Two weeks ago, the Lamar County Sports Complex Vision Board was tasked with recommending one of three firms to handle engineering for the county’s proposed centralized sports complex.
Their choice – Hattiesburg firm Neel-Schaffer – was approved Monday by the Lamar County Board of Supervisors to assist with site selection and master planning for the project, the idea of which was introduced in the September 2018 Lamar County Comprehensive Plan.
“The board was impressed with (the firm’s) work on similar projects in the past, and looks forward to working with them on future plans,” Lamar County Administrator Jody Waits said.
Supervisors received a total of three Requests for Qualifications at the March 21 board meeting: one from Neel-Schaffer, another from Hattiesburg firm Walker Associates and a third from Charles N. Clark Associates in Laurel. The submittals did not include monetary details such as construction costs, as they are intended only to inform county officials of the firms’ credentials.
“It’s their qualifications as engineering firms, and work that they’ve done on sportsplexes,” Waits said in a previous story. “The Vision Board had put together a list of checkpoints that we were looking for, which were listed in the RFQ.”
Neel-Schaffer officials are expected to start their work within the next couple of weeks, and supervisors will negotiate a fee for the services.
The Lamar County Sports Complex Vision Board was approved in October by the board of supervisors and is made up of a resident from each of the county’s five districts, in addition to county supervisors Phillip Carlisle and Steve Lampton. Other members are Sid Gonsoulin, Heath Sellers, Michael Hershman, Mark Norton, Darryl Smith, Chuck Bennett, Grant Hartfield and Perry Phillips. The board is responsible for setting timelines and recommending sources of funding for the complex, among other duties, contingent upon approval of supervisors.
The main possible site being discussed for the complex is a 108-acre parcel of 16th-section land, owned by the Lamar County School District, off U.S. 98 just west of Oloh.
Officials are currently working to determine which sports to focus on at the complex. At this stage in the process, supervisors are leaning toward soccer, tennis and football, given the county already has several baseball fields and many families currently travel to places like Tatum Park in Forrest County to participate in the other sports.
