County Solicits For Bids For Work At Ajinomoto Windsor
County Solicits For Bids For Work At Ajinomoto Windsor
By David Howell
Editor
COFFEEVILLE – County engineer Karl Grubb received the go-ahead from supervisors to advertise for bids for just over a half-million dollars in infrastructure work at Ajinomoto Windsor that will be funded by grants from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and Mississippi’s Com-munity Development Block Grant (CDBG).
The work includes adding a canopy over the sidewalk in the parking lot for employees, concrete work, security lighting upgrades, pipe bollards, grading and ditch work and is part of the $20 million expansion at the Oakland plant that will add a rice line and boost the company’s work force with another 60 employees.
The ARC funding for the project will not exceed $184,233 and works in conjunction with a Community Development Block Grant for a total of $505,777. The county is required to match $50,000 in local taxpayer funding for the project
The bids will be opened on April 11 in a special board meeting and the notice appears on Page 12 in this week’s Herald.
“Windsor wants us to open as quick as we can so we can proceed with the project,” Grubb explained during the “first Monday” supervisor meeting held March 7 at the Coffeeville courthouse.
Ajinomoto Windsor also received a $100,000 ACE grant from the Mississippi Development Authority as part of the expansion.
Other business conducted at the supervisor meeting includes:
• Agreed to take Good Friday as a holiday instead of Confederate Memorial Day. The switch will mean county offices will be closed on Friday, March 25, instead of Monday, April 25. The request was made by District 2 Supervisor Ken Rogers to see if another holiday could be swapped to allow the county to close on Good Friday.
Board attorney John Crow said the county could make the change, adding that the county cannot have more than 10 holidays per year.
Crow also said with the change Confederate Memorial Day will not be a legal holiday in the county.
The only conflict cited at the meeting was circuit court was already scheduled on Good Friday and court could be in session.
“My understanding is the City of Water Valley already takes Good Friday,” Board President Cayce Washington added about the change before supervisors voted unanimously for the change.
• Approved a request from Donna Massey to establish a private family cemetery on her family’s property.
“I am not wanting to use it any time soon,” Massey joked.
Board Attorney John Crow explained the county can’t prohibit people from being buried on their own property as long as the site is designated accordingly through the proper legal channels.
• Approved an application to apply for a $10,098.42 grant to help fund the county’s Solid Waste Enforcement Officer. Purchase clerk Bonnie Hill explained each county is allotted money annually for rubbish cleanup.
• Denied a request from Sonya Murray to release a hold on her tag due to a delinquent garbage bill.
• Heard a report from Yalobusha County Economic Development and Tourism District Director Bob Tyler on the North State Qualifier archery tournament scheduled at the Coffeeville Multi-purpose Building April 21-23.
Tyler reported over 3,000 shooters will participate during the three-day period, with possibly 2,000 “tag-a-longs” with them. Tyler said flyers will be handed out to participants promoting local restaurants. The tournament is hosted by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Park as part of Archery in Mississippi Schools program.
• Approved the renewal for the county’s liability policy in the amount of $143,029. This marks the second year the county has signed with the Mississippi Association of Supervisors Insurance Trust (MASIT) for the general liability coverage that includes public officials’ liability, automobile, equipment and property coverage.
“They had a good rate last year and the rate this year, I hate to tell you, is up $4,” the county’s insurance agent Tyler Wortham jokingly told the group.
“We have been fortunate in the county, we have only had a few small claims,” Wortham also explained. MASIT was launched in 2014 by Yalobusha native and Mississippi Association of Supervisors Executive Director Derrick Surrette.
