For some time now, members of the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors have been working to get the proper permits needed to repair the weir along the Pearl River near Wilson’s Slough.

Les Dungan with Dungan Engineering said he submitted the nationwide permit request to conduct those repairs to the Corps of Engineers on Oct. 17. With the permit submitted, the Corps is currently reviewing it before the county can move forward with any other process, including looking for a contractor to conduct the work. Dungan said submission of the permit is not the final step before work begins, but it is a big step in that direction.

Since the failure of the weir earlier this year, flow on the east side of the Pearl River has fallen sharply. Dungan said that at this point, that side of the river is only receiving a thread of flow, with the majority heading down the weir into Louisiana.

According to previous coverage, plans to repair the weir will focus only on bringing the weir back to its original state when the work was initially completed in the late 1990s, which had the aim of splitting the flow between Louisiana and Mississippi.

In other repair work, Dungan said the contractor working on George Ford Road will focus on repairing the worst sections of the road. That means the asphalt work on that road will not repave the entirety of the road.

The Board also discussed an ongoing property maintenance issue in the county. The property in question is located at 28 Hunter’s Trace, which has been discussed several times by the Board in the past couple of months. Previous discussions reflect the property has piles of various items and vehicles are regularly parked in the driveway while being repaired. There is also a sewage leak on the property that is affecting the neighboring property. District III Supervisor Jason Spence said he passed by the property before the Oct. 19 meeting of the Board and noticed not much had been done to address the clutter issue on the property. Board attorney Joe Montgomery said the sewage issue appears to be the most important and should be addressed first. After discussing the matter, the Board passed a motion to revisit the matter during a meeting set for Dec. 5.

Road Department Manager Charlie Schielder asked the Board  to approve the purchase of a 2022 Ford Ranger for his use while on the job. He said he plans to use the new, smaller truck and pass down his existing larger truck to others in the department, since he typically doesn’t have others riding with him.

As a side note, the county’s recent order of 6 full size trucks from Dodge was cancelled. As a result, road department has been replacing transmissions and engines to keep the fleet moving.