Whether three agencies will move to the Levee Street Depot and share services — a plan developed by former Mayor Laurence Leyens — will be discussed more Wednesday.

The idea is to base the Vicksburg Main Street Program, the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau and Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce in the building at City Front. It hinges on the acceptance of a $1.65 million grant awarded to the city by the Mississippi Department of Transportation in March 2007 to establish a transportation museum in the building. Architect Johnny Waycaster was hired June 30 to design renovations for the museum and office spaces for the three nonprofits.

“We need to notify both MDOT and Johnny Waycaster about our intentions for this grant,” Director of Buildings and Inspections Victor Gray-Lewis told the board Monday.

The architectural renderings must be completed and approved by Sept. 30 in order for the city to accept the grant, a deadline Waycaster has said he can meet, said Gray-Lewis. However, it is still not clear if all three agencies are still on board with the joint venture, said South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman.

Main Street is a quasi-public trade association funded by extra property taxes levied in a city-set district and city allocations. The VCVB is a city-county tourism development agency funded by a special sales tax. The Chamber of Commerce is an independent business support and development group, funded by memberships and significant city and county allocations.

“These meetings we’re having are for information for us, because we’re getting mixed signals as to does the Chamber, does the VCVB, does Main Street want to move into that building?” Beauman said. “Some we’re hearing ‘yes’ from and some we’re hearing ‘no’ … there’s a lot of misinformation out there.”

“We’re also trying to determine which is the best use for that building,” Mayor Paul Winfield added. “There’s a lot of wants and desires, but whether or not we have the necessities, especially based in these times with lower budget revenues than we would like to have. We’re going to have to make some really tough choices, and in some instances we may have to choose to not participate.”

The transportation museum is the project of Lamar Roberts, who owns and operates the Vicksburg Battlefield Museum. Roberts told the board rail museums and model railroads are two of the fasting growing attractions in the country, and pleaded with them to keep the plan on track.

“We feel like this museum could draw about 50,000 people a year,” he said, noting rail cars, 1,500 books and model trains have already been acquired for the museum.

Of the three agencies, the Chamber is in the most stable setting — a building it constructed on Mission 66. The VCVB is in temporary quarters adjacent to its visitor center on Clay Street. It and Main Street were displaced by a downtown building collapse in 2006.

In the final months of his second term as mayor, Leyens orchestrated a plan to get all three of the organizations to move into part of the second and third floors of the 102-year-old, city-owned building. According to the agreement, each organization would enter a 20-year lease with the city and pay approximately $500 a month for rent and utilities. Main Street and the VCVB both officially signed onto the plan in April, but the chamber — which still has 70 years left on its lease at its headquarters at 2020 Mission 66 — held off to more closely examine the offer.

Having all three groups in one building would save all three organizations and the city money by sharing equipment and eliminating duplication of services, Leyens reasoned.

Approximately $412,350 is needed in local matching funds to secure the MDOT grant and a separate $53,900 grant awarded by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for the museum. Under Leyens’ plan, the Chamber and VCVB would both give $150,000 toward the match and the rest would come through in-kind matches for the value of the building — about $240,000 — and inhouse renovations.

“My understanding is there should be no out-of-pocket expense for the city on this,” said Gray-Lewis.

However, also under Leyens’ plan, the city proposed to purchase the Chamber building for about $300,000 and turn it into a headquarters for the city’s emergency management department. That aspect of the deal was not discussed Monday, but will likely be brought up at the Wednesday meeting.

“We’re still in the fact-finding stage, and we want to make the decision about this project that will be in the best interest of everybody,” said Winfield. “We have a really crucial timeline going on here with MDOT. If we’re going to accept this grant, we need to accept it and move forward quickly with the architectural drawings.”

Sen. Briggs Hopson III introduced and pushed a bill through the legislative session this year allowing the city to lease the depot to the three participating organizations for up to 75 years. Meanwhile, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has said it expects the nearby MV Mississippi IV to be joined by the Lower Mississippi River Museum and Riverfront Interpretive Center by 2011. The area also features the Riverfront Murals, a splash fountain, a playground and an art park.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com