Vicksburg and Warren County recently unveiled a strategic plan study designed to create a path for our community’s future.

One aspect of that plan is cooperation of the public, as well as local government, in promoting a positive outlook to draw more business and industry.

We have a ways to go it appears, however, in our local leaders working together.

This past week, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. took Stantec, the county’s engineer, to task over requiring a traffic impact study on Fisher Ferry Road, which is a county road, as part of the new sports complex development. Flaggs said he learned about the study Thursday afternoon from public works director Garnet Van Norman.

Flaggs said the sports complex project has been common knowledge for several years and questioned why the engineers didn’t mention the traffic study earlier. Flaggs is upset about this extra cost that will be required for the traffic study. Flaggs said he’ll “stop every payment to Stantec until we talk face-to-face.”

John McKee with Stantec said the study is to determine what will be needed to meet a potential increase in traffic on the road.

That’s understandable and certainly part of the procedure, but one would think this study would have been implemented and completed prior to the city breaking ground on the $26 million complex.

It’s safe to say most of us in this community want to see Vicksburg and Warren County prosper economically, but it’s hard to encourage our residents to promote positivity when our elected leaders apparently cannot communicate and work with one another on such a major project.