lawmakers to make it easier for Hinds County to pave city of Jackson streets.
The board of supervisors met with the Hinds County legislative delegation last week to hammer out its 2018 legislative agenda.
Among items, Graham wants the state to provide more funding for roads and bridges, and to streamline the process for setting up interlocal agreements.
Graham said the process needs to be improved to make it easier for the county to do work in the capital city, including paving streets and cutting grass.
He said the county was stymied by the previous city administration, which drug its feet when signing off on interlocal agreements.
“We hope the legislature will relax some of the rules,” Graham said.
Under state law, before one jurisdiction can work on a project in another jurisdiction, such as a road repaving project, both governments must sign an interlocal agreement. The document then must be submitted to the Mississippi attorney general for approval.
Graham said the administration under former Mayor Tony Yarber delayed several county-funded road projects, because the administration would not sign off on the agreements allowing them.
Last year, confusion surrounded why the county was unable to pave several city streets, even though it had obtained funding and hired contractors to do the work.
County officials said Jackson was dragging its feet, while the city, at the time, argued that Hinds County wanted to pave the streets without the city’s input.
Graham believes the county and city should continue to communicate on projects to ensure no duplication of services and reduce confusion, but would like lawmakers to limit the time a governmental entity has to review an agreement to two weeks.
“If they’re not signed off on within that time, then (entities) would be freed up to look into other options,” he said.
Interlocal agreements aside, the county also wants more money for road and bridge maintenance.
Graham said the board will be asking the legislature to provide full funding for the Local Street and Bridge Project (LSBP) program.
LSBP funds are provided by the state through the Mississippi Office of State Aid Road Construction to help counties address local bridge and road needs.
The county had hoped to use LSBP dollars this year to reopen some of its closed bridges, but the county received no funding because of state budget cuts.
“No county got a dime,” Graham said. “In the past, we’ve always counted on some funds to help with bridges.”
In part to make up for that loss, the board voted 4-1 on a two-mill property tax increase as part of its 2018 budget. Graham was the lone dissenting vote.
Graham would also like to see the state divert sales tax dollars to counties to pay for infrastructure improvements, as well as the state to allocate funding to help the county pay for a new emergency operations center.
The center is currently located in the basement of the Eudora Welty Library. The library was temporarily closed by the state fire marshal in October for a number of safety violations.
The emergency operations center handles the county’s 911 services, oversees the county’s 12 volunteer fire departments, and serves as the county’s Department of Homeland Security office, according to Emergency Management Director Ricky Moore.
Moore said the county is looking to relocate the center, but had not found a new building at press time. He estimates it would cost more than a million dollars, not including costs to retrofit the building to serve as EOC headquarters.
The library’s problems have not impacted the center’s operations. However, complications with the sewer pump located in Welty’s basement has made working conditions unpleasant at times.
A pump is needed to carry sewage out of the basement, because it is below the city’s gravity-based sewer system.
The pump is checked several times a week by Jackson city officials, but occasionally goes out. “Sure you can smell it, but it’s not something that would keep us from doing our job,” he said.
