Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors discuss county projects and COVID vaccinations
On Tuesday, Jan. 19, the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors met early in the morning at the County Courthouse. The agenda was packed with questions of roads and an update on how the new COVID-19 vaccination site at the Mississippi Horse Park is doing.
Clyde Pritchard, Senior Project Manager at Pritchard Engineering brought forth plans for revamping a few bridges and Oktoc Road. The board approved the bridge to be repaired on Harold Road which would roughly cost $420,000 and would use the rest of the LSVP funds. Additionally, the plans and engineer were approved for bridge improvement on Harris
Road. This project would cost $784,000 for full construction. The funds are not yet available, but should new funds be reallocated to Oktibbeha County, the plans will already be done and construction would start immediately. This project will only move forward once there are sufficient funds.
Pritchard also mentioned repaving the 10.4 mile stretch of Oktoc Road and putting up guard rails where needed would cost $1.7 million, but all of the funding for this would come from the state.
Next on the agenda, the Board addressed bus turnarounds for school buses. Unfortunately, the BOS is unable to move forward on any bus turnaround not formally submitted by the school board, and turnarounds can only be maintained and not created. Existing turnaround maintenance must be submitted every year so funds can be allocated properly.
District 4 Supervisor Bricklee Miller motioned to table bus turnarounds until the next meeting which allows the OCBOS to talk with the school board about formally submitting a request.
Kristen Campanella, Emergency Management Agency Director, gave an update on the Oktibbeha County distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine and the new vaccine location.
“We couldn’t have done it without the Horse Park,” Campanella said. “This week Monday and Tuesday we are doing testing, but Wednesday through Friday we are doing vaccines. You still have to make an appointment.”
Operations at the Horse Park are running smoothly, and the National Guardsmen there have braved even sleet to help get vaccines into arms. There are currently four lines for vaccination and patients stay in their cars the whole time, and people are coming from all over the state to get their vaccines where they can.
The one thing Campanella noted is if a patient makes an appointment but they are unable to make it, they must go in and cancel that appointment that way someone else can get in and get their vaccine. Right now vaccines are only open to healthcare workers, those 65 and older and adults 18-64 with underlying health issues, and a list of what is qualified under the term “underlying health issues” can be found on the Mississippi Department of Health website under Vaccination Against COVID-19.
Campanella advised to keep a close eye on news and sites with information. “We are getting new information two to three times a day, so things are always changing.”
The hope is to have the arena of the Horse Park open for the drive through to help the guardsmen stay out of the elements, and the Horse Park will be in use at the very least through April for testing and vaccines.
The last important order of business the BOS discussed is extending the curfer indefinitely until otherwise noted. This means once COVID-19 gets under control, the curfew will be revisited. Right now the Oktibbeha County curfew is midnight to 4 a.m.
The next OCBOS meeting will be Feb. 1 at 9 a.m.