Supervisors: No squabble with the city

By By Lynette Wilson / staff writer
July 2, 2002
Lauderdale County supervisors said Monday there's no squabble over money between them and Meridian City Council members.
Last month, Meridian city officials refused to accept supervisors' offer of $500,000 toward an interchange off Highway 45 to serve Cooper Land Development Inc.'s planned retirement community.
The city asked the county for $1 million.
Meanwhile, the county is still waiting for the city to put up $3 million needed to extend sewer and water to an industrial park east of town on Interstate 20/59 and Highway 45 North.
Craig Hitt, president of the board of supervisors, said that the original agreement was for the county to purchase the land for the industrial park and the city to provide water and sewer.
Hitt, the District 3 supervisor, said the county has $4 million invested in the industrial site and has turned away interested businesses because of the lack of sewer and water service.
Meridian applied for a $1.6 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration to help fund the cost of sewer and water to the industrial park.
But Hitt said the fate of that grant is unknown. The city's first grant proposal was rejected; Hitt said word about the second application isn't expected until August or September.
Hitt defended the decision to meet privately last month with city leaders about the supervisors' $500,000 offer for the Highway 45 interchange.
District 5 Supervisor Ray Boswell, who last week accused fellow board members of offering the city $500,000 behind his back, said that "anytime you don't go along with the status quo, it's bickering. "