The Carroll County Board of Supervisors are now having to find a way to tackle a critical issue. There’s a portion of the county at the rim of Valley Hill that does not have water service. Instead, they have to dig wells.
Board President Jim Neill said it’s an issue that he and Supervisor Josh Hurst are both looking into.
“People have said when they wash their white clothes, they come out orange because of the well water, and we can’t have that,” Neill said. In order to do this, the county will have to either create a water association or tie into an exisiting one.
County Engineer Shane Correro said they’ve tried to certificate the area about a few years ago, but that was the wall that blocked them.
“I couldn’t get the area certificated,” Correro said. They said the nearest association to the Grenada County line is Poorhouse Water Association and they weren’t sure of the association near the Leflore County line. Neill said they needed to do something to help the people in the area.
Board Attorney Kevin Horan said there were things on the state level that could help the county, but they had to have some “skin in the game.”
“You have to do a bond issue, use ARPA, raise taxes,” Horan said. “Governor Tate Reeves has said he doesn’t mind helping but these rural counties needed to have something to help them. We can’t just help them without them having some skin in the game.”
He said Carroll County had to show they were prudent in their efforts to receive grants. Horan said he could take to the Mississippi Department of Finance Administration and the Mississippi Development Authority to see what they had that could help the county.
The board decided to put their heads together, to try to come up with a plan they could work to move forward.
