The Warren County Board of Supervisors approved a bid for construction on the Riverfront Park project on Monday morning.

Wildstone Construction Services LLC of Flora, Mississippi was the low bidder with a base bid amount of $3,984,818.50 plus an alternate bid of $490,000 for a total of $4,474,818.50.

“We reviewed their bid and find it in accordance with our specifications and contract documents and would recommend acceptance of this bid from Wildstone, along with a rejection of bids from Fondran Construction LLC, and JE Stevens Construction Group LLC,” County Engineer Keith O’Keefe said.

Wildstone was unanimously awarded the contract.

Board of Supervisors President Kelle Barfield said that while casual observers might not notice any progress on the park, a lot has been going on behind the scenes.

“This is yet another significant step forward toward the ultimate construction of the park,” Barfield said. “A number of activities that aren’t highly visible have been going on now for several months, and we hope that the conclusion of the environmental studies that are required will allow us to start work on construction in the coming months.”

Currently, Warren County and City of Vicksburg officials are waiting on the results of a phase two environmental study for the park – which is a joint venture between the two governmental bodies. If the results of the study indicate a phase three study is not required, construction can move forward.

Barfield said that the county went ahead with bidding out the construction so that it could legally use ARPA funds it received for the project.

Barfield said she also wanted to recognize the community’s involvement with the project.

“The community input in planning for the park was a key factor in the plan of work that the contractor gave a bid on,” Barfield said.