District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders discusses Warren County’s budget during a town hall meeting Tuesday night at United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America on U.S. 61 South. (Meredith Spencer The Vicksburg Post)

[08/18/04]Interest continues in whether a private sanitary landfill will be developed south of Vicksburg.

At a forum arranged by District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders, residents wanted to know about the landfill, the U.S. 80 bridge and the fire-protection agreement between city and county governments.

Joyce Evans, who lives on Jeff Davis Road near where the landfill would be, said the landfill issue is what she wanted to know about.

“It is so close to where we live,” she said. “And I came because I’m interested in what’s going on.”

The company trying to develop the site, Warren County Waste Disposal Inc., has won a go-ahead from the state, but Warren County has appealed that decision. The case is now before a chancery judge in Lexington, pending decision.

The decision will determine whether the applicants’s existing state permit, which was received but not used, remains valid or whether a new process, which includes a local veto option, will have to be followed.

Dozens of landfills have been operated in Vicksburg and Warren County in recent years. The last was closed more than a decade ago, and private haulers now truck garbage to landfills elsewhere.

About 20 people attended the meeting at the Local Union 303 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America on U.S. 61 South, including Mayor Laurence Leyens and South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman.

Flanders took office in January. No other supervisors were present.

On Monday, supervisors approved Flanders’ motion allowing the Vicksburg Bridge Commission, which manages the county-owned bridge, to keep investigating the feasibility of turning the bridge roadway into a park with walking and bicycle paths.

“I would like for it to be open for traffic,” said Mavis Wilson, a Jeff Davis Road resident. “So many times the traffic has been backed up. If it’s safe enough for trains to go over, it should be safe enough for cars to go over.”

The 74-year-old county-owned bridge has been closed to vehicle traffic since 1998, and a year later residents voted to reopen the span. Supervisors endorsed that vote, but no steps were taken toward restoring the deteriorating concrete roadway. Earlier this year, commission members asked for permission to study other options and then endorsed the park idea. The roadway has been declared obsolete and unsafe, but no definitive position has been taken by the county board indicating it will never be reopened to traffic.

Other topics included the proposed agreement between the city and county governments to allow the Vicksburg Fire Department and the Warren County volunteer firefighters to work together with Leyens and Beauman taking opposing sides because of funding issues.

Leyens is for the agreement, and Beauman is against it.

Beauman said he was against it because the agreement was “halfway,” adding that he wanted to see “it all addressed first.”

Robert Pell, fire chief for LeTourneau Volunteer firefighters, said he thought the two agencies working together would be a good thing.

“We’re always here to help,” he said. “We’ve helped Claiborne and Hinds counties. That’s what we do; we help.”

Flanders said he’ll continue to have town hall meetings about once a year.

“This was one of my campaign pledges,” said Flanders. “This is one way to open up government.”