Lauderdale County supervisors on Monday approved an agreement to provide security at Okatibbee Lake as well as an effort to recoup some money by selling surplus air conditioning equipment.

 

Sheriff Ward Calhoun said the county has signed a yearly agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide a part-time deputy at Okatibbee Lake for roughly four decades. The contract runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day each year, providing additional law enforcement during peak times on the water.

 

While the Corps usually reaches out to the county around February each year, the process was delayed this year, Calhoun said, and the contract is still at the Corps’ district headquarters in Mobile, Alabama, being finalized.

 

“Bottom line, according to them, they don’t quite have a contract. It has not come back from Mobile,” he said. “But they’re asking if we go ahead and move forward assuming it’ll get here shortly, working on the same premises that we have had throughout the years.”

 

Calhoun said the pay would stay the same at $39 per hour for a total amount of approximately $18,076, and he has been told there have been no changes to the contract since it was approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2024.

 

Supervisors voted to approve a statement of work with the Corps of Engineers allowing the agreement to move forward while they wait for the final contract to arrive.

 

Calhoun also asked the board to approve an application for a cyber security grant through The Mississippi Office of Homeland Security. Some time ago, he said, the LCSD worked with MOHS to conduct an analysis of the county’s network security systems, and that study opened the door for the department to apply for these grant funds.

 

The grant does not have any matching component and will not cost the county anything, Calhoun said, and any grant money received will be used to increase the county’s network protection and cyber security.

 

Also on Monday, the Board of Supervisors approved a request from County Administrator Chris Lafferty to sell used air conditioning equipment no longer needed by the county.

 

Lafferty said the recent HVAC replacement project at Lauderdale County Animal Control left the county with some functioning air conditioning equipment that can’t be repurposed at other county properties. Instead of just throwing it away, he said he wants to advertise for bids and see if the county can recoup some of the money it invested.

 

“Before we throw these out, I want to try to get some money out of them and sell them on the used market,” he said.

 

Among the equipment are two Trans 5-ton straight air conditioning units, two Trane 5-ton box coils, two Trane 5-ton natural gas furnaces and two ventilation direct exhaust fans.

 

With supervisors’ approval, the equipment was declared surplus and will be advertised for interested parties to submit bids.