An agreement between the City of Vicksburg and the Mississippi Department of Transportation clears the way for more than $400,000 in federal funds for further repairs to the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Depot on Levee Street.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen Monday approved the agreement, which releases $471,475 in federal Transportation Alternative Program funds for the depot. The money covers 80 percent of the $521,844 project, with the city paying the remaining 20 percent, or $104,369.

No date was given when the project will go out for bids.

City grants coordinator Marcia Weaver said the repair project involves replacing ornamental wood work and on the building’s exterior, repairing the building’s 48 windows, painting the depot’s exterior and replacing its elevator. She said none of the work is related to damage from the spring 2011 Mississippi River flood.

“It’s just age and weather,” she said.

Landscape director Jeff Richardson said some of the exterior work involves the building’s cupola on the roof, and renovations to the building’s front door to make it handicap-accessible.

The depot’s elevator has been a problem since the building reopened in 2012, at times trapping people inside on the third floor, which houses the Vicksburg Main Street offices and a conference room used by Main Street and the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, which shares the second floor with part of the Old Depot Museum.

The repair work and the elevator replacement are the first major projects at the depot since its renovation.

The city bought the 108-year-old, three-story depot in 2001 for $295,000.

The Mississippi Department of Transportation in 2007 awarded the city a $1.65 million grant to renovate the building, and in 2009 allocated $250,000 in stimulus funds for the project.

Work on the depot restoration began in 2010 but was halted in the spring of 2011 when the Mississippi River dumped 4 feet of water into the building as it reached record heights in Vicksburg, cresting on May 19 at 57.1, 14.1 feet above flood stage and nine-tenths of a foot above the Great Flood of 1927.

The depot became a national symbol for the flood in Vicksburg and the backdrop for media coverage during the disaster. The renovation work resumed in June 2011.

The flood forced the board in 2011 to approve two amendments to the original renovation contract with contractor Kenneth R. Thompson Jr. of Greenwood totaling $56,000 to repair damage caused by the flood that was not covered by Thompson’s insurance or under the original contract.

In November 2011, the board approved a $105,660 change order with Kenneth R. Thompson Jr. to build the Main Street offices on the south end of the third floor.

On the agenda

Meeting Monday, the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen:

• Approved the minutes of its May 19 meeting.

• Approved a request from Vicksburg police to put an unmarked vehicle in the police department inventory. Police Chief Walter Armstrong said the car is replacing another vehicle that is being removed from the department’s inventory.

• Approved buying a $75 ad for Trinity Baptist Church for its three-year anniversary celebration.

• Approved buying advertising promoting the city on River 101.3 and KHits 104.5 during St. Aloysius and Porters Chapel football games. The total cost is $1,500 — $750 per school each for August and September.

• Approved paying the following requisitions: $8,680 to Fluid Process & Pumps LLC of New Orleans for a pump for the sewer pump station in East Village Subdivision; $44,419.61 to Cook Tractor of Vicksburg for a tractor for the water treatment plant and water mains. The tractor is being bought through state purchasing.

Public Works Director Garnet Van Norman said the new pump replaces one that burned out at the lift station. The city provides sewer and gas service to East Village, which is located in the county between Indiana Avenue and Old Highway 27.

• Approved a request by Vicksburg Main Street and River Bluff Productions to close the River Stage parking lot on Washington Street from 5:30 to 10 p.m. June 28 for a family friendly concert by Vicksburg native and recording artist William Michael Morgan.

• Authorized Mayor George Flaggs Jr. to sign a grant agreement for the 2014-15 Mississippi Stop Violence Against Women Program. The city is receiving $20,049 in grant funds for its program.

• Authorized Flaggs to update the city’s cafeteria plan. The change brings the city’s health insurance plan in line with Affordable Health Care Act regulations, replacing the city’s six-month employment requirement to 30 days.