Picayune moves forward with bond issuance to continue street paving

During Tuesday’s meeting of the Picayune City Council, the city approved a resolution for their intent to issue general obligation bonds, Series 2019, for the purpose of constructing, improving, equipping, or paving streets. The bond shall not exceed $6 million dollars.

During discussion, City Clerk Amber Hinton explained, per request of councilman Wayne Gouguet, that this bond issue is a continuation of the bond issue that was in effect for the past 6 years. Hinton stated that the proposed bond issuance will not require any additional millage.

Councilman Gouguet (pictured) added that while the last bond issuance was for the paving of all roads, this next 6 years will be more selective and the council will have the opportunity to review the plan for which roads will be paved.

Director of Public Works Eric Morris said that the plan will be based on several criteria with a review from the engineering department. Morris said the roads that were previously cut up or impacted from utility work will be part of this plan. He also said that future work that could impact specific roads and streets will be impacted by that work would be considered as targets at a later date after the work in an area has been performed. Morris said base failures in the city as well as streets that were not paved during the previous 6 years will be considered for the paving.

Brooks Wallace (pictured) of Dungan Engineering and the City’s Engineering Department said the approach will be to ensure that all work that could impact the street surface will be planned accordingly. Wallace said this time he views this next round work as more of a maintenance of the streets versus a complete overhaul.

“This big thing is to be mindful of where we are working and be mindful of the paving,” Wallace stated.

Morris added that the majority of the work that could catastrophically impact the streets has been completed such as the prior removal of all cast iron piping that was performed in the gas line removal and replacement project like the ones on Bales Avenue and Telly Road.

The council approved the request to move forward.