Just in time for the holidays, cold nights, hunts, bonfires, and trail rides, the Choctaw County Board of Supervisors have lifted the burn ban throughout the county. The Town of Ackerman has also lifted its burn ban as well. “Do y’all want to lift the burn ban?” Chancery Clerk Steve Montgomery asked. “Yes,” they all said in unison. Also, Supervisors discussed Quinn Street. The street is split between the Town of Ackerman and the Choctaw County Supervisors and the two received $500,000 total from appropriations through the Mississippi Legislature. The County and the Town of Ackerman agreed to do everything through the County for the project. The road goes behind Charger Stadium and connects to East Quinn Street that goes back into the Town of Ackerman. However, the bid they received from Phillips Construction from Columbus came in over $147,000. County Engineer Marty Crowder told the board they three options. Option one was to go with the bid and find the $147,000. Option two was to take out the Town of Ackerman’s portion of the road and just do the county’s portion, which would save $90,000 or Option three which would be to reject the bids all together and go back to the drawing board and redesign the project to attempt to lower cost. “Option two is out of the question,” Supervisor Rodney Bowman said. “Ackerman has been good to us and when [Representative] Joey Hood got us the money, he got it for the both of us and that wouldn’t be right.” Bowman said they other option isn’t feasible either because everything is done through the county and that would take majority of his budget. The board had to approve rejecting the bid and revising the design. Crowder said the biggest part of the project was the county’s side going out to Webster Road. The goal of the school district is to send all outgoing traffic from the visitor’s side out to Webster Road. Crowder said the road would need to be widened and there is still work to be done on the road. Supervisor Chris McIntire asked if the road could be milled down, ash added to the road and then seal it, which would save money. “That could work,” Crowder said. He said that could be an option that’s looked into but work was still needed moreso on the county side of the road than the city side.
