The Board of Mayor and Aldermen may be hiring a new consultant for a proposed sports complex, but its efforts will be directed to developing the city’s Fisher Ferry property and upgrading Bazinsky and Halls Ferry parks, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said.

Flaggs said before the board’s meeting Monday he cancelled a Tuesday morning work session to discuss a proposal from The Sports Force of Canton, Ga., offering feasibility and design services.

South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson proposed using the company for the sports complex and considering another complex site at the board’s May 10 meeting.

Flaggs said after the Monday board meeting he cancelled the work session after talking with Thompson and reminding him the board in February passed a resolution committing itself to building the sports complex at Fisher Ferry and upgrading Halls Ferry, Bazinsky and the neighborhood parks. He said he and Thompson reached a compromise on the company.

“I think we’re in agreement it (the sports complex plan) should be limited to two sites, the Fisher Ferry property and Bazinsy (Halls Ferry) Park, and that is because we’re trying to upgrade our own parks,” Flaggs said. He said he had no problem hiring The Sports Force and could put the matter on the agenda for the Board’s May 25 meeting.

But he was not going to consider any other sites for the proposed sports complex.

“We’ve chased that rabbit about the sites,” he said. “We’ve been all over the county about the sites. Fisher Ferry is ours; it’s paid for. To develop, to buy, any other site would cost $3 million and at least $6 million to develop it because of its topography, and the city doesn’t have that kind of money.”

“I am as committed to the sports complex as I have ever been. If we can do all this in the first phase and then be ready for the election (tax referendum) and let the people decide if they want impose an up to a 2 percent sales tax on restaurants and hotels.

Thompson said May 10 he wanted The Sports Force to prepare a full feasibility study on the sports complex, looking at sites, marketing and other issues. He said he wants city residents to have all the facts about the project available so they could make an intelligent decision about the project, and the study, accompanied by designs would do that.

“We had it all worked out, but there were some things in there (the proposal) he (Flaggs) thought we didn’t need to do or wanted to wait on. Whatever those things are, he can discuss those with the consultants.”

One of the objections involved a recommendation to examine three sites. Flaggs only wanted to consider Fisher Ferry and Halls Ferry/Bazinsky.

“If there’s a way we can expand what we’ve got, I’d be very open to that,” Thompson said. He said there was one other site, but if the board’s not willing to explore that, I’m willing to accept that and move on.”

North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said he looked at two sites at the request of the board that showed promise until he got a good look at the property.

“I did not find one that you’re not going to have to do some serious prep work because of the topography,” he said. “That saddens me, because unless you get as far away as Bovina, you’re not going to find property that’s ready, set, go. You’re not going to find it. The topography is absolutely terrible, and that’s the history of Vicksburg.”

Mayfield said the board is “stuck between a rock and a hard place,” as it tries to find a way to upgrade Bazinsky and deal with Fisher Ferry, which he said has one big problem — access.

“It’s going to cost anywhere between $2 to $3 million to get ingress and egress to (U.S.) 61 South,” he said.

“I truly apologize on my behalf to the citizens of the city that this has taken so long going on for probably 12 to 13 years where it’s actually been on the table, and nothing has actually moved forward,” he said. “I think we all have it in our hearts to do it; it’s just a matter of putting 2 and 2 together and coming up 4. Right now, and it seems at this point, we’re adding 2 and 2 together and coming up 3, and that’s just not going to work. I think we’re in a hurry up and wait situation, and I don’t like it, but that’s where I feel we are.”

Thompson said the board needs to get serious.

“It makes no sense in beating a dead horse,” he said. “If we’re not going to do everything that’s required to get us to the point where we need to be at, then we don’t need to do it at all. I just want to do it the right way. I don’t want take any shortcuts with it. If the board is OK with that, we’ll proceed. If we still have some reluctance to move ahead, then we’ll just move on to something else.”