A decision on how to finance the replacement of the T-dock at the Port of Vicksburg remains on hold, as port commissioners put off making a firm decision on how best to handle an increasingly dire situation for business at the port.

Verbal commitments have been gathered from state and federal sources that would redirect at least $600,000 initially intended to pay for replacing the 125-ton crane that unloads freight at the structure, Executive Director Jim Pilgrim told Warren County supervisors and port commissioners, meeting separately Monday.

Time is of the essence, Pilgrim said, as an Aug. 2 date looms for a $278,000 portion of those grant funds to expire.

&#8220If we cannot get a bid awarded…we stand the possibility of losing that money,” Pilgrim told supervisors, who in March approved extending up to $2.5 million in port improvement bonds.

Though a consensus had been reached by supervisors and commissioners this year on replacing the dock, the panel returned to the question of simply repairing the dock, closed since February after engineers found wear and tear to the nearly 40-year-old dock threatening its stability.

Repairing the structure might cost less money, but &#8220at the end of the day, you’re going to need an engineer to put a stamp it,” Warren County Engineer John McKee said at the Port Commission’s meeting.

Despite the urging of chairman Johnny Moss and others on the board, the panel caved to arguments made by Commissioner Mike Cappaert that hope still remains to finance repairing the structure instead of replacing it.

&#8220We never had an accurate request for proposals (with repairing it). I am for rebuilding it or re-bidding it,” Cappaert said.

Movement of solid tonnage at the port has virtually stopped since the T-dock was closed in February, dropping more than 80 percent in April and May from totals reported for January and February.

&#8220From the standpoint of being a port commission without a port, we don’t look very good,” Moss said.

The panel recessed until Thursday, approving only a measure directing its attorney to ask the Attorney General’s Office if the board could legally declare an emergency and still re-bid the project.

Of 13 companies to express interest in handling the extensive work involving the dock and crane, only Vicksburg-based Riverside Construction made an offer. The bid, at $3.4 million, overshot the estimated cost of replacing the dock by 100 percent.

Including funds secured when only a crane replacement was in the county’s sights, grants for which the commission applied from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mississippi Department of Transportation and Delta Regional Authority totaled $1.5 million.

Supervisors mulled the issue following an update from Pilgrim. District 2 Supervisor William Banks moved to reject Riverside’s bid and instruct the Warren County Port Commission to re-advertise the project, a motion shot down 3-2.

District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon, the only one to vote with Banks on Monday, said the gap between the engineers’ estimate of the project’s cost and Riverside’s bid was unjustifiable.

&#8220That’s a big difference,” Selmon said.

The board will convene Friday to follow what supervisors hope is a decision by commissioners to wait on grant funds to be redirected and move on with the bond issue.

An added ingredient to the mix – briefly – was the presence of Buford Construction at both meetings. Owner Pete Buford presented drawings of a repair plan to the Board of Supervisors, prompted by what he said was a meeting with a county supervisor on the project. When asked, each supervisor denied contacting Buford.