The Meridian City Council is moving forward with plans to re-install street lights along Highway 39 and add new lights to the B Street freshwater treatment plant, as well as making headway in getting surveillance cameras installed at city parks.

The city has been working to put street lights back along Highway 39 from the Coca-Cola plant to 33rd Street after the existing lights were removed during a safety improvements project by the Mississippi Department of Transportation in 2023. The council and city administration have had multiple discussions about the cost of the lights and whether it is better to lease the lights from the power company or purchase them outright.

In a work session Tuesday, Assistant Public Works Director Mike Van Zandt said Mississippi Power had reached out to his office with a plan to light both Highway 39 and the B Street plant under the city’s current franchise agreement with the company.

The franchise agreement rate, which is approved by the state’s Public Service Commission, will cost the city $18.37 per light fixture per month. Van Zandt said that is much lower than what the city had estimated the lights would cost.

Van Zandt said he laid out the costs on a spreadsheet and, looking at the numbers, recommended accepting the plan.

“It takes over 34 years to break even,” he said.

Also included in the plan are nine lights for the B Street freshwater plant, which currently has no lighting. Van Zandt said adding the lights will help city employees feel more comfortable coming to and from the plant at night.

Under the agreement, Mississippi Power will also install four new lights at the intersection of Windmill Drive and Highway 39 and four at the intersection of Old Country Club Road and Highway 39, he said.

While the city will save money, there will be some up front costs. The Public Service Commission bases rates on above ground wiring, Van Zandt said. If the city wants to run the power underground, he said, it will have to pay the difference.

Costs to set up the underground utilities will be in the range of $176,000 to $177,000, Van Zandt said. Once installed, the lights will add approximately $5,500 to the city’s monthly power bill. The average power bill for Meridian is around $100,000 per month.

Councilman George Thomas said the lighting along Highway 39 is a necessity, and having underground utilities is both better looking and safer for the public.

Councilman Dwayne Davis said the council should be able to find enough to pay the up-front costs in its legislative budget.

Camera Plan

In other business, the City Council approved advertising for more security cameras to go up in city parks but held off on allocating the funding until bids come in. Parks and Recreation Director Thomas Adams said the plan is to install cameras at Northeast, Sammie Davidson, Q.V. Sykes, Ben Arthur Davis, Phil Hardin and James Chaney parks.

Council members opted not to add to the agenda a budget amendment that would have returned $250,000 of money held by the council to Parks and Recreation to be put toward the camera purchase.

Thomas said he doesn’t understand why each department has money budgeted for cameras when the city is trying to build a city-wide camera network. The city should just decide how many cameras it needs and do an overall contract, he said.

Chief Financial Officer Brandye Latimer said the city is looking at an overall contract, but funds were budgeted for each department. Moving the money back to parks and recreation is part of an effort to encumber the funding for all departments’ cameras prior to advertising the cameras for bids.

Councilman Joe Norwood Jr. said the city can move forward with advertising already  and does not have to wait until the funding is available. In a meeting Tuesday, the council gave the city permission to advertise for a Real Time Crime Center at Meridian Police Department without putting the money into the police department’s budget.

City Attorney Will Simmons said the city can advertise without having the money encumbered, but it cannot award a bid.

Councilwoman Ty Bell Lindsey said the council can vote to put the money back once bids come in and the city knows how much the cameras will actually cost.

Ed Skipper, a former Chief Administrative Officer for the city who currently works part-time helping the mayor, said the council can opt to go that route, but it is not advised. The city’s process of encumbering funds and bidding out projects and larger purchases is in place to protect the city and make sure it complies with guidelines from the state auditor’s office, he said.

“This doesn’t do that,” he said.

Latimer said having the money set aside also helps if projects come in over budget. When bids come in within 10% of the budgeted cost, the city has an opportunity to negotiate, she said, but if no funds are encumbered, there is no budget with which to compare the bids.

Simmons said accounting is not his area of expertise, but general best practices are to follow the guidelines set by the state auditor.