Four bids were accepted Monday for cleaning up Beulah Cemetery and referred to the citizen committee that has been pressing Vicksburg officials to get the work done.

In 1999, the Mississippi Legislature passed an appropriation of $50,000, which is administered by Vicksburg and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to clean up the largely abandoned burial ground begun by a black fraternal organization. This year, the city sought bids on the work but received no offers.

The four bids received by the city were officially due Friday, but no action was taken because Mayor Robert Walker and North Ward Alderman Gertrude Young were out of town. Formal acceptance of the bids was delayed until a special meeting Monday.

Bidding were Jimmy Hynum, $29,460; Shirley Mims Cleaning Service, $700 per month; Maynord Landscaping, $19,980, and Kealee Lot and Lawn, $26,240.

After voting to accept the bids, the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Vicksburg voted to refer the bids to the city’s Legal and Purchasing Departments and to the cemetery committee.

“We have made available room for the committee to meet,” Walker said, asking committee head Yolande Robbins when members plan to review offers. Robbins said the soonest the committee could meet would be today.

Officials of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History have defended the city’s nearly two-year delay in spending the money by saying there are legal issues to be clarified.

Beulah Cemetery borders the Vicksburg National Military Park at the east end of Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Regarding other vendors, the city board also voted to accept bids from the Sports Supply Group Inc. and The Sports Center on a list of recreation equipment and a bid from Delta State Truck for $17,735 on a mower. Those bids were referred to the Recreation and Purchasing Departments for analysis.

The board acted to award contracts for pest control services to Hathorne Pest Control Services and for towing services to Bell’s Towing Service.

In other action, the board:

Authorized the mayor to execute a request to extend a grant for the Solid Waste Assistance Grant Program with the Department of Environmental Quality Office of Pollution Control.

City Planner Ronnie Bounds said after the city cleaned up 17 illegal dump sites with the grant money, it still had $17,330.65 left over. The extension would allow the city to use the money to clean up additional illegal dumps.

Authorized the mayor to sign a contract for engineering services for placing a four-inch gas line from Sherman Avenue under U.S. 61 North to the site of the new River Region Health System hospital.

Authorized the mayor to execute a memorandum of agreement for continuing in Mississippi Main Street Association’s Main Street-Urban Main Street-Small Town Program.

Accepted the application for a tax exemption on some equipment at the Penco Products plant on U.S. 61 South from the Vesper Corp., the parent company.

Approved a $13,000 allocation for the Vicksburg Tallulah Regional Airport Authority from the fiscal year 2000-2001 budget.

Authorized the city clerk to advertise for bids on a National Resource Conservation Service erosion control program project near Patton Street and Fourth North Street. The bids are to be opened Jan. 24.

Authorized the city clerk to advertise for bids for steel.

In an closed session, postponed taking action on a personnel matter from the Vicksburg Fire Department.