NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County supervisors have approved contractors’ proposals totaling about $450,000 to install new lights and bleachers for Chester Willis Field. This is part of the ongoing renovation of the aged baseball venue.
Work began this summer for the $2 million project at the county-owned Liberty Park facility with new turf, dugouts and fencing installed along with land grading and excavation.
Meeting Monday, the county Board of Supervisors voted for a contractor’s $220,000 bid for the sports-light installation work and another contractor’s $230,000 proposal to retrofit the old baseball venue’s wooden grandstand with aluminum bleachers.
Plans are to have the ballpark’s renovation completed by next year’s baseball spring season.
The Board of Supervisors on Monday also discussed another major county construction project: drainage repairs and flood-control measures for Carthage Point Road. The state Legislature allocated $500,000 for this last April, but supervisors said they need specific guidelines from state officials on how the money can be used before work begins.
Carthage Point Road extends past the old International Paper mill site, runs along the Mississippi River and is prone to flooding.
The Legislature’s half-million-dollar allocation for Adams County is included in a $372 million infrastructure package for a long list of communities throughout Mississippi. The Local Improvements Projects Fund also included $1 million for Natchez to correct various drainage problems in areas that include Concord Avenue, West Stiers Lane and Roselawn Drive.
The money is from the American Rescue Plan Act that Congress enacted in 2021 to help states recover from the economic impact of the COVID pandemic.
The board on Monday accepted the resignation of its legislative lobbying firm that helped get the funds: Watkins & Eager of Jackson represented by attorney Gregg Harper, a former U.S. congressman. Harper and associates have been working for Natchez-Adams County officials in recent years helping them get state and federal funds. County board President Warren Gaines said he didn’t know why the lobbyists resigned.
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