Ellington

Hinds County has purchased all of the property needed for a proposed Byram-Clinton corridor and contractors have completed section 5, a 2-mile, 4-lane stretch from Terry Road to Davis Road in Byram.

District 4 Hinds Supervisor Phil Fisher said after the county purchased the land and finished section 5, it had about $26 million left for the project. He said the next step is to extend the corridor from Davis Road to Parks Road.

Fisher introduced a resolution to approve section 2 of the project Monday, but the Hinds County Board of Supervisors went to executive session to discuss the proposal.

Once completed, the corridor would connect Norrell Road in Clinton to Terry Road in Byram. It has been a part of talks among the supervisors since the early '90s, Fisher said.

District 5 Supervisor Kenneth Stokes said that the board should not award money to a project that will only benefit part of the county. He suggested the money be split evenly among the five districts and used to repair existing roads throughout the county.

"I think the project is a good project in good times, but right now we don't have the money," Stokes said. "I think priorities got to pushed. The jail has got to be the first priority."

Peggy Calhoun of District 3 pointed out that the funds for the project, which came from bonds, cannot be used for something other than the purpose for which they were approved for without the board hiring bond lawyers and other professionals to work at the legality of the motion. She said that there are other issues about the project the board needs to discuss, though, and requested the vote be tabled until after they discuss the issues in executive session.

Stokes said the board appointed the Malachi Financial company to evaluate the feasibility of the project and that he wants to see their findings before approving anything.

In March, the board rescinded the deal with Malachi Financial, Fisher said.

The Jackson Free Press reported in December that Malachi CEO Porter Bingham also had a deal for $65,000 in retainers and fees worth up to $1.57 million with TCI Investments for work on the now-defunct Conventional Center Hotel project.

Stokes said the board should move forward with a feasibility study before approving the corridor.

"This feasibility stage has been so generally suggested that nobody really knows what they're supposed to study," Fisher said. "I think currently this feasibility study, as stated, brought to the board and bounced around is a fancy term to stall."