At a special called meeting Tuesday, the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved seeking bids for the milling and overlaying of portions of Clay Street and Wisconsin Avenue — two projects in the city being funded with stimulus dollars.

A third paving project, on Indiana Avenue, originally to be paid for with the $947,635 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds awarded to the city has been dropped from the plan, said Public Works Director Bubba Rainer.

“We’re not losing any of our stimulus money,” said Rainer. “There were some right of way encroachment issues having to do with mailboxes on Indiana Avenue which MDOT (Mississippi Department of Transportation) doesn’t like to get into, and instead of taking time to try to clear that up and risk losing our stimulus money we decided to drop that for now and address it with other funds at a later date.”

Rainer said the work on Clay and Wisconsin likely will cost even more than the stimulus funds allotted. If so, those projects will be supplemented with State Transportation Improvement Program funds allocated by MDOT annually. STIP funds require a 25 percent local match, he said.

Clay Street is to be repaved from Cherry Street to Mission 66, while Wisconsin Avenue will receive work from Interstate 20 to Bazinsky Road. Indiana Avenue was to be repaved from South Frontage Road to the city limits.

Also Tuesday, the board approved a pre-application to the Federal Aviation Administration for $760,000 worth of improvements to the Vicksburg Municipal Airport on U.S. 61 South. If approved, the funds would go toward the installation of an instrument that aids in guiding approaching planes to the runway, a new weather observation system, apron repairs and drainage improvements.

Airport Manager Curt Follmer said the airport is guaranteed to receive $150,000 in FAA funding in 2010, but any additional monies are not certain. He said the city won’t find out until next spring how much funding it receives.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com