County engineer's report

County engineer Larry Britt brought some pay requests to the board of supervisors for approval at the March 17 meeting.

Construction will soon begin on the north side of Barringer Road in the Chickasaw Trail Industrial Park.

The sewer project at Hyline Drive is underway. Britt submitted pay request #1 for $220,446 from Trey Construction of Collierville, Tenn. The project is funded with American Rescue Plan Act monies.

He submitted pay request #5 for $93,565 from Fulwood Construction for work completed on the Eddie Dixon Medic Station in the Chickasaw Trail Industrial Park. The station will house ambulance services, law enforcement and fire service in the Trail.

Change order #1 on Phase 2A of the water well project at Project Poppy came in under budget when water was struck at 530 feet instead of the expected 600 feet.

Britt asked the county to release maintenance to the Mississippi Department of Transportation on the Tippah River Bridge project.

The Blackwater Road bridge raise project hit a snag when the contractor, who bid on the project, stalled after seeing another contractor at the site. Ste Bil Grading had agreed to extend his bid date but then changed his mind, Britt said.

District 5 supervisor Ronnie O'Neil Bennett is ready for the replacement of the Goat Bridge on Bethlehem Road to begin. He said the project can begin as soon as a property owner signs off on a right-ofway agreement.

The board discussed the operation of the fairgrounds board.

District 4 supervisor George Zinn III said he thinks the board just wanted the county to bless the rules the fairground board would operate under.

Board attorney Amanda Whaley Smith said the board should follow Roberts Rules of Order and elect officers.

“They just need to get along,” Zinn said.

District 1 supervisor Charles Terry said he thought the fairgrounds board understood when they last came before the board that Roberts Rules of Order would be sufficient and the board can act by putting its actions in its minutes.

“So, the answer would be they just need to operate, general stuff?” Zinn asked.

“I think that's an internal decision,” Smith said. “For us to get involved with that, I believe would be a conflict.”

“They need to work within their board,” Zinn concluded.

“To vote on things and put it in their minutes,” Terry said. “They need to throw away the bylaws the Fairgrounds Association had.”

“They just need to work inhouse and make it happen,” Zinn said.

Bennett expressed concern that closing Highway 178 East where the Mississippi Department of Transportation is replacing bridges is creating a difficulty for egress and entry for residents on Musgray Road to get to their property. As it is, some residents will have to go to Waterford in order to get to Holly Springs and other areas.

He said the county needs to meet with MDOT in Jackson to see if the west side of the highway can be opened up for local traffic, ambulance and other emergency vehicles.

Bennett said a church has been broken in and people are dumping tires in the areas now that the highway has been closed.

The board approved a motion to send the county administrator to Jackson to ask MDOT to help get one lane of traffic open.

“I got slammed about it,” Bennett said. “We all swore and oath to serve and protect people of Marshall County.”

County administrator Tim Powell said the federal government forced the state to replace the bridges.

He said the power lines have to be moved to the east side of Highway 178, the Lake Center side, while access to Musgray Road is to the west side of the highway.

Chancery clerk Nicole Phelps asked for travel approval for three people in the tax collectors' office to travel to conference in June. She and Tim Powell requested travel to a spring educational workshop in Ridgeland.

She said a request to purchase a copier for the Land Records Office at a cost of about $6,000 has been made once the current contract with a vendor expires.

Phelps asked that $24,926 in un-cashed checks be turned over to the county administrator's office. She said the checks had not been redeemed by individuals who participated in the 2023 tax sale.

Phelps asked the county to reimburse the City of Holly Springs for $4,000 that the city paid to send an officer to the academy. The sheriff's office has hired the employee.

The claims docket came to $619,398.

The board approved Cousins as the primary winning bid for hauling rock, with Crossway being selected as first alternate and Nunnally Trucking as second alternate.

The board discussed submitting a grant application for tornado shelters. Powell said the applicants must find locations for these shelters and some counties place them near schools.