Sewage leak could harm county road

By Emily Ham (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Tuesday, November 17, 2009

NATCHEZ — Adams County Supervisors fear a backed up sewage line on Cedar Lane may be compromising a county road.

While the county is not responsible the land or the lagoon that serves as a waste deposit, the county road that runs through the neighborhood is gaining the attention of the supervisors.

Supervisor Darryl Grennell said if sewage continued to seep through the cracks in the road’s asphalt, the road would suffer damages that would fall on the county to repair.

The health department and the Department of Environmental Quality have been on site to investigate the situation and Grennell, concerned citizens and the DEQ have contacted the developer, John Seago, who, Grennell said, is not accepting responsibility for the lagoon.

“DEQ is going to be working on the developer,” Grennell said, “But there has to be a short-term solution, or there is going to be major damage to the road.

“We’re going to lose the road if something isn’t corrected.”

Grennell said the DEQ is aware the road is at risk and has asked if the county could do something to temporarily help fix the leaking issue.

Board president Henry Watts said maintaining the road was going to be a concern for the county, but the county should proceed with caution in its next steps.

“We’ve got to be careful,” Watts said. “The liability clearly falls to the developer.

Road Manager Clarence “Curly” Jones said while he had taken a look at the road and had seen it was at risk, he didn’t think it was a wise idea for the county to work on the road before the leakage was stopped.

“The county should not go out there because (other) utilities are out there under the ground. I don’t think the county should fool with it,” Jones said.

Board attorney Bobby Cox said he would ask the state for clearance so the county could go in and protect its citizens and its road.

In other business:

• The board approved a $180,000 loan to pay for generators purchased for emergency shelters in the county.

Chancery Clerk Tommy O’Beirne and Emergency Management Director Stan Owens approached the board with specifics of the loan.

“We have acquired five generators. They will always remain county property, but two are assigned to places in the city,” Owens said.

Of the $200,000 loan, the county has already paid $20,000 from its general budget.

The grant goes through the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and while the county will pay $180,000 to MEMA through a 90-day loan, the county will receive $163,000 in reimbursement.

Owens said he’s currently working to install the generators.

“Once we close this project out, we’ll have to sit down with the city,” Owens said. “Basically, now I have the generators, but I don’t have the money to buy the plugs and wire.”

Supervisors were unsure if this year’s budget allocated money for generator purchases.

“We discussed it, and it should be in the budget,” Grennell said.

Watts said while he agreed the board had discussed the issue, due to County Administrator Cathy Walker’s absence for Monday’s meeting, he didn’t know if the money was coming out of the new budget.

“There is not going to be another $2 million overrun of the budget like we did last year,” Watts said.

“We intend on revisiting that budget. The $2 million budget is unacceptable.

• Supervisors discussed the next step in creating a county-wide recreation complex.

Watts asked Supervisor Mike Lazarus to go to the Board of Aldermen and Natchez-Adams School Board and ask both parties about their part of the interlocal agreement.

Watts asked Lazarus to inquire about the percentage of the debt and operating expenses the parties are committed to paying and have the agreement put in writing.

Lazarus suggested the board meet with the two entities in January to start planning the first steps toward the county’s future recreational facility.