Speed bumps and city sewer lines will be among the main items for review when the Board of Mayor and Aldermen meet Tuesday.
Complaints by residents about speeding in their neighborhoods have inspired South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson to call for the board to consider looking at installing speed bumps, raised areas installed on streets to discourage people from speeding, in a residential area by forcing them to slow down.
Thompson said Wednesday he plans to ask the board to consider an ordinance allowing the city to install speed bumps on residential public streets where the speed limit is 30 mph or less. The ordinance will call for a citizen-driven effort in order to request a speed bump that meets the criteria.
“It is not feasible to put a patrol car on every public street but I think we can put a traffic calming mechanism in place that could force residents to slow down,” he said.
The board will also take action on two matters involving the city’s aging sewer system under a 2013 consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency that was signed after an EPA report indicated the system allowed sewage to drain into local streams, including the Mississippi River.
Under the consent decree, the city is required to assess, repair, replace and upgrade one-tenth of its 109-year-old sewer system over 10 years. The board in 2015 approved a $700,808.67 contract with Suncoast Infrastructure Inc. of Florence to assess and examine the condition of the first tenth of the sewer system and map it. It recently hired Suncoast to assess and examine the second tenth.
Tuesday, the board will receive bids to repair the problems found in the first assessment, which some estimates have indicated could run about $1 million. The board will also sign its contract with Suncoast for the second assessment.
In other action, the board:
4 Will continue emergency declarations for the Kemp Bottom Road bridge and the clarifier at the water treatment plant on Haining Road.
The city is awaiting the engineer’s report on a plan to repair bank erosion that threatens the bridge.
The clarifier at the water treatment plant has a broken rake, which is used to remove lime from the bottom of the clarifier. The part is being built by the manufacturer.
4 Authorize Mayor George Flaggs Jr. to sign an agreement with MIDD-West Industries and the Vicksburg Warren School District for a recycling program using bins placed at district school campuses.