City of Vicksburg officials will begin negotiations with a Ridgeland company to provide engineering assistance for the cleanup of the former U.S. Rubber Reclaiming facility at 2000 Rubber Way.

An eight-member committee appointed by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen Wednesday recommended the city begin talks with PPM Consultants Inc. to provide assistance in cleaning up the U.S. Rubber facility.

Vicksburg has $960,480 in Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields funding through the Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup grant programs. City officials were notified of the grant award in May.

The grant requires no match from the city and will allow for the removal of approximately 30,000 tons of rubber waste, disposal of above-ground storage tanks and residues, as well as other waste materials, drums and totes currently present at the site.

The board on Sept. 17 received proposals from Southern Environmental Management Specialists of Jackson, Pickering Engineering of Flowood and PPM. All three were taken under advisement and forwarded to the selection committee to name the best firm.

Community Development Director Jeff Richardson, the committee chairman, told the board the members reviewed and graded the proposals.

PPM’s scores, Richardson said, “Were a little bit better than the other two applicants.”

According to the report recommending PPM, the three companies were graded on firm identification and background information, proposals and experience, personnel, references and a set of attachments required to be provided with the proposals. On a scale of 100, PPM scored 99, Pickering 97 and SEMS 94. PPM scored the highest of the three in proposals and experience.

The 12.5-acre U.S. Rubber property was formerly the site of a large-scale rubber recycling operation, and Richardson said when the city applied for the grant that there was still a large amount of scrap rubber on the property.

The property at one point was put up for tax sale but never claimed, and was later acquired by the Mississippi Secretary of State, which gave it to the City in 2019. City officials at one point in early 2020 considered it as a possible site for the animal shelter but rejected it because it was unsuitable and in a flood zone.