[5/11/04]Bills to allow the City of Vicksburg more power to regulate the looks of local buildings and one to allow the city and county to increase the fees residents pay for 911 service died when the 2004 Legislature adjourned late Sunday.

The four-month legislative session, the first in Republican Gov. Haley Barbour’s administration, had been extended five days for legislators to agree on a state budget.

But the added time did not help local officials with two of the items on their wish lists from the beginning of the session.

Zoning laws would have given Vicksburg the ability to regulate the appearance of buildings in the city, and the 911 legislation would have given city and county officials the authority to raise telephone surcharges to increase funding for the E-911 Dispatch Center.

Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, said both pieces of legislation likely died because they were of more general interest to all counties or municipalities instead of potentially affecting only one.

“I’m not surprised those failed to pass,” Flaggs said. “When you are dealing with local and private legislation, it should only affect local localities, either municipalities or counties.

“If there is a chance of it affecting more than one county, nine times out of 10, it’s not going to pass.”

Mayor Laurence Leyens and City Planner Wayne Mansfield supported the legislation that would have allowed the city to set requirements for landscape, drainage and access and banned the construction of metal buildings on main thoroughfares.

“The legislation was too restrictive as requested,” Sen. Mike Chaney, R-Vicksburg, said of the zoning proposal.

Leyens said he’ll push for the same issues that did not pass this year.

“Every one of those issues are real issues,” he said.

Items approved from the local wish list were:

A House bill that allows Vicksburg to fund upkeep at Beulah Cemetery. The city can give $25,000 in cash or services to the private cemetery committee. “I applaud the city government for wanting to make a contribution or in-kind services to the cemetery,” Flaggs said.

Bills to allow the city to donate funds to the Main Street Program, the Initiative and Keep Vicksburg-Warren Beautiful. Main Street is a downtown promotion group; the Initiative is a housing/day care/education program that moves single parents toward independence; and Keep Vicksburg-Warren Beautiful is a litter-awareness and prevention organization.

Legislation allowing the city to lease the naming rights to the Vicksburg Convention Center and the City Auditorium. The rights could be sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars over a 10-year period.

Chaney said Tupelo is an example, with its 32,000-square-foot arena being named the BancorpSouth Center.

Others that failed:

The annual proposal to allow sheriff’s deputies to use radar to catch speeders. Chaney said legislators would continue studying the issue, and it would likely come before the lawmakers in the 2005 session. Similar legislation has failed in previous years.

A bill that would have allowed Vicksburg to send inmates to a private Louisiana prison. Chaney said the legislation did not pass because Mississippi authorities would lose jurisdiction on the inmates.

Chaney called the session the worst he’s seen in his 12 years in the Legislature.

“The session, as a whole, was very stressful and very partisan,” Chaney said. “I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the state of Mississippi for the House and Senate to openly condemn each other.”

Flaggs said the “challenging” session was a rewarding experience.

“Under the circumstances, I thought we did quite well,” Flaggs said. “We balanced the budget and met the needs of the state without diminishing the quality of services.”