Vicksburg is getting a new animal shelter after action Wednesday by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen awarding the project to Fordice Construction Co. of Vicksburg.

The board’s action came Wednesday afternoon. Fordice was the low bidder on the project with a bid of $1,263,700. The bid includes one alternate, or extra project, to install lights for the shelter’s parking lot for $10,800. Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said the total cost for the project will be about $1.3 million, which includes the project engineer’s cost. That cost is separate from the construction bid, he said.

The budget for the project was $1.67 million.

Flaggs said he met with city Finance Director Doug Whittington “and we have a complete financial structure to fund the total cost of this animal shelter and from this day going forward, unless the engineer or some other delay, we’ll be on track for the animal shelter.

“I think it’s a long time coming and we’re moving forward and it looks like we will begin to build an animal shelter in Vicksburg, Miss.”
The board received four bids for the animal shelter at its Tuesday meeting and then recessed until Wednesday afternoon to award a bid for the project.

Besides Fordice, other bidders included: Timbos Construction Inc. of Cleveland, $1,370,760; J E Stevens Construction Group of Jackson, $1,416,100; and Benchmark Construction of Jackson, $1,456,300.

The bid opening was the second on the project. The board on Oct. 6 rejected bids from Fordice and J E Stevens because they were over the project budget. Some of the plans and specifications for the project were later modified and the city re-advertised the project on Nov. 22.

City officials have considered a new animal shelter for several years. The current shelter is more than 50 years old and sits on a tract of land on Old Mill Road adjacent to the Vicksburg Fire Department’s training center in the Kings community.

The shelter is in a flood zone and is subject to being surrounded by flash flooding. It was threatened by the 2019 flood and animals had to be evacuated in the 2011 flood. City officials considered several potential sites, including city property in a section of Cedar Hill Cemetery off Sky Farm Avenue.

On Feb. 21, 2020, Flaggs, other city officials and city resident Marilyn Terry, who provided a recommendation for a shelter building, toured the former U.S. Rubber Reclaiming plant off U.S. 61 South, which is owned by the city and located in a flood zone, and a site in the 2100 block of Oak Street, south of Depot Street.

Problems with the Oak Street property forced city officials to remove the site from consideration. The board also considered a 14.3-acre tract at 4211 Rifle Range Road owned by Cappaert Holdings LLP, but the city said it could not afford the $1.5 million to buy the land and build the shelter.

The board in September 2020 accepted the donation of property and a metal building at 4845 U.S. 61 South from the Ernest Thomas family as the site for a new shelter.