Whitney Downard / The Meridian StarThe Meridian City Council is determining whether to take out a loan to fix this bridge on Valley Road that leads to Atlas Roofing.

Halfway through a tight budget year the Meridian City Council must consider several costly projects in the upcoming months, including a purchasing agreement for the new police station and a capital improvement loan for a bridge repair.

The City Council met for the first time following last week’s controversial pay cut to Richie McAlister, the city’s Chief Administrative Officer. The council voted to cut McAlister’s pay to $0 but Mayor Percy Bland vetoed the order.

“We’ve gone back and forth on a lot of issues but we’ve got to work together to move this city forward … at the end of the day we’ve got to provide good government,” Bland said. “We’re trying to be as open and transparent as we possibly can. We don’t have anything to hide; there’s no secret account that we have access to.”

Council discussion moved to replacing a public bridge on Valley Road over the Sowashee Creek that leads to Atlas Roofing.

On April 2, McAlister asked the council to approve a $1 million loan from the Mississippi Development Authority to fix the bridge. The total amount of the loan would be $1,025,000 to cover the estimated repair costs. 

“Atlas Roofing does have a few other locations and we don’t want to risk them moving to another location,” McAlister said at the council meeting.

Council members asked to speak to Atlas Roofing directly, inviting them to come to a work session.

Andy I. McLaughlin, the vice president of Atlas Roofing, accepted their invitations and approached the council on Tuesday, highlighting his company’s decades in Meridian.

According to McLaughlin, the manufacturing at their Valley Road site began in the 1950s. That company left and by 1982, Atlas Roofing took over operations. 

“(Atlas Roofing) actually started with a bond from the City of Meridian to save that plant and those jobs,” McLaughlin said. “Today, we have 30 operations in 13 states and Mexico and Canada. That all started here in Meridian on Valley Road.”

Atlas Roofing has 250 employees, pays approximately $500,000 annually in city and county taxes, uses $4.5 million in utilities and has 1,100 trucks leaving the plant monthly, according to McLaughlin. 

“And until March 18, all of that went across the Sowashee Creek,” McLaughlin said. 

The facility uses a back entrance that costs the business, McLaughlin said, especially considering a 2015 infrastructure investment that positioned the plant’s traffic over the bridge. 

“Our position is that one of the roles of a business in a market economy is to provide jobs… and the role of the government is to maintain infrastructure,” McLaughlin said. “All we’re asking is that the government fulfill their role so we can fulfill ours.”

Kim Houston, the representative for Ward 4, said she planned to visit the facility herself and tour its operations.

“I appreciate (McLaughlin) for bringing that information. It paints a picture about what you’ve got going on out there,” Houston said. 

Weston Lindemann, the representative for Ward 5, pushed back, saying the road might be public but the road following the bridge didn’t have any public traffic, only traffic related to the business.

“It only benefits a private entity,” Lindemann said. 

“At the end of the day, frankly, it’s a matter of compounding the investment and cost,” McLaughlin said. “If we add the cost to that bridge, then it’s something we have to factor into our business model.” 

With a two percent interest rate, McAlister said the cost of the loan would be between $6,300 and $6,500 per month for the next 20 years.

Police station expense

When a previous city council signed a lease agreement with Metro Retro LLC, the owners of the new Meridian police station, it included a clause that allowed the $305,000 annual rent to increase every five years based on the consumer price index, according to previous Star reporting.

Bland said the annual rent would increase by $300,000 by October 1, bumping $25,000 monthly payments up to approximately $52,000 per month.

“We’re working with the group to come to some sort of agreement to purchase the building,” Bland told the council. “If we stay where we are, it’s going to add $300,000 to our lease agreement – we’re trying not to do that.”

Bland said the city had reached out to Trey Hairston, an attorney with Butler Snow in Jackson who has negotiated previous bond agreements, to push for a sales agreement. 

“We’re trying to find options as far as purchasing,” Bland said. 

Lindemann said that with two expensive projects, the city should reconsider the cost of borrowing money.

“Because if we move forward with buying the police station, we would have to borrow money (for the Valley Road bridge) as well,” Lindemann said. “At some point, we can’t just borrow money.”