City Council discusses assessment plan for storm water drainage in Jackson
JACKSON, Tenn. — City leaders held their monthly meeting to discuss several topics.
Among topics discussed, an assessment plan for storm water drainage in the city.
“Everything that water runs to and runs from. We will start in the two pilot areas so we can work out what we need to study and what we need to assess,” said City of Jackson Mayor Scott Conger. “We can work out from that and give us a comprehensive list of what our capital improvement projects need to be, prioritize those, and get a plan on how to fund it.”
Mayor Scott Conger says funds from a grant from the Tennessee Department of Environmental Conservation will be used for the project.
“We have a $9.2 million grant which is a 10% match from us,” Conger said. “We are utilizing some of our American Rescue Plan dollars to provide that 10% match. All and all it will be just a little over $10 million that we can utilize for that assessment.”
Councilwoman Marda Wallace says they are going to start with two locations before assessing the entire city: the Anderson Branch Study area, which includes Jackson State and North Parkway to North Royal on the West, and the Cane Creek and Bond Creek area, including South Fork to Forked Deer River, Chester Levee Road and Bolivar Highway.
“They are going to look at culverts, they are going to look at the pipes, they are going to look at the watershed areas, where the water goes,” Wallace said. “What is not working anymore, what needs to be updated. It is truly going to help our infrastructure. We have so many places that are flooding.”
Conger says they are not sure how much the project will cost, and this assessment is the starting point.
The council is expected to pass a budget for Fiscal Year 2022 next week, and propose a budget for the 2023 fiscal year in the coming weeks.
Councilman Paul Taylor says there are a few differences.
“In the last year or two to have significant increases in revenues. We are not projecting those increases to continue this year,” Taylor said. “We are being conservative about that. We have some other areas where expenses have gone up due to inflation.”
Taylor says a pay study for city employees is expected in July, and changes in pay for city workers will be included in next year’s budget.
City leaders will meet at City Hall next Tuesday at 9 a.m. to approve the 2022 fiscal year budget.
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