A proposed capital improvements plan for Vicksburg inched closer to reality Wednesday when the Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved a resolution announcing the city’s intent to issue $18 million in bonds to finance the plan and giving it the authority to borrow the money.

 

The plan is expected to be done in two phases, starting with $9.3 million in paving and other projects.

 

The board has two years after receiving the money to use it. According to a schedule prepared by Demery Grubbs of Government Consultants of Jackson, which advises local governments on fnancial matters, a public hearing on the board’s intention to borrow the money will be April 20. The board will sell the bonds in May and get the money in late June. Mayor George Flaggs Jr. and North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said work on the first set of projects is expected to begin soon after the funds are received.

 

“I believe this is the most progressive thing that this city has done in, I’d say, the last eight years, based upon the history of what they’ve spent money on in the past” he said. “That’s not to belittle any other administration in the past. I’m just saying we’re at this point where if we want to compete, we want to improve, we have to do these type things.

 

“A lot of thought has gone into this $18 million in capital improvements for the city of Vicksburg,” Flaggs said, adding when the capital improvements plan was initially proposed in December, it totaled $61 million. “It ended up being $18 (million) because this board thought it needed to be fiscally responsible for the improvements in terms of borrowing money (based) on what we could afford.

 

“This is the first time this board will be able to go out and make some significant improvements to the infrastructure,” he said.

 

The list of projects set for the first phase include:

 

• Street paving, $4.6 million: The project will be done in two phases in the North and South wards.

 

In a related matter Wednesday, the board approved contracts with AJA Management and Technical Services of Jackson to prepare the engineering and design for paving projects in the South Ward, and Stantec to do the engineering and design for paving work in the North Ward.

 

The board in January approved a $143,500 contract with Applied Research Associates Inc. of Champaign, Ill., to do a street survey, which will be used to develop a priority list for street paving in the future.

 

• Parking lot improvements, $1.15 million: The work includes resurfacing parking lots at Riverfront Park, Halls Ferry Park, the roads in Cedar Hill Cemetery, the parking lots at the baseball and girls softball fields at Bazinsky Park, and the city-owned parking lot at Catfish Row by LD’s Restaurant.

 

• Recreation, $1.3 million: The projects include renovations to the City Park Pavilion, $350,000; building a farmers’ market pavilion and improvements, $550,000; Kings playground, $100,000; and improvements totaling $300,000 to neighborhood parks and Riverfront Park.

 

Riverfront Park is jointly owned by the city and the county. The city handles repairs and maintenance at the park.

 

• Municipal buildings, $2.25 million: Projects include a new fire station, $1.6 million; repairs to City Hall’s exterior, $375,000; and replacing carpet and tile at the Vicksburg Convention Center.

 

The board in February approved a contract with the Central Mississippi Planning and Development District to perform needs assessment to determine if the locations of the city’s fire departments meet the city’s needs based on the Mississippi Fire Rating Bureau criteria and to recommend a location for the new station.

 

Flaggs said the proposed capital improvements project couldn’t be funded through the city’s general fund budget.

 

“We only have $30 million to operate (the city), and 64 percent of the budget,” he said. “That means because of that we have to go out and do it (borrow). Just because you can’t pay cash for a house, that don’t mean you shouldn’t go out and look at other options to buy the house and bring it where you can afford it.”

 

He commended Mayfield and South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson on their efforts preparing the capital improvements plan.

 

“We’re ready to go forward,” he said.

 

The capital improvements plan was completed in a series of meetings by the city’s capital improvements committee after a Dec. 19 meeting in which committee members agreed to postpone a proposed $25 million utilities improvements program until 2016 and consider two borrowing options to fund the first phase of capital improvements.

 

The city currently has an A2 bond rating from Moody’s Investment Services, a New York-based provider of credit ratings and risk analysis, and a debt limit of $48 million.