Vicksburg residents owing the city back fines for traffic or misdemeanor offenses can avoid a visit to Municipal Court if they’re paid between Feb. 1 and March 31.

The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen Tuesday approved the two-month amnesty period to give residents with old fines a chance to pay them and reduce the city’s backlog of unpaid fines.

The city accountant’s office said the city has an estimated $2.6 million in unpaid or partially collected fines, and Municipal Court administrator Janice Carter said some are 20 years old. She said the old fines cover penalties for traffic offenses and criminal offenses such as shoplifting, trespassing and malicious mischief.

“It’s a mix,” she said. “We’ve got some fines that are very old, and some that are very recent, like 2 years old.”

Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield said about $100,000 has been recovered through the amnesty program since he took office in 2009.

“The law will not let us write off these back fines,” he said. “We have to try and collect them. Some of these fines, we’ll never be able to collect because the tickets were given to people passing through and we can’t find them. We try to do this around tax time, when people have some extra money and can afford to pay their fines and avoid the embarrassment of being arrested.

“This has been a good program and it has allowed people to take care of a lot of issues,” Winfield said.

In another matter, the board and the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau signed the VCVB’s lease for space at the old Levee Street Depot.

The board received a $150,000 check from the VCVB, which will pay the city $500 a month to rent office space on the building’s second floor and operate a visitors center on the first floor in the transportation museum.

VCVB will share a conference room with Vicksburg Main Street on the third floor.

Winfield said the $150,000 will be used for the city’s costs of completing the depot renovation.

“We share the excitement of being able to be a part of this historic structure, and we look forward to the opening of the museum,” VCVB executive director Bill Seratt said.

VCVB chairman Annette Kirklin said Jan. 5 that the VCVB anticipates moving into the depot about Feb. 1.

“I’m thrilled that the project is done, and I’m happy that we’re going to be a part of it,” she said.

The $150,000 and the lease were part of a 2009 letter of understanding between the city and VCVB. The $150,000 is the visitors bureau’s contribution toward the city’s match of a $1.65 million Mississippi Department of Transportation grant to renovate the depot.

Board members in August discussed possibly backing off from leasing the space, but stuck with the plan after touring the depot in early September.

On the agenda

Meeting Tuesday, the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen:

• Awarded contracts to the Sports Center and Just Duett Sports, both of Vicksburg, and S&S Sports of Colchester, Conn., for recreation equipment.

The bids were made per line item, city purchasing director Tim Smith said, adding that most of the 31 categories of equipment had subcategories. He said the Sports Center was awarded a contract for 29 items; Just Duett, 25; and S&S, six.

• Approved buying a $100 ad in the Hinds County Community College Baseball Media Guide.

• Authorized city clerk Walter Osborne to publish the final settlement to Fordice Construction Co. for the fire station and T-hangar at the Vicksburg Municipal Airport.

• Approved a request from Main Street Vicksburg to buy up to $800 in promotional items for the Vicksburg Mardi Gras parade on Feb. 18.

• Approved $26,000 in funds to HIV Services, an outreach group that helps HIV patients in Warren County.

• Approved a request for complimentary use of the Vicksburg Auditorium or the Vicksburg Convention Center for Mayor Paul Winfield’s state of the city program.

• Approved $18,000 for the program “To Vicksburg With Love,” — Four Seasons of the Arts, Feb. 14 at the Southern Cultural Heritage Center.

• Approved $25,209 to purchase a new mechanical truck from Gray-Davis Ford in Brandon. The truck is being bought through state purchasing.