The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen has approved a $7,000 contract with PPM Consultants to inspect and audit city buildings and facilities to make sure they are in compliance with Environmental Protection Agency stormwater pollution guidelines.

The board approved the agreement at its Wednesday meeting. PPM is the city’s environmental consultant.

PPM representative Trey Hess told the board the agreement comes in the wake of a Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality inspection of the Vicksburg Municipal Airport.

“Several months ago the MDEQ did an inspection of the airport and that resulted in not having the proper paperwork together,” Hess said, adding airport officials had to do additional work to get in compliance.

He said the inspection and audit will allow the opportunity to make sure other city departments are in compliance. It will also give City Attorney Kim Nailor “an idea of what the big picture is like” involving the city departments.

“We’re going to be looking at particular facilities that may have on-site a tank or chemicals — they must have a stormwater pollution prevention plan and some of these facilities, as we learned from the airport, may not have that in place,” Hess said after the meeting. “We want to make sure that they’ve got all those in place and from there do an audit to recommend whether anything should be done to make sure they are in compliance.”

The city facilities that will be inspected include the vehicle maintenance department, public works, traffic maintenance department, a paint shop on Walnut Street and the fire stations.

“We’re just looking; If they’re not managing any chemicals or anything like that, it’s going to be a non-issue,” he said.