Supervisors delay vote on road bonds until next meeting

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
Jan. 7, 2004
Lauderdale County Supervisors voted Tuesday to delay until later this month its vote on a proposal to borrow money for road improvements.
If adopted, District 5 Supervisor Ray Boswell plans to sign his name to a petition that would require 1,500 signatures of registered voters to force a vote on the issue.
Boswell said he wants to give citizens the opportunity to vote "not particularly to kill it, but for the people to vote on it."
In 2002, a petition, also endorsed by Boswell, successfully forced the board of supervisors to back down on its plan to establish a $5 million line of credit with Mississippi Development Bank.
The board could have borrowed against the line of credit for capital improvements.
Any referendum on the proposed bond issue could coincide with the March 9 Super Tuesday Presidential Primary or the Nov. 2 federal election. A special election also could be called at any other time of the year at a cost of about $40,000.
District 2 Supervisor Jimmie Smith made a motion Tuesday to adopt a resolution to borrow $3.4 million.
In Monday's meeting he had proposed the money be divided with $600,000 to each supervisor district for road improvements, with the remaining $400,000 to District 5 for needed repairs to the Lauderdale County Agri-Center and Dunn's Falls Water Park.
Smith's motion died for lack of a second.
District 3 Supervisor Craig Hitt made the motion to take the issue up again at its next regularly scheduled meeting at 5 p.m. Jan. 20.
He asked that supervisors compile a list of roads and expenses anticipated for their projects. Hitt's motion was seconded by District 1 Supervisor Eddie Harper.
Boswell said a list of roads to be paved would be meaningless because it can be changed with roads added or deleted at any time.
Lauderdale County Engineer Neal Carson said that state law allows the county road paving program to be revised at any time.
If the board approves the bond issue, it will have to be published in the newspaper four times over four weeks before a public hearing is held.
Petitioners wanting to demand a vote on the loan could start the process of collecting names once the resolution is adopted, Barry said, adding that petitioners would have 30 days to submit a petition to the board calling for a vote.