File photoSupervisors appear to be on track to address the Vimville-Causeyville Road bridge by this summer. The bridge has been closed for at least 18 months.

The Vimville-Causeyville Road bridge over the railroad tracks has been closed for at least 18 months, but residents will have to wait a little while longer before seeing it repaired. 

Lauderdale County supervisors approved a $720,076 bid Monday from Joe McGee Construction Company, Inc. to fix the bridge, aiming to finish the project by the end of the summer.

“(Residents) can expect to start seeing people working in the upcoming month,” Rush Mayatt, the county’s road manager said. “They’ll start moving in equipment and materials during that time.”

Commissioners of the Mississippi Department of Transportation voted to give Lauderdale County $724,700 for the Vimville-Causeyville Road bridge and another $513,000 for a bridge on Woods Road in an emergency session last summer. 

Other bids included $785,351 from Dozer, LLC and $989,853 from Tanner Construction Company, Inc.

“I appreciate the board gathering together for this meeting … it’s an inconvenience to a lot of residents in District 5,” Kyle Rutledge, who represents the district and called for the special board meeting to accept the bid, said. “We’re looking forward to getting this finished.”

Supervisors haven’t yet secured the easements necessary for Woods Road, with two of the seven or eight easements still being processed.

“The shoulder of the road is going to be pushed back about one foot per new state aid requirements… just to make the slope into the ditch a little easier to mow,” Josh Todd, of District 3, said. “I really, really hate the word eminent domain (but) the money is there and it is earmarked for Woods Road – we just can’t reach an agreement on one foot. We don’t want to lose that funding.”

Supervisors called for an executive discussion to discuss the purchase or lease of real property and a personnel matter related to county administrator Chris Lafferty.

On Tuesday, Lafferty accidentally shared the names, social security numbers and some contact information for more than 100 employees in a county-wide email about health insurance.

On Thursday, Board President Jonathan Wells, the representative for District 1, said the county was looking at ways to “pull back” the information and create alerts for employees affected. He said only county employees had been affected and didn’t anticipate any effects for private residents with sensitive information stored at the county. 

Supervisors went into executive session at 9:14 a.m. and came out at 10:45 a.m.

Lee Thaggard, the board attorney, said the board took no action and Wells adjourned supervisors until their next board meeting at 9 a.m. on May 6.