Warren County Supervisors rescind mooring lease at King’s Point

Published 2:27 pm Thursday, April 20, 2023

Note: The original version of this article incorrectly stated that the board’s letter of intent was to be sent to the Mississippi Department of Education.

The Warren County Board of Supervisors held its weekly meeting at the Warren County Courthouse on Monday.

The board voted on numerous items, including the recension of a mooring lease from a lumber company that is set to harvest timber at King’s Point, improvements in the CERES Industrial Complex, and the creation of a new checking account for Warren County employee health insurance.

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The supervisors voted to rescind the Mooring Lease from Cottonport Hardwoods. The county had had a tentative agreement with Cottonport Hardwoods to be able to use the boat it would be operating during timber harvesting on King’s Point Island for transportation of county maintenance vehicles, personnel and equipment across the river.

The lease agreement was approved by the board in March, but attorney Briggs Hopson, standing in for Board Attorney Blake Teller, presented to the board a recommendation to rescind the lease.

“After looking into it further, it turns out that they are Coast Guard approved to go back and forth with their own stuff, but not with public or maybe even county equipment and employees,” Hopson said.

All five supervisors voted to rescind the lease.

Later in the meeting, Pablo Diaz, President and CEO of the Vicksburg-Warren Partnership, presented a resolution to sign a letter of intent to the Mississippi Department of Transportation regarding improvements to the CERES Industrial Park.

“Basically, as the Lieutenant Governor (Delbert Hosemann, R-Vicksburg) mentioned during his visit last week, there is funding now that has been allocated to Amdo to improve the entrance to CERES,” Diaz said. “This actually puts that burden on MDOT, and they are willing to work with us to do that. So it will save us in excess of $3 million.”

The letter was approved by all supervisors.

The board also voted on a resolution stating that several properties in Vicksburg were “in such a state of uncleanliness as to be a menace to public health, safety and welfare of the community and provide notice of a hearing in accordance with the law.”

The vote passed four to one, with District 3 Supervisor Shawn Jackson giving the sole nay vote.

Another item that was voted on was the approval of the Chancery Clerk to open a new checking account for health insurance for Warren County employees.

The checking account was called the Warren County Board of Supervisors Health Benefit Plan when introduced at the meeting, but it was agreed and approved by the supervisors that a name change would be appropriate since it applies to all Warren County employees.