Warren County port commissioners will stand by their current deal to lease land near the Port of Vicksburg for commercial fleeting despite claims as to its ownership by a private interest, commission counsel said Monday.

The conclusion, reached following a closed session, protects verbiage of a lease expired Dec. 31 that allows Ergon Marine to conduct business on the northern end of a 7.23-acre spit of land thought to have floated away from DeSoto Island, on the Louisiana side of the Yazoo Diversion Canal.

DeSoto Island Properties LLC had disputed ownership of the six parcels of land last year and pursued past-due rent and other damages associated with the commission’s $6,000-per-year lease to Ergon Marine’s fleeting operation.

Despite commissioners’ action in December to pay the firm out of escrow account to settle the issue, its attorney, W. Briggs Hopson III, appealed to the board during open session to pay 50 percent of the lease money over the past three years to his client to reflect disputed ownership.

The panel moved quickly to discuss the issue with commission attorney J. Mack Varner in closed session on the grounds it constituted a potential litigation issue, an exception in the Mississippi Open Meetings law.

No decision was announced formally, but Varner said later the commission &#8220stood by its lease.”

The Port Commission holds 11 leases, six at the Port of Vicksburg and five at Ceres Research and Industrial Interplex, that govern business activity on land it owns at both sites. Some leases also allow for bow hunting, advertising and grass mowing.

In other business, the panel accepted preliminary designs for replacing the T-dock crane support at the port and repairing a structure leading to it.

Brian Johnson and Brian Robbins of ABMB Engineers Inc. presented the initial plans, which are in advance of bidding out the project.

Johnson said the design is in the &#8220research process” to come up with a model for a new dock, the result of which stems from current infrastructure like box girders being outdated.

&#8220They just don’t make them like that anymore,” he said.

Earlier this month, Warren County supervisors OK’d a plan to pay for the dock work by extending a current port improvement bond issue. A maximum of up to $2.5 million in general obligation bonds was set for the work.

As for business affected by the dock’s closure in early February, totals of steel and ore unloadings were down, as expected. Still, more cargo was moved during the month than a year ago at the same time.

Kinder Morgan reported 18,500 tons moved at the port for the month. In February 2006, just less than 15,000 tons were unloaded.

The panel also heard from Wes Stafford of the Mississippi Department of Transportation on plans to build a road to connect U.S. 61 North and the port.

Stafford said the state and ABMB are re-evaluating an environmental impact study on the project, which is expected to cost about $17 million and be funded by a local-state matching fund arrangement.