Second station possible

Design for a new fire station, taken from one in Horn Lake, was recently presented to the mayor and board of aldermen of Holly Springs.

The plan for the additional station, which can be modified, will contain office space, training room, meeting room, separate sleeping quarters for men and women, showers, exercise room, day room and  kitchen.

The bay area will be sufficient to house fire trucks indoors. The Holly Springs Fire Department has 13 pieces of equip­ment, chief Rodney Crane said, most of it outside the station.

The exercise room will contain the weights and benches, now kept in the bay with the fire engines. Other materials now stored in trailers outside will be moved inside.

“This is a 100-foot, four-bay building,” the chief said. “The big ladder truck will be kept here. We will divide the equipment up with an aerial device in each station.”

The station will be outfitted with LED lighting inside and outdoors to save energy consumption.

Crane said the new station will be Station #1 when it is constructed.

It will be a single-story brick building with a metal top, and with a mezzanine for storage.

No land has been selected for the station as yet. With two fire stations, the insurance ratings will be improved, Crane said.

Board discusses contract

Clencie Cotton requested an amendment to his agreement with the city for grant writing services. His company assists the city in grant writing for new projects, and it was serving on an hourly basis. Now he wants a performance-based contract, where if the city gets the grant award, his company will receive 10 percent of the grant award as a consultant fee. The city would decide which projects it wants.

Alderman Mark Miller of Ward 3 asked if Cotton was requesting expenses over and above any paperwork.

Mayor Kelvin Buck stepped in to say the city already has a list of projects it wants funded and Cotton has been grant writing for awhile. Buck said he likes the performance-based approach.

Alderman-At-Large Tim Liddy asked whether 10 percent is the norm.

“About the norm, but we are assuming all risks,” Cotton said.

Board attorney Shirley Byers noted the city sometimes may get notice of an award quite awhile before funding starts.

Buck suggested paying 50 percent of the 10 percent within 30 days of notice of award and the rest after the money comes in.

Liddy wanted to research the 10 percent to see if it fit what other consultants are receiving.

Buck wanted action from the board.

Alderman Bernita Fountain Lowe of Ward 1 noted that some consultants get up to 20 percent of the contract award.

Buck pressed for authorization of the agreement, pending language based upon what the board of aldermen would approve.

“Each project would be brought before the board for approval because the matter of funding has to be known,” the mayor said. “Each project will carry our parameters and the board gets the last say. You have to know your match before you could approve it. I like the idea of performance based.”

Liddy pushed for seeing the final wording of the agreement and also if 10 percent of the contract award is common.

“It’s less than common; it’s a bargain, actually,” Cotton said.

The board then approved a motion to authorize the amended contract with Cotton with corrected language and the measure passed by unanimous vote of the board members present.

Girls’ empowerment camp

Flora Isom-Marion appeared before the board to request to hold a girls’ empowerment camp - Be Beautiful, Be You.

The day camp is for girls ages 13-18 to be held June 2 at the Eddie Lee Smith Multi-Purpose Building.

Marion asked the mayor and board to help sponsor the camp.

The camp will present topics of interest to young girls including:

• beauty

• health

• wellness

• anti-bullying

• self-defense (presented by alderman Bernita Fountain Lowe)

• career preparation

• fitness

A special two-hour session presented by the Southern Academy of Etiquette will cover resumé building, etiquette, social media, setting tables, etc.

Marion said she has a budget of $3,600 to pay $1,200 for T-shirts and $1,400 to the Southern Academy of Etiquette for a speaker.

Mayor Buck offered to help raise the $1,200 for the speaker and the board authorized a donation of $1,400 to pay for the T-shirts.

In other business, the board of aldermen:

• assigned Yolanda Carter as director of Human Resources Job Center and Jerrica Jones as HRJC assistant director.

• transferred Carmetra Tucker to office assistant at Parks and Recreation.

• assigned Don Buford to safety officer for the city.

• approved creation of a position of economic developer (IDA) to work with the Marshall County Industrial Development Authority.

Approved claims:

• payment of $44,549.51 to Hancock Bank.

• authorized a standard ad valorem tax exemption request from KP Building Products.

• approved payment to MGAM (Municipal Gas Authority of Mississippi) of $130,607 for natural gas and $29,410 for pipeline transportation charges.

• authorized payment of $1,501 to Cook Coggins Engineering for sewer relocation on the Salem Bridge relocation project (100 percent reimbursable by the Mississippi Department of Transportation).

• authorized $10,406 payment to Cook Coggins for engineering services on the Salem Bridge water relocation project (reimbursable by MDOT).

• authorized $10,707 to Cook Coggins for engineering services on the CDBG (Community Develop­ment Block Grant) sewer rehabilitation project. All funding is local.

• approved $817 for work on the sewer rehabilitation project.

• approved payment of $12,869 to W.T. Contracting (70 percent reimbursable by Mississippi Development Authority).

Other actions, included:

• approved hiring of Shamantha Woods to part-time desk clerk at $9 an hour.

• accepted the resignation letters of officers Ricky Ray, Duncan Knox and Justin Holpe from the police department.

• approved advertising for police officers in The South Reporter.

• thanked reserve officer Marvin Hughes, who will be moving on to a full-time job post graduation.

• approved hiring Anthony Jones full-time and Frank Bogard part-time to the Street Department.