Making the necessary improvements to the city’s infrastructure will be the main challenge facing the Board of Mayor and Aldermen heading into 2018.

“We have a lot of big projects on the table,” said North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield.

“When you talk about infrastructure, you’re talking about a very broad brush,” South Ward Alderman Alex Monsour said. “We’ve got a plan we’re looking at to cover all of it; we’re working on it now, and as soon we put it together we’ll have something to cover all areas.”

City officials are looking at several projects that have a history going back several years, like auxiliary waterline project, known as “the 592 project” in reference to the $2.45 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 592 grant funds that will help pay for the estimated $5 million project.

The waterline project has been under study since 2010.

The board in 2015 fired IMS Engineers as the project engineer after initial bids for the project exceeded its estimated budget from more than $3 million to more than $5 million.

In January 2016, the city signed a $193,589 contract with Dallas-based EJES, which has an office in Jackson, to review, re-examine and possibly redraw the plans in an attempt to keep the waterline project within budget.

“We’re going to work very hard to get that project on line and get it going,” Mayfield said. “We’ve pretty much done all the preliminary and hopefully getting ready to get that project going.

“I think it’s one of the most vital projects we have out there at the present time, because it can mean so much to the city if we get it done, and it can be a detriment if it’s not.”

Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said the plans for the project are ready to go out for bid.

Another “old” project is the South Frontage Road extension to link the east and west sides of the South Frontage Road with a bridge crossing the Kansas City Southern Rail Road tracks.

Flaggs said the city now has the approval of the Mississippi Department of Transportation and Development and the state Health Department and the Department of Environmental Quality, clearing the way to advertise the South Frontage Road extension utility relocation project out for bids.

“That can be a game changer,” Mayfield said. “It can open up somewhere between 100 to 150 acres in that area that can be usable, opens several hundred acres of land east of area back to (Mississippi) 27.”

Another road project in the wings is the proposed U.S. 61 South bypass road, which is expected to link up with Halls Ferry Road to alleviate traffic on the road.

The board in October received proposals from four engineering firms to design and prepare specifications for the road, which will also provide an access to the sports complex.

Flaggs said he expects the committee reviewing the proposals to soon give a recommendation.

“When they give their recommendation, I will appoint a committee to oversee the design and construction,” he said. “And I will have someone from that neighborhood and ERDC (U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center) on the committee.”

“That’s going to be a very tedious project, because we’ve got so many different pieces of property to deal with,” Mayfield said. “I do believe the board has the fortitude to stick with what we’re doing.”

Other projects include:

• Electrical upgrades at the city’s water treatment plant. Flaggs said the board is expected to advertise for bids in mid-January to upgrade the electrical system at the water treatment plant on Haining Road.

The city is borrowing about $3.5 million from the gas department’s $9 million surplus for the project.

• Wastewater treatment plant: The board is considering putting the city’s wastewater treatment plant under private management and operation, similar to the water treatment plant.

• Water and Sewer rates: Flaggs said the board is waiting on a report and recommendation on city sewer rates.

• The board has set aside about $450,000 in the second $9.2 million draw from the $18 million capital improvements budget for a farmers’ market pavilion at the corner of Washington and Jackson streets. Flaggs anticipates the pavilion being a multipurpose structure.

• Paving: $4 million — $2 million for each ward — from the second draw been allocated for a second round of street paving. Mayfield said utility lines under several streets scheduled to be paved in the North Ward will be repaired or replaced.

• The board has approved work to have two parking lots paved, a pavilion built and basketball courts upgraded at Fuzzy Johnson Park on Mission 66.

• $1 million in the second draw from the capital improvements bond issue has been set aside for improvements in the Kings community. Mayfield said a committee of community residents are working on recommendations and have already sent some to the city.

• Monsour said work is underway on the demolition of the city’s splash pad at the Art Park at Catfish Row to make way for a new pad expected to be ready in time for the summer.