Participation in drills simulating evacuations from Grand Gulf Nuclear Station will not include Vicksburg personnel and resources until the state reimburses the city’s training costs as is done for Warren County, Mayor Laurence Leyens said Thursday.

The city is demanding the state pay $1,940 per day for the Vicksburg Fire Department to join in a medical and decontamination drill scheduled in March, according to a letter sent to Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Womack. Copies were sent to local officials, including Warren County Emergency Management Director Gwen Coleman.

Further, the letter from Vicksburg Emergency Management Agency Director Anna Booth states, annual costs for sending 120 Vicksburg firefighters to annual refresher courses such as the upcoming drill total $20,000 and should also be reimbursed.

“MEMA needs to provide the training and funding for that effort,” Leyens said, referencing a $6,000 reimbursement from Entergy Nuclear, which owns the plant, to the county to reimburse volunteer fire crews’ participation in Grand Gulf-related exercises.

Also, the city recommends the decontamination drill site be moved from Warren Central High School, as the state has recommended, to the Vicksburg Municipal Airport because of cost-effectiveness. The airport is also about 10 miles closer to Mississippi’s only nuclear plant.

Coleman confirmed the county does get the $6,000 when supervisors met informally Thursday. Besides sharing the letter, Coleman updated them on the county’s comprehensive plan for coordinating emergency functions.

Coleman said the county is still recognized as being the coordinating entity for emergencies despite the city’s efforts, begun in 2007, to establish its own similar department and emergency operations center. Some municipalities in the state operate such functions, such as in Hattiesburg and Biloxi, usually as part of a taxing district. MEMA has not responded to a letter sent by Warren County last year asking which local government has coordinating authority in general emergencies, as there is no such taxing district here.

The first parts of the county’s comprehensive plan were accepted by supervisors in 2007 and involve general emergency guidelines. The full plan remains incomplete due to lack of cooperation by the city on sections spelling out emergency support functions, Coleman said. Supervisors criticized the city’s recent action as misguided.

“That’s what you call hardball, right before the drill,” District 4 Supervisor Bill Lauderdale said.

Vicksburg’s establishment of emergency management functions grew out of the local response to Hurricane Katrina. Both governing bodies were eligible for federal reimbursements, but Leyens criticized state and county efforts as uncoordinated. In Vicksburg’s 2008-09 operating budget, planned spending on supplies, capital and services for the additional department totals $139,750.

The mayor has said the county’s failure to engage in appropriate planning for emergencies has left the city no choice but to develop a city-only plan.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com.