It has been three years since the first steps were made to begin the much-needed repairs to the Triangle Cultural Center. A large donation was accepted by the city of Yazoo City for the expensive job. And recently this year, a state senator helped secure even more funds for the project.
But as of press time, no work has started at the local historical building.
The crumbling south wall of the Triangle has been discussed among city leaders, stemming back from the previous administration, since 2020.
In April of 2020, the then-city council awarded the first phase of the Triangle project to Allen Ramsay with Historical Renovations of Yazoo Inc. in the amount of $8,750. The project included the installation of shoring at all three floors in the interior to prevent floors from collapsing, removing the existing HVAC equipment next to the exterior wall, repairing the gutters on the roof to prevent further water intrusion and shoring up the exterior windows.
Sir Johnathan Rucker and Ron Johnson, who were serving as aldermen at the time, said they were not impressed with the project and how it looked, with Johnson even calling it “shabby.” But then-Mayor Diane Delaware said the initial project was only for stabilization, not to fully repair it.
The repair projects at the Triangle were revisited during another city council meeting in September of 2020. Two quotes were provided to the then-city board for the second phase of the exterior wall project. Historical Renovations of Yazoo Inc., which handled the first phase, offered a quote of $47,500. Garner Commercial provided a quote for about $53,000.
Rucker said he was concerned over what was already done to the south wall of the building. Proclaiming to be “a protector of the city’s dollars,” he added that he did not want to continue pouring money into “patch up” work.
During that September 2020 meeting, the city council approved accepting a Request for Proposals pertaining to the south wall of Triangle. However, the discussion of the projects at the Triangle was never revisited for another nine months.
Then, in March of 2021, COVID forced city leaders to close the center, and it remained closed for over a year with no progress made on the repair project.
A second request for accepting RFPs were made again, for the second time, in October of 2021.
In March of 2022, the previous administration approved a bid from Tri C Construction in the amount of $226,058.99 for the repair job. The city of Yazoo City agreed to provide $49,000 from the general fund, $60,000 from a Convention and Visitors Bureau donation, and the remaining cost of $177,058 will be utilized from funds from the American Rescue Plan.
A new city administration was then placed into office with the Tri C Construction bid approval being the last order of business surrounding the Triangle repair project.
The project was slated to begin in July of 2022. However, a month later in August, another challenge was presented in the project. The Yazoo Herald reported in August of 2022 that the repairs to the Triangle’s south wall would begin pending approval from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
“No more funds will be required,” said Mayor David Starling, during the August 2022 meeting. “It is just a matter of them giving the approval to go ahead and start.”
That pending approval from MDAH was discussed again during an April city council meeting this year, with no new updates.
Earlier this year, Sen. Joseph Thomas Sr. also helped secure an additional $200,000 for repairs and renovations to the building.
