It seems Hattiesburg will have one less hurdle to face in its proposed annexation, as the Rawls Springs Utility District is expected to withdraw its opposition to the city’s expansion in that area.
After conferring with members of Hattiesburg City Council during an executive session Tuesday evening, City Attorney Randy Pope said he and Robin Roberts – who serves as board attorney for the utility district – will file a joint motion Wednesday with Forrest County Chancery Court. The motion will request specially-appointed judge Robert Lancaster to approve an agreed order that would dismiss Robert’s previous opposition.
“Robin’s board has already approved it, and they’ve authorized me to sign the joint motion as well,” Pope said. “We’ll file that with the court, send the original to the judge and say ‘Please sign it.’
“So the only thing left to be done is for the judge to sign that agreed order; it’s not final until the judge signs it. But (the utility district) are the only ones that are objecting out there, so they are withdrawing their objection.”
As part of the agreed order, officials from the Rawls Springs Utility District also will not object to any other annexation attempts over the course of the next 10 years.
“So it’s a win for Hattiesburg from that standpoint,” Pope said. “Normally, if it’s an agreed judgment, it’s just a mechanical thing – the judge says there’s nobody else to complain, so he’ll sign it. So I would hope within a week or 10 days we’ll have this signed.”
Roberts filed a motion against annexation on behalf of the district in September 2016, saying annexation would violate the legislative enactment that created the utility. At the time, Roberts said the enactment stated that if annexation is ever attempted, the city must take the entire area that the utility district serves – in addition to buying the utility’s assets and taking over its debt – which the city had not conceded to.
Hattiesburg will also continue its long-standing annexation attempts of two additional areas: much of the commercial corridor on U.S. 98 and the Windlass Drive area. If that move – which was proposed during an April 2016 council meeting – is successful, more than 100 commercial buildings, at least one church, 20 residences and one triplex would be added to the new Hattiesburg city limits.
“From our standpoint, to get one of the defendants (the Rawls Springs Utility District) out, and withdraw their opposition, that’s a good thing,” Pope said. “So now we can concentrate on the other parts of it.”
The annexation would interfere with plans for the incorporation of Bellevue, a process proposed Bellevue mayor John Adcock and other Lamar County officials have been working at for the last few years. If Hattiesburg’s annexation attempt is successful, it would include many properties that would be in Bellevue, including Corner Market and Mack’s West.
In July 2016, Lancaster, a retired chancellor from Columbus, was appointed as special judge to rule over the annexation. A decision has yet to be made on the matter.
