Warren County supervisors approved pitching in more than $26,000 to test the extent of a landslide on the bluff at Riverfront Park.

Supervisors voted Monday morning to pay half of a $52,800 free for testing the site of the landslide at the park, which is jointly owned by the city and county. The landslide was noticed on Easter weekend.

The park has been a “an excellent tool” for locals and visitors to Vicksburg and Warren County and should be repaired it at all possible, Board President Bill Lauderdale said.

“Erosion is a problem along that riverbank and it’s not cheap. I’m glad to see we’re going ahead and doing it right and that both of can get in there and split the cost on it,’ he said, later adding. “I think we need to make every effort within our budget to save it.”

City of Vicksburg officials have indicated they will pay their half of the cost of the study but have yet to take formal action. They could have a while, as work on the park will have to wait until the river is lower. Estimates on the time frame have been July or August, though the test could come sooner if river levels continue to decrease.

Once the test is complete, city and county officials will have to decide how much to spend on saving the park.

“It’s going to be up for grabs on what they come up with and what the fix is going to be. That’s going to be where we’re going to have to get our heads together and figure out what we’re going to do,” Lauderdale said.

In other action:

4 Supervisors also opened bids for the 2015 Warren County Paving Project. APAC-Mississippi entered a total bid of $1,058,401.50 for the project, and Central Asphalt Inc., placed a total bid of $1,221,339.99.

The county’s engineers had estimated the total cost of the project at $1,137,036.20.

Supervisors took the proposals under advisement so county engineer John McKee could evaluate the bids.

The money to be used in the project is money the county has saved from gaming revenue. Roads to be paved under the project include portions of Old Highway 3, Willow Creek Drive, Willow Creek Circle, Halls Ferry Road, Dana Wood Lane, Wells Road, and a small portion of Redwood Road

“These are the worst county roads that we can afford to do,” Lauderdale said.

The bids presented by McKee indicate a cost of more than $211 thousand per mile of asphalt.

“We try to do one time expenses and we also try to do paving with it. Unfortunately, the money is not there. It’s not just us. There’s not a pot of money for paving,” Lauderdale said.

The county will be receiving three new motor graders from Puckett Machinery after accepting a bid of $237,737 with a buyback option of 60 months for a net cost of $98,227, purchasing clerk Tonga Vinson said. Two lower bids were received from Stribling Equipment but neither met bid specifications, she said.

“The specification time may not be waived. Additionally, the delivery time on the Stribling bid was 60 days. On the Puckett bid it was two days,” Vinson said.