Representatives for The Sports Force, the Georgia-based consultant hired by the city to examine the potential of the Fisher Ferry property for a sports complex, will be in town starting June 20, city officials said.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen May 25 approved a $50,000 contract with the Canton, Ga. company to do a feasibility study for a sports complex, based on using Halls Ferry Park and the city’s Fisher Ferry property off Fisher Ferry Road.

“They’re going to study the market, they’re going to talk to the people who are involved in sports and recreation in the city and the surrounding area, and from there, they’re going to make a recommendation to the city on what should be are to proceed,” South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson said. Thompson recommended hiring the company.

City Attorney Nancy Thomas said the representatives will talk with the city’s recreation officials, make site visits to Fisher Ferry and Halls Ferry Park and meet with representatives from the city’s and the county’s baseball, softball, soccer and football leagues, “Hopefully the high school coaches, the YMCA (and) other people involved in recreation in our community.”

The group will also meet with Vicksburg Convention and Visitors officials to discuss how a sports complex can enhance the city’s tourism history.

“We will let everyone know (about the visit) as soon as we get more details,” she said.

“This is just as important to the quality of life in Vicksburg as anything else,” Thompson said. “Being able to provide those (recreation) opportunities to people who live here and tourists. One thing I’m learning from people who want to come here and want to host events and utilize our facilities, we have a lot of deficiencies on what we have. Some of the facilities are outdated and can’t accommodate some of the needs that’s requested in Vicksburg when it comes to area recreation.

“When we’re looking at recreation, it’s going to be very important to look at the youth and move forward.”

The city has owned the Fisher Ferry site since 2003 and spent $2.7 million on preparation and permits. Flaggs and North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield support building a sports complex on the site. Flaggs called it a prime location for the complex, while Mayfield said he supports it because there is no other suitable site in the county. Mayfield said he has looked at other sites, but added it would take about $3 million in dirt work to get any of them suitable for a sports complex.

Thompson has said he is not completely sold on the site.

Flaggs in May 2014 appointed an ad hoc committee on recreation to examine the city’s recreation facilities and programs that solicited and heard public comments about the need for a multipurpose recreation complex and what it should include.

When the committee released its report in December 2014, it recommended the city build a multipurpose recreation complex featuring baseball and softball fields, basketball, tennis and volleyball courts and a multipurpose building with an indoor pool on a 270-acre tract.

Missouri-based consultant Diamante Global in April 2015 recommended the Fisher Ferry site for the proposed complex, and on April 20, 2015, Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill authorizing the city to levy a 2 percent food and beverage and hotel tax with the approval of the voters to finance the project.