County lake work continues amid acquisition talks
The first phase of construction to fix the damaged levee at the Oktibbeha County lake will wrap up in 6 to 7 months, according to District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard. Supervisors discussed at length Monday of possibly acquiring its associated Wet-n-Wild water park, and assume the lake's lease.
The board stopped short of voting on the acquisition, but approved a cost analysis assessment to retain as much information as possible about the lake's financial history ahead of an acquisition vote. District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery and District 4 Supervisor Bricklee Miller voted against the assessment.
Howard and District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer supported acquiring the lake to provide the county with more recreational options, and District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams said he wanted more information about the lake before making a decision on the possible acquisition.
"We [as a county] do not offer any type of recreation here in Oktibbeha County," Howard said. "We need to do better, we're capable of doing better and we can do better."
Miller voiced concerns over the monthly maintenance costs of the water park, various franchise agreements and maintaining the campground's sewage lagoon to state compliance. She also mentioned flooding issued with cabins in the area, along with potential payroll costs of reoccurring lake employees—if acquired by the county. In years past, 12 part-time workers ran the facilities on a busy day, she said.
"Why do you think it could be possibly be something good for us to get into?" Miller asked. "There are a lot of costs involved in it."
The board approved a $650,000 bid to repair 800 feet of the damaged levee's 4,000 foot structure. A sidewall will be dug out and replaced with new soil and other binding materials. The hired firm, Cadmey Construction recently finished a project at the MSU golf course and on Chadwick Lake on campus.
The four-phase project will also repair the stem associated with the lake riser. The stems controlling the riser broke away from the structure. The next leg of the project will replace the spillway and address water seepage issues on the east side of the levee around the dam. The board could match any federal funds received with a 10 to 20 percent allotment, the standard contribution rate for subsidized projects. Last year, supervisors contacted the National Resource Conservation Service to get additional funding. Total project costs sit between $5 and $8 million, according to county estimates.
Montgomery echoed Miller's concern and said he viewed the county's role as a business facilitator and job creator, not as business proprietors.
The lake is currently leased to former MSU basketball coach Rick Stansbury. Stansbury and the board have held brief discussions about the property in the past, and the coach offered to sell his lease and management of the water park and the accompanying campground to the county for $2 million—a price that Trainer believes is negotiable.
"I think if we get the background on everything and put something together, it would be worthwhile to see what comes back," Trainer said.
Currently, Stansbury and his business
partner have a lease with the county and the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District. The lease generates $25,000 for the county, and $31,290 to the school district, annually. The school district is included since a portion of the property is on 16 Section land.
If the county buys the lease back, supervisors would be responsible for paying the 16 Section land lease. The around 400 acres of land was acquired by Stansbury in 2012, after a state evaluation ballooned costs of 16 Section land in the area—forcing the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to forgo its lease.
No details of the assessment process including cost or timeline were included in Monday's motion. The lake was closed this summer, and will remain closed until repairs are completed.