By Jeremy Pittari, Item Staff Writer
The Picayune Item
PICAYUNE — A company out of Laurel was able to get the city of Picayune’s previous administration to enter into an agreement allowing it a 15-year lease for two billboards.
During the previous city administration’s term, billboard sign moratoriums were set to run for 120-day periods. A gap in between one of those moratoriums at the end of that administration’s term allowed that council and mayor to approve a contract between Headrick Media and the city that is allowing the company to construct two billboards.
Tuesday morning, motorists could see the billboards under construction on Interstate 59. By that afternoon, the billboards were almost complete.
The last 120-day moratorium on large billboards established by the city’s previous administration was approved on Aug. 5, 2008. It was never renewed, according to city council minutes.
On June 16, 2009, that administration approved a motion in open session to allow Headrick Media to construct two large billboards on city property along Interstate 59. According to city council minutes from that date, the contract states the city will collect $6,000 per year during lifetime of the 15 year lease.
The city’s current administration approved an indefinite moratorium on large billboards shortly after taking office. That motion was approved on Aug. 18, 2009. Since that moratorium is indefinite, it will not require re-approval every 120 days. A motion to end it would have to made and passed before any more billboards can be erected within the city’s limits.
City Operations Director Diane Miller said the city does not collect taxes on signs and the amount of money negotiated in billboard contracts paid to the city is determined on a case-by-case basis.
