Officials from the City of Petal are taking steps to implement the largest sewer/water projects in more than a decade, as the Petal Board of Aldermen recently voted to accept an agreement with Hattiesburg engineering firm Shows, Dearman & Waits for between $9 million and $11 million in improvements throughout the city.
Mayor Tony Ducker said although Petal does not currently have the funds to meet those costs, the city is in line for state funds to help complete the work.
“We’re basically telling the (state) that if the funds were available, that we basically have an action plan to go in there and do the work,” he said. “Other cities have got in line; per capita, it’s probably asking a little more money than what some other larger cities are doing.
“But we wanted to address as many needs as we could, and we don’t want to go up there (to Jackson) and have them say they can give us $4 million, and we make $3 million worth of requests. But every one of these (projects) are absolutely needed.”
Officials have identified the following areas for sewer, water and roadway work:
- Sewer: The Castle Manor neighborhood for $150,000, the Castlewoods neighborhood for $770,000, the Eastover neighborhood for $1.46 million, unlined sewer for $4.9 million, and Evelyn Gandy Parkway service for $930,000. That total amounts to $8.71 million.
- Water: The McSwain area for $150,000 and Evelyn Gandy Parkway service for $560,000. That total amounts to $710,000.
- Roadway: Evelyn Gandy Parkway service for $2.275 million.
“Some of this, like the McSwain, is actually off Williams Street (where 11 houses are being developed),” Ducker said. “We would love to do that, because that would give them fire protection in that area as well, as with the new houses being built over there.
“We want to make sure their water pressure is what they need, so you get a ‘two-fer.’ Whenever you get those, you really want to jump on those and address that.”
Some of the areas, such as Castlewoods, are experiencing residential growth, which can lead to sewer system overloads if upgrades are not implemented.
“So this would put a dedicated pipe out of that area, and come down to a lift station near Meadowbrook Drive off of (Highway) 42,” Ducker said. “It would actually increase capacity out there.
“At some point this spring, I’ll probably sit down with (Hattiesburg mayor) Toby Barker and we’ll talk about rates over there, because … we pay $33 to function our (sewer) system, and give $12 to (Hattiesburg for sewer treatment). We need to have a stable rate from them, or you’d have to start looking at some things that you might could do on your own. But we’ve got a great relationship with them, and it’s still cheaper … to send it to (Hattiesburg).”
Currently, city officials are in possession of $1.3 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill designed to speed up the United States’ recovery from the economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Another $1.3 million has been promised to the City of Petal, and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has expressed his wishes to double that number via an application process.
“This is the application process,” Ducker said. “It gets us in line, it tells us that we’ve got projects that we can address, and so that $2.6 million can turn into $5.2 million.
“If you get rid of the road (work), that’s about $9.4 million, so now I’m at $5.2 million. Well, (Forrest County) got $14 million … and we’re in line with them. So we’re going to kind of see if we can get some assistance from them.”
Ducker said to the best of his knowledge, officials would have to commit to the work by 2024, and the projects would need to be completed by 2026.
“It would go outside of this administration, or into the next administration,” he said. “So I’m excited to do it, but I know the effects from a general standpoint, with inflation.
“When the federal government pumps that much money into the system, you know this is $11 million worth of work, and everybody’s going to be trying to get the same plumbers, the same people that do this kind of work. So they’re going to get other entities in here that are going to say, ‘for this amount of money and this much work, I think I’ll go do it.’ And then the prices are going to go up. So you may get $9 million worth of your $11 million.”
