City officials are expected to present the latest feasibility report on the proposed sports complex with an artist’s conception of the facility in early 2017, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen May 25 approved a $50,000 contract with Canton, Ga.-based The Sports Force to do a feasibility study for a sports complex, based on using Halls Ferry Park and the city’s Fisher Ferry property off Fisher Ferry Road.

The city wants to levy a 2 percent tax on restaurant food and beverage sales and hotel room rentals that must be approved through a referendum to fund the project.

Flaggs said the report on the property is ready, but city officials wanted to delay releasing it until they have a drawing of the proposed facility to present with the report.

“I felt it would be much better if the public could see what it would look like, so we’ll do it after the first of the year.” he said. “Once we get the drawing, we’ll set a date and have a public hearing at the (Vicksburg) Auditorium.”

South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson said part of Sports Force’s contract required including a sketch of the proposed park.

Thompson, who said he has seen the report, said he was very interested in its economic impact information “that would show what kind of impact it would have on Vicksburg and what opportunities are available in this region, and that’s one of the biggest selling points is what it can do for the city economically. “We’ve got capitalize on that and take advantage of tournaments in Vicksburg.”

Thompson said the report gives a positive image of the proposed park.

“It answers some questions about the property that we’re looking at,” he said. “There’s been some concern about the Fisher Ferry property being in a flood zone, and it will address that, also, the access to it. The things people have been asking about.

Is it the perfect location? No, it’s not, but we had to look at what our options are and what we’re left with, and whether or not we’re ready to do something. The public wants us to do something. That’s where I am with it.”

Flaggs in May 2014 appointed an ad hoc committee on recreation to examine the city’s recreation facilities and programs that solicited and heard public comments about the need for a multipurpose recreation complex and what it should include.

When the committee released its report in December 2014, it recommended the city build a multipurpose recreation complex featuring baseball and softball fields, basketball, tennis and volleyball courts and a multipurpose building with an indoor pool on a 270-acre tract.

The city first hired Missouri-based consultant Diamante Global, which in April 2015 recommended the Fisher Ferry site for the proposed complex. On April 20, 2015, Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill authorizing the city to levy a 2 percent food and beverage and hotel tax with the approval of the voters to finance the project.