Wilkinson County Board of Supervisors Meeting, Monday, February 5, 2012

At the board's meeting on Monday, January 23, the board opened bid offers for the replacement of the 40-year-old Sam Field Spillway water control structure at Lake Mary. After opening the bids, they were tabled pending approval by legal counsel and the county's engineer. At Monday's (February 5, 2012) meeting Supervisor Richard Hollins made a motion which was seconded by Supervisor Bill Bankston to accept the low bid from Cajun Contractors in Baton Rouge, La., in the amount of $1,643,807.55. The motion was approved by a 5-0 board vote.
Property owner Richard Picou appeared before the board representing the large number of members of the Lake Mary Civic Association who were present to complain that the Lake Mary Road was in such terrible condition and so dangerous that people were afraid to try to get into the lake area. Picou passed out photos of the road which showed washed out culverts and sinkholes in the roadway. "It is too dangerous to drive," said Picou. "Law enforcement, fire trucks and ambulances cannot get into the lake at this time. This is creating a very serious condition that must be addressed immediately."  Picou's agenda and suggestions for correcting the long-standing problems with the Lake Mary Road were presented to the board members. "Under the current conditions, you cannot get into the lake. Wilkinson County is losing revenue because people cannot get to their property so they are not here spending money with local businesses. People cannot use the public boat landing. Percy's Creek is running down the road when it jumps the bank during a heavy rain, and this has destroyed the road. The road bed is now lower than the creek level. The only thing keeping Percy's Creek from changing its channel to the Lake Mary Road is the small berm of sand between the creek and road bed. The road bed is lower than the roadsides and this has created a major problem. The water cannot get out of the road because the ditch banks are higher than the road. Camp and property owners cannot get to their houses or camps. Lake Mary Planting Company can't operate because they cannot get in or out because of the road conditions. I own a camp that got 4.5 feet of water in the flood of 2011, and I won't begin to re-build because of the road conditions. This road is in critical danger of being lost." First District Supervisor Wil Seal said, "The current road bed is lower than the creek. The road needs to be built up using proper materials."
Board President Jennings Nettles asked Chancery Clerk Thomas C. Tolliver, Jr., "Don't we have some FEMA money due for road work in this area?" Chancery Clerk Tolliver replied, "Yes. We were allotted $407,000 based on flood damages in 2011. Of this, we have approximately $239,000 that has not been distributed to the county.” When asked why the county cannot get dirt and gravel to build up the road from a pit on Hwy. 24, Mr. Tolliver responded, "Mr. Seal, we have done the paperwork to use another pit. If we change, we will have to request a change order from FEMA. If we don't use the approved pit, then we probably won't be reimbursed for the dirt and for hauling expenses."
"If the board and Lake Mary Civic Association will work together on this, we can get a lot accomplished in solving the problems," said Mr. Tolliver. Supervisor Seal announced, "Mr. Hollins and I are going to get started on repairing the Lake Mary Road on Wednesday of this week. We are going to get in there with a laser and see the low spots where we need to get the water off the road." Seal continued, "I need the Lake Mary Civic Association to inform the landowners that we will be needing permission to dig drainage ditches along the roadway and also let property owners along the road know that they are going to have to replace their culverts that are clogged up and keeping water from draining. We need all culverts cleaned out so water can flow down the roadsides. I would like to see all five supervisors agree to help with this project."  
The speakers referred to the flood of 2010, it was actually 2011. I changed this error in the article.

The Woodville Republican provided the following information

on the progress of the Sam Field Spillway.

A representative from Jordan, Kaiser and Sessions Engineering Firm in
Natchez was present at the Monday, September 26, meeting of the Wilkinson
County Board of Supervisors to report on the status of the Sam Field
Spillway on Lake Mary.
Engineer Doug Wimberly reported that the field work has been completed as
has the topographical survey at the site. The soil bore work to test the
density of the ground at the site is also almost finished.
Wimberly said, “We hope to have the legal description completed for the area
needed to replace the current spillway with a larger earthen and concrete
structure. The area in question is currently privately owned. In order to
spend any federal funding at this site, the county will have to have
ownership or the project cannot proceed.”
Wimberly continued, “The current spillway is 70 feet wide, and we have plans
to replace it with a 200-foot structure and to make the earthen areas on
each side much higher. We have done bore samples to determine the density of
the ground under the spillway and earthen levees so we will know how deep we
will have to drive pilings.”
Mr. Wimberly stated after the meeting, “The elevation of the new concrete
structure will be exactly the same as the one that is there, and that way
the water level of Lake Mary will be the same as it has been for years.”
Former Southwest Mississippi Planning and Development District specialist
Bobby Smith was at the meeting and commented, “The county cannot use any of
the $2 million bond bill grant to fund any of this engineering work, but you
probably can use some of the $80,000 allocated to the project by the
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. I would suggest
that you talk to the WF&P people before you spend any of their grant money
on anything.”
Wimberly stated that it won’t be long before he will be ready to advertise
for construction on the project.
The Sam Field Spillway was built about 40 years ago to help control the
water level on Lake Mary. At the time, water emptied out of the popular
fishing and boating area over the spillway or through The Canal on the
opposite end of the lake. Water through The Canal ran into the Buffalo River
and then into the Mississippi River. The spillway is totally destroyed which
has allowed too much water out thus greatly lowering the level of the lake
itself. The new, larger spillway structure will be built to again hold water