For the Warren County Board of Supervisors, the top accomplishments of 2016 were aimed at making the county more competitive in the future for auxiliary business and industry tied to the Continental Tire plant near Clinton.

And the specter of finding a way to build a new jail is still on the board’s collective minds.

“We’re trying to be in a position to reap what benefits there may be coming from industrial expansions and proposed expansions, and the increase in the opportunity for business as a result of the Continental Tire plant development,” board president Richard George said.

“We’ve made some improvement at the Port of Vicksburg, and planning for further improvement with facilities to enhance its ability to draw more contracted business. We did a major accomplishment when we agreed to assist Hinds Community College with their upgrade and training facilities to do all that we can for students to be prepared for the jobs of the future.”

The board increased the .55 millage rate Hinds currently receives by 1.4 mills to help fund construction of a new multi-million dollar, 40,000-sqare-foot addition to Vicksburg’s campus to help with educating and training students.

“Part of that is tied in with Continental,” he said.

Besides the efforts toward the port and Hinds, George said the county also paved sections of county roads in different areas of the county totaling 3.56 miles during 2016, adding the supervisors hope to do more paving in 2017.

“Unless something goes radically wrong with the economy, we’ll be able to do more paving than we’ve done in the last few years, which will help a good deal,” he said, adding the board will re-evaluate the county roads and develop a list in March. One of those projects that will be on the list is the completion of a third section of Nailor Road.

He said it costs about $300,000 a mile to pave county roads.

But the roads will not be the primary project for the board in 2017, George said, adding the focus will be on further improvements at the port and moving toward building a jail.

“We’re trying to get our affairs in order, and still the most impending and most imposing project is the construction of a jail,” he said. “We are trying to get our finances in perspective to address that situation hopefully this coming year, with some sort of plan of action and location of property.”

George said the supervisors have several potential sites in mind and are still looking at additional potential properties.

“We’ve never ceased that operation; it’s just that during the economic downturn, other issues demand more attention,” he said.

“My hope for the jail is at least we would like to have a site,” he said. “That’s going to be critical, and then there’s site availability and the cost of development.

“The sheriff, as well as I understand it, would like to have more or less a single story facility to avoid all the pit falls of what prisoners can do in a multi-level facility. We think we can accommodate that, and that’s what we’re aiming for.

“We want to follow the advice of the professional law enforcement people. We don’t need to be telling them what they need. We just need to see if we can afford to accommodate all of their wishes.”

The supervisors on Dec. 13 met with Demery Grubbs of Government Consultants Inc. of Jackson, a company that advises local governments on financial matters, during a Monday work session to discuss a $5 million bond issue for a new E crane at the port, replacing the roof and chiller at the Warren County-Vicksburg Library and paying the county’s $150,000 share of repairing a slide at Riverfront Park.

Those discussions are still ongoing, George said.

“We’ve got to do some further review to be sure as one can be that our numbers are good, so we can accomplish what we mean to do, which should amount to some increase in revenue and a great deal of increased activity especially at the port of Vicksburg,” he said.

The E crane is seen as a crucial element in an attempt by WATCO, which manages the port, to attract a new business to the port that is expected to double the port’s present off-loading.

Another area the board is watching is the county’s Ceres Industrial Park.

“We’ve finished the pretreatment facility at the TanTec site and it’s on line,” George said, “And the Ceres Industrial Park is equipped to handle future prospects, and of those who inquire in the future will have to make a decision we can’t make for them, because we can only stand to give away so much. We have to be able to operate. By time we deal with roads, and education and law enforcement, the money’s spent.

“This is the second year of our term, and if we intend to get anything done, we have to be within our means, and the availability of funding always rules the roost.”