During Tuesday’s Poplarville Board of Aldermen meeting, the board voted to approve a hotel feasibility study to be performed by representatives from the University of Southern Mississippi’s Trent Lott National Center for Economic Development, Poplarville City Clerk Jane O’Neal said Wednesday.
During the Dec. 16 meeting, Shannon Campbell, director of the Trent Lott National Center for Economic Development, explained the study to the board.
“What we’ll be doing is a supply and demand data-driven type of analysis that you all need to have in front of you if you’re going to try to see where you stand as a city to support a hotel of some type,” Campbell said in December. “It will include what size of a hotel you can maintain, if indeed it shows it’s favorable. The data will tell you where your strengths are in order to attract a possible hotel developer.”
The project will cost the city $10,000 and is projected to begin at the beginning of March, O’Neal said.

In other action:

–– The board held a hearing for the property located at the corner of West Michigan Street and Maxwell Street, O’Neal said. Daniel Rush attended the hearing. The board declared the property a menace, due to overgrown bushes. However, Rush will be working with the city to get the land cleaned.
–– The board took under advisement the city’s appointment to the Poplarville School Board. Tommy Strahan’s appointment to the board expired on Dec. 31, 2015.
–– The board approved travel expenses for a group of six to eight to attend Mississippi State University’s Stennis Institute “Strategic Doing” workshop on Feb. 4 in Tupelo, O’Neal said. According to workshop literature, “Strategic Doing” enables civic leaders to think of opportunities, initiatives or projects and create action plans.
–– The aldermen also approved an updated cemetery policy. One of the main changes regarded columbariums, O’Neal said. According to section ten of the policy, a columbarium may be erected, at the expense of the plot owner, above ground on a funeral plot. Only one columbarium can be erected on a plot and should not intrude upon surrounding plots. The columbarium should not rise more than five feet above ground surface and may contain multiple niches. Up to two containers of human cremains may be placed in a single columbarium niche.
–– Also during Tuesday’s meeting, city engineer Jason Lamb discussed grant and loan opportunities available to the city with regard to public works, storm drainage, street repairs and road paving, O’Neal said. Lamb told the board there are 30 miles of paved road in the city. He suggested the formation of a committee to evaluate the condition of the roads, prioritize what needs to be done and, finally, develop a cost estimate, O’Neal said.