Administrators of the local chamber of commerce, tourism bureau and a downtown promotional group have all agreed to rough terms of a deal to share offices at the Levee Street Depot, said Mayor Laurence Leyens Friday, but details of the agreement are pending. Offices, a library and meeting spaces would be located on the second and third floors of the 102-year-old city-owned building, while a long-planned transportation museum would occupy the ground floor.

“Everybody is on board,” said Leyens, noting the memorandums of agreement signed by the organizations are non-binding. “This has been discussed for about 30 years now, and I am very confident we will finally see it happen.”

According to the agreement, each organization will enter a 20-year lease with the city and pay approximately $500 a month for rent and utilities. The Vicksburg Main Street Program board was the first to jump on board with the idea in early April, followed by the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau two weeks ago.

Both those organizations have been searching for a downtown home since the January 2006 collapse of a Clay Street building that potentially compromised the structural integrity of their headquarters at 1221 Washington St. Main Street offices have since been located in the City Hall Annex on Walnut Street, while the VCVB has been conducting all of its official meetings and business out of a manufactured building behind its visitor center at 3300 Clay St., across from the entrance of the Vicksburg National Military Park.

The Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce, on the other hand, has about 70 years left on its lease at its headquarters at 2020 Mission 66, said executive director Christie Kilroy. The chamber’s board submitted “our dream deal” to the city Monday, Kilroy said, and details are being worked out between the chamber and City Attorney Nancy Thomas. 

“I’m sure they’ll come back with some revisions. We really have to proceed carefully to make sure we will get at least as good of a deal at the depot as we have here,” said Kilroy. “We want to do the right thing for the community, but we also need to the right thing for the chamber’s members, whose contributions have gotten us where we are today.”

One possibly problematic issue in the deal for the chamber is a use restriction attached to its current executive office. The office, owned by the chamber, sits on land deeded to the city from the National Park Service. Federal rules require it be occupied by a nonprofit organization. Leyens said the city is proposing to purchase the building for about $300,000 and turn it into a headquarters for the city’s new emergency management department.

The Mississippi Department of Transportation awarded $1.65 million in matching grant money to the transportation museum in March 2007. Approximately $408,000 is needed in local matching funds to secure the MDOT grant and a separate $53,900 grant awarded by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The city asked MDOT to allow part of its grant funds to be used to construct the offices and meeting spaces, but Leyens said he was informed the grant money can only be used on the museum.

The city is proposing the chamber and VCVB each put up $150,000 toward the matching grant funds, with the city to pick up the rest and any additional construction costs. The renovation of the depot would be done in-house by the city, said Leyens, and could begin later this year if an agreement is finalized soon. Because the Vicksburg Main Street Program is funded almost entirely by the city through special, additional taxes collected on downtown property, Leyens said it would not be required to put up any money or property in the proposed deal.

“To me, the funding is a moot point because we help fund all three of these organizations one way or another,” he said. “Everybody has been talking for years about the need to get these organizations together, and at the end of the day that’s the real objective.” 

Having all three groups in one building will save all three organizations money by sharing equipment and eliminating duplication of services, said Leyens. The close quarters will also afford the groups a better position to work together to strengthen tourism and economic development in the city. Leyens said the board of mayor and aldermen will formally accept the signed agreements at a meeting as soon as the details are finalized in order to begin setting aside funds for the renovation.

The city purchased the depot in 2002 for approximately $295,000 as part of Leyens’ urban renewal plan for City Front, which also included the $3 million Art Park at Catfish Row and the Vicksburg Riverfront Murals project. Built in 1907, the former Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad Depot served rail operations until about 1950. Two restaurants have since operated in the 14,000-square-foot, three-story depot, as well as a beauty salon, apartments and a dialysis treatment center. It had been vacant for nearly a decade before the city purchased it.

Sen. Briggs Hopson III introduced and pushed a bill through the legislative session this year allowing the city to lease the depot to the three participating organizations for up to 75 years. Leyens said the current agreement for a 20-year deal could be renewed for a longer period, and is based on an MDOT grant obligation requiring the museum to operate for at least 20 years. Meanwhile, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has said it expects the nearby MV Mississippi IV to house the Lower Mississippi River Museum and Riverfront Interpretive Center by 2011.

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On the agenda

On Friday, the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen, in the absence of South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman:

* Proclaimed May 10-16 National Law Enforcement Officers Week.

* Heard about upcoming events at the Southern Cultural Heritage Center from executive director Annette Kirklin.

* Awarded a sealed bid for a manufactured office building for the recreation department to Cappaert Manufactured Housing, and authorized closing and payment of $34,000 for the building.

* Authorized the city clerk to advertise sealed bids for service department and fire department uniforms.

* Authorized hiring Greg Golden for interpretive services at the municipal court. He is to be paid $45 an hour for a minimum of two hours for services.

* Purchased $8,545.90 in steal from O’Neal Steel Inc. of Birmingham to be used in construction of an observation deck at the Vicksburg Municipal Airport on U.S. 61 South.

* Authorized a public notice to proceed with a Co2 conversion and filter upgrade project at the water treatment plant.

* Approved requests from the Vicksburg Main Street Program to purchase up to $1,500 in promotion items to distribute during downtown events, and to spend up to $1,000 to purchase additional downtown walking maps.

* Approved $1,530 for Vicksburg Main Street Program advertising in May.

* OK’d a request for a $500 advertisement from the Vicksburg Swim Association. 

* Approved the claims docket.

In executive session, the board:

* Approved seven personnel action forms, five in the recreation department and one in each the human resources and police departments.

* Approved rehiring two employees in the recreation department and one in the water maintenance department.

* Approved two pay adjustments in the fire department.

* Approved one termination each in the gas and recreation departments.

The next board meeting is set for 10 a.m. May 18 in room 109 of City Hall Annex, 1415 Walnut St.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com