A lease on Yazoo River bank land and a lease on farmland at the Ceres Research and Industrial Interplex were approved Monday by the Warren County Port Commission.

The board also approved three contracts, one for a new sign at Ceres, one for additional repairs at the Ceres plantation house and one for computerized mapping of commission property.

Timberland Management Services asked the board for a lease on 500 feet of Yazoo River bank controlled by the commission near the Kings Point Ferry. The company wants the land to anchor barges used in a logging operation near Lake Centennial.

The commission approved a 6-month lease at a cost of $1,000 with an option to renew for an additional six months for an additional $1,000.

The other lease approved was with J&J Farms, the farmers leasing some of the open land at Ceres to grow cotton, soybeans and corn. At the same time, the board accepted J&J’s check for $27,063.98, which is the commission’s 20 percent share of the money from the crops raised in 2000. The cost of the lease is based on what J&J’s crops earn and varies from year to year.

Contracts approved were:

Signs First for $2,465 to replace the present old hardboard panels with new ones made of aluminum.

C&M Construction and Floorcovering for $6,300 for repairs to the antebellum Ceres plantation house.

Cadastal & Topographic Services for $3,840 to develop computerized maps of commission property, especially at Ceres. The mapping system would be capable of producing customized maps showing tracts of land with the locations of roads, utilities, drainage and other land features.