City officials took the first step toward improving the city’s North Ward Tuesday approving a resolution setting out a plan to upgrade the area, including improving and adding recreation facilities, establishing police precinct and redevelop the Kuhn Hospital property after the buildings are removed.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen previously discussed the North Ward improvements at an Oct. 28 work session.

In a related matter, the board approved a contract with APAC of Mississippi to pave streets in the North Ward.

APAC was the lowest of the two bidders for the North Ward paving $1.88 million from APAC of Mississippi, a Jackson company with an asphalt plant in Vicksburg, to resurface Mission 66 from Indiana Avenue to Sky Farm Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from Jackson Street to the city limits, and roads and streets in the cemetery. No date was given when the work will begin.

The items outlined in the board’s resolution were the result of a June town hall meeting Mayor George Flaggs Jr. had with North Ward residents at the Kings Empowerment Center, in which many residents claimed the area was a stepchild of the city.

Other proposals, North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said, came from discussions about the area from residents and included issues the city had been examining, such as clearing old abandoned properties, upgrades at Sherman Avenue Park, and as a whole just making sure the community was not being overlooked.

That included, he said, adequate police protection, including a precinct in the area, removing abandoned vehicles, cracking down on speeding and overweight trucks in the area, “just general things the community has asked for that’s not different that what other communities have asked for.”

Mayfield said Tuesday the city is considering a piece of property at the intersection of North Washington Street and Pittman Avenue for the precinct. He said the building will be a place where officers can stop and do reports or meet with residents to discuss neighborhood concerns. Officers may possibly be assigned to the precinct station in the future

“What we want is to put this someplace visible, where the people can see it,” he said, adding, “The building will be large enough where officers can meet with small groups of citizens.”

Other improvements in the resolution included:

• Establishing a playground in the North Ward area, possibly on city land near the Fire Station No. 9 in the Waltersville area, and completing renovations to Sherman Avenue Park and Mission Park on Mission 66, including lighting, equipment and resurfacing the parking lot.

There are also plans to use city-owned land in Ford Subdivision for recreation areas.

The city has $100,000 in its $9.2 million capital improvements budget for recreation in the North Ward.

Mayfield said the city is considering building a tennis court at a neighborhood park on Farmer Street or at Mission Park. Another potential site is the Kuhn Hospital property.

• Improving landscaping in the area and upgrading and replacing streetlights. Mayfield said he has met with Entergy representatives about lighting problems.

• Remove debris and abandoned homes and vehicles form the community. Mayfield said he is working with property owners to get vacant homes, some of those abandoned after the 2011 spring Mississippi River flood, to get the homes razed either by the owners or the city. Some of the homes in the area, he said, can be repaired.

The city also plans changes in the Martin Luther King Boulevard community, which includes Kuhn.

The street is included in the first phase of the North Ward paving project, which will pave Martin Luther King from Jackson Street to the city limits. Plans are also underway to improve street lighting.

City officials want to raze Kuhn Memorial Hospital and redevelop the property to include tennis and basketball courts, picnic areas including a pavilion, and a 40- to 42-home development of single-family homes.

The city is attempting to buy the property and is also applying for a $250,000 low interest CAP loan from the Mississippi Development Authority and an Environmental Protection Agency brownfields grant to raze the buildings and clear the property.

“We are going to have to purchase the property before we apply for the loan, because we can’t use it to demolish something on private property,” Community Development Director Victor Grey-Lewis said. “Hopefully, with the loan we’ll be able to take down the front building.”

He said city officials are working on a way to buy the property.

Mayfield said he was opposed to using funds from the city’s $9.2 million bond issue on Kuhn.

The hospital, which was closed by the state in 1989, and been a major issue for the city, which on July 6 put the 12.5-acre property under the slum clearance ordinance in a move to step up its efforts to remove the complex’s main building in the aftermath of the abduction and murder of Sharen Wilson, whose body was found on the property June 28.

Police said Wilson was killed in the hospital building and her body was left on the property, where ghost hunters who were on the property found it.

When the parties with an interest in the property failed to present plans to either raze or renovate the two buildings on the site in September, it clear the way for their demolition.