Council yet to approve infrastructure emergency plan

Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber met with some state officials Monday about his infrastructure emergency declaration, but the proposal is still on hold because the City Council has yet to approve it.

Yarber initially declared an infrastructure emergency on March 27. It expired after seven days. Yarber’s has signed a second emergency declaration declaring a 30-day emergency. It requires City Council approval.

“It allows us to try to get more resources in the city,” Yarber said.

The council conducted a special meeting Monday, but the emergency declaration didn’t come up at the meeting. Two council members, Kenneth Stokes and De’Keither Stamps, were absent from the meeting. Stamps came in after the meeting was concluded.

Stokes is still in Houston, Texas, with his wife who is in a hospital after suffering an irregular heartbeat while attending a conference.

Yarber said his administration has presented the plan to council members.

“We are just waiting on them to make a move,” Yarber said of the council.

Stamps, who is council president, and Melvin Priester Jr., vice president, said late Monday they didn’t know at that time when the council might take up the emergency declaration.

The emergency declaration allows the city to bypass the normal bidding process in seeking and awarding services and will allow the city to seek federal funds. However, the declaration doesn’t mean the city will automatically qualify for any federal or state funds.

Last week, the City Council delayed voting on the new infrastructure emergency declaration, citing the need for a detailed listing of what is in it.

Yarber said he met Monday with state officials from the Mississippi Department of Transportation, Department of Environmental Quality and Depatrment of Health. He said everyone has been cooperative.

Yarber plan include seeking money to help with a new 24” water line on Chastain Drive, a new 20” water line on Siwell Road and a new water main on Eastover Drive.

Yarber said the city will seek “quick release” funds through the U.S. Department of Transportation for failed or failing bridges as well as FEMA and state funds in the form of loans and grants if avaliable.

“We have to find funding somewhere,” Yarber said. “It’s either going to come on the back of citizens paying their water and sewer bill through water and sewer rates or through federal assistance.”

City officials say there have been 75 water main breaks in the city of Jackson so far this year. The city has been plagued by infrastructure problems for decades, but it has reached a critical point following severe winter weather.

Yarber is believed to be the first mayor in the country to declare an emergency for infrastructure that is not related to a natural disaster or catastrophic failure.

City Council members expressed concern that they had no prior knowledge of Yarber’s plan to issue the initial emergency declaration.

Contact Jimmie E. Gates at (601) 961-7212 or jgates@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @jgatesnews on Twitter.