Federal COVID funds stand to make major impact in Columbus, Lowndes

Columbus, Lowndes to receive combined $16.6 million

Lowndes County and the city of Columbus will both wait another year before they receive all their American Rescue Plan Act funds for COVID-19 relief, but leaders for both entities are already making plans for how to spend it.

The county will be allocated $11 million in ARPA funds and Columbus is due $5.6 million. Each has received half the money with the other half coming by the end of 2022.

This fall, both the Lowndes board of supervisors and Columbus City Council began the process of hiring consulting firms to advise them on how to spend the funds effectively and in compliance with government regulations. The city has also earmarked up to $1.3 million of its ARPA funds for one-time “premium pay” stipends for its employees.

Generally, local governments are allowed to spend ARPA funds on water, sewer and broadband infrastructure and premium pay for employees, among other purposes.

Road projects

Work began this fall on a $5 million plan for the county that will improve 58 miles on a total of 48 roads. The plan targets some of the county’s heaviest-traveled roads.

The county will borrow the money for the project and pay it back over five years with internet sales tax revenue — which is estimated to generate about $1.2 million annually. Plans are for the road projects to be finished by the end of the year.

In Columbus, a $6.5 million road resurfacing and sidewalk project is plugging along, slowly but surely. The project is meant to improve 142 streets and about two-thirds of the planned projects were completed by mid-September.

The city in 2020 issued bonds to fund the project, which will be repaid over the next 15 years.

Industry

Two solar farms will soon be under construction west of Lowndes County Industrial Park near Artesia.

Origis has a deal with The Tennessee Valley Authority to build the farms — a $350 million total investment that will generate 350 megawatts with 100 megawatts of combined battery storage. The company has a contract with TVA to begin delivering power by 2023 to grids in the system that have reserved it.

The county is planning to fund $620,000 in water treatment upgrades and another $500,000 in water line upgrades at the industrial park, located off Highway 82 near Golden Triangle Regional Airport, to help recruit more industry to the area. It also completed a project to resurface Charleigh Ford Road that completed a loop — from the airport to Mims Road — that encompasses Steel Dynamics, Paccar, Airbus, Aurora Flight Sciences and other projects underway. The loop will make it easier for prospective companies during the site selection process, according to officials.

Speaking of “other projects underway,” The Golden Triangle Development LINK has been busy courting several industrial prospects. Though not yet formally announced, at least two are in the final phases of determining whether they are coming.

Those include a $100 million project at Lowndes County Port that could bring 100 jobs and a $60 million project west of Columbus that could bring another 150 jobs.

Burns Bottom

Columbus Redevelopment Authority is “close” to obtaining all the necessary properties in Burns Bottom to market the area for redevelopment. The acquisition phase of the effort could be complete by year’s end.

In 2015, CRA formed and zeroed in on revitalizing the Burns Bottom neighborhood — a Northside residential area between Third and Fourth streets and Second and Seventh avenues that has fallen into disrepair. Two years later, the city council committed $3.2 million in ad valorem tax revenue to help CRA with acquiring more than 70 lots in the project zone, as well as demolition and site prep. The plan is to market the entire area for a mixed-use redevelopment of residential and commercial.

Horse park, fitness tail

Lowndes County is soliciting bids to complete its horse park on Tom Rose Road.

Supervisors approved the roughly $4 million, multi-phase project in 2018, and the arena is already in use for recreational riding. The final piece of the project is adding concession stands and bathrooms, at an estimated cost of $500,000, that will accommodate organized events and competitions at the facility.

Chase Larmour uses fitness equipment at the Lowndes County Soccer Complex.

The county is using a combination of borrowed money and interest from its hospital trust fund to pay for the horse park.

At Lowndes County Soccer Complex, a fitness trail will be completed this fall.

The trail, paid for primarily through a $140,000 grant from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, will include 10 stationary workout stations.

City facilities, equipment

Columbus plans to reroof the municipal complex some time over the next 12 months, with the council including $100,000 in its Fiscal Year 2022 budget.

A new community center at Sim Scott Park opened in May, more than two years after a February 2019 tornado destroyed the old building. The project was paid for by a combination of insurance and emergency relief funds.

The $2.5 million fire station project on Airline Road was completed in April, five years after it broke ground. The station became the headquarters for Columbus Fire and Rescue. In August, CFR also received a Federal Emergency Management Agency Firefighters Assistance grant for a new fire truck. With the grant, the city will on have to pay $150,000 in match for the $860,000 truck.

STORY BY ZACK PLAIR

OPENING AND AERIAL PHOTO BY RORY DOYLE

OTHER PHOTOS BY DEANNA ROBINSON