It has been three years since it was announced that the city of Yazoo City was awarded over $12 million dollars through Congressman Bennie Thompson thanks to a federal grant program.
And with little visible movement on the surface and looming uncertainty, some city leaders wanted an update on the grant during a recent Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting.
“My question is when we will start seeing some results,” asked Alderman Charlie Jenkins.
In August of 2022, Thompson said the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $12,641,440 through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity Grants Program. Also known as the RAISE Grant Program, the city of Yazoo City was awarded the $12.6 million dollars to be used in a variety of projects.
The funds will be used for the construction of a train station, development of a stormwater park to capture and absorb excessive stormwater and flooding, as well as “complete streets” redevelopment, which will include bike lanes, sidewalks, lighting, broadband infrastructure, and stormwater management along Main Street.
The grant for the city is being handled through the Mississippi Department of Transportation under the umbrella of the Federal Highway Administration. Farmer Morgan Inc. has also been hired to handle certain work within the grant, recently appearing on the city’s claims docket.
Since the 2022 announcement, there has been very little movement on the surface pertaining to the $12.6 million dollar grant. But Alma Jones, grant manager with the city of Yazoo City, assures the city council that movement is happening behind the scenes. That “movement” was questioned after some city council members noted a $44,673 bill from Farmer Morgan Inc. on the city’s last claims docket.
Jones said meetings are held monthly with MDOT and Amtrak.
“A lot of the costs you see is the subcontractors that they have hired before we can start any kind of construction or renovation,” Jones said. “There are environmental studies that have to be done, soil tests, geotechnical tests with soil samples to make sure we are able to dig before we can start doing any kind of construction.”
Jones continued that there are “engineering studies, pavement studies” in the downtown area and at the Amtrak site.
“Now they are also working on drawing concepts for the stormwater park, what it is going to look like, the layout of it,” Jones added. “They are also doing drainage reports in the different areas, stormwater concepts, the Amtrak concepts and the street analysis for parking.”
Jones said public meetings are also being planned, including Sept. 23 at 5:30 p.m. She said those meeting notices will also be published in The Herald.
“Most (downtown) merchants want to keep (the street and parking) the way it is,” added Mayor David Starling. “We must make an effort of being transparent and have these public meetings for their input. Then we can come back to the table with Farmer Morgan.”
Jones also said whenever invoices are submitted to the city, all the supporting information with the work being done is also included.
“They submit all the supporting information with the invoice to show everything they have worked on,” Jones said. “They submit all of that to us. Anybody whoever wants to see it, it is available.”
Alderwoman Elizabeth Thomas said she pulled the submitted bills from the grant project and said $308,733 has already been paid of the $12 million dollar grant. But she said she was concerned as to where the money to pay those bills was coming from.
“I haven’t seen anything,” Thomas said. “I was curious to know how they were getting paid.”
Jones said after the city pays the invoice, MDOT reimburses the city after the checks have cleared.
“Have we received the money,” asked Jenkins.
“We have received some of it,” Jones replied. “It is normally like a month or so behind because they have a process too.”
Thomas questioned how only $308,733 had been spent of the $12 million since 2022.
“It is because of the process,” Jones said. “You are just now starting to get results from Farmer Morgan. We did not contract with Farmer Morgan until (Oct. 31, 2024), even though we had the agreement and the funds. The Federal Highway did not officially approve the grant agreement until last year. It was on them.”
Starling said the Federal Highway Department passed the grant program onto MDOT because the “Federal Highway was too swamped.”
“They were trying to force us to take on engineers that they wanted,” Starling added. “We continued to fight for Farmer Morgan to be the engineer and company to do this RAISE grant for us.”
Jones said the city has until 2028 to spend the grant funds.
“But when we will start to see some ground getting broken up,” Jenkins asked. “We are steadily spending money. We have a big habit of that.”
Jones said the money currently being spent is getting the project where it needs to be to even begin moving dirt.
“You can’t break any ground until you know what it is under the ground,” she said.
But Thomas said another grant funded similar tests back in 2016.
“But that was in 2016,” Jones replied. “You can’t use a 2016 study for the current day. You don’t know what may have eroded or how things have changed.”
Alderman Jammie McCoy said he received a message pertaining to a public comment made by Congressman Bennie Thompson at a recent conference that concerned him.
“He (Thompson) said publicly that he hasn’t been able to send the money because he can’t get the left hand to talk to the right,” McCoy read from his message.
“That is absolutely not true,” replied Starling.
Jones admitted that there is a lot of misinformation circulating when it comes to grant programs within the city. But she assured the city council that Yazoo City “was on top” of it.
“Well, somebody is telling fibs because somebody said we are in the process of losing this grant,” Thomas said.
“No,” replied Starling.
“Mrs. Patterson, you print it then,” Thomas added, referring to The Herald. “We are not going to lose it. Everything is on go.”
“The meetings with MDOT include the Federal Highway,” Jones said. “If we were in any kind of jeopardy on our end…believe me, they would be communicating that.”
