By Mary Kathryn Carpenter

NATCHEZ — The Concordia Parish Police Jury approved moving forward with a plan to study drainage in the parish.

The first step, OK’d by the jury at its Monday night meeting, is to place an advertisement, seeking engineers to perform the study.

Bill Beasley, who serves on the parish’s drainage committee, presented the preliminary plan to the police jury Monday night and the next steps required to implement it.

Beasley said the parish has received the first payment of a grant from Homeland Security through FEMA, which will fund the preliminary survey of the parish. However, Beasley would not discuss the total cost of the project or the amount of the grant.

The preliminary survey should be completed by Aug. 15, Beasley said.

The survey will be used to validate the current plan for drainage through a model, and if approved, will bring in the next payment from the grant.

Beasley said the goal of the plan is to alleviate flooding in the parish towns such as Ferriday and Ridgecrest.

“The study is going to consist of what we have been talking about for the past few years,” Beasley said. “We are going to move 25,000 acres of water to Tensas. This will lower the bayou. It will make it easier on Ferriday, Ridgecrest, Clayton and communities like them.”

Once in motion, the plan will take three years and will put a drainage system through the levee in the parish.

In other news:

-The jury approved a request from the department of Veterans Affairs for funding for the parish office of Veterans affairs for the year 2015 from $729 to $843 per month retroactive to January 2015.

-The jury approved payment to Foley & Judell in the amount of $498 for services rendered in the sales tax renewal election for the hospital service district.

-The jury approved a request from the Library Service District to hold its millage tax renewal election on Oct. 24 and to notify Foley and Judell of this approval.

-The jury approved a request from the Concordia Parish Library service district to have the jury accept the donation of a one acre parcel of land in Clayton from the town of Clayton for the new Clayton branch of the library will all expenses taken care of by the library district.

-The jury approved an occupation license for Ratcliff Tree Service in Vidalia.

-A resolution to honor Glen Daniels of Ferriday who passed away over the weekend was approved by the jury.