The Board of Aldermen for the Town of Kilmichael is working on a grant that could give the town a walking trail near Kilmichael’s baseball field.
During a Jan. 4 meeting, Mayor Bryan Lott said there’s a grant through the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks that, if approved, the town could use to create a walking track. Lott said he thinks the track would be a great thing for the residents of Kilmichael and it’s something he wanted to explore
Also, heard an update on the automated water meter installations. In 2020, the town received a loan for $250,000 that would go toward installing the meters. The town’s previous meters were older and some were not reading at all.
Gas Superintendent Johnny Pearson, standing in for Public Works Director Josh Pearson, said the project was 40 percent complete.
The water meters will make retrieving data a lot easier within the town. Instead of a manual reading, the figures will upload the deputy city clerk’s computer in city hall and download to the new software.
Back in June 2021, the board voted to move forward with the project during former Mayor Bobby Howell’s last meeting. The electronic meters will replace the old meters and will upgrade how the meters are read. Instead of being read by hand and numbers input into the system, the electronic meters will be read by a computer.
During that meeting, Howell said the town received a low-interest loan estimated to be $230,000. He said all 540 meters connected to Kilmichael Water System would be replaced with new meters. He said the purchase also includes the computer software.
Howell said the meters will be encased in polyurethane instead of the metal boxes, and the town is preparing to change over meter boxes to accommodate the new meter system.
Pearson went on to update aldermen on the work at the wastewater treatment plant located on School Road. In their December meeting, Lancaster Electric won the bid to install two new transfer switches on the lagoons.
During a previous meeting, Public Works Director Josh Pearson said when the lagoons power down, he or the elder Pearson would have to manually power the lagoons back up. However, with the new transfer switches, they can power them
electronically.
The board also:
• Hired Felicia Ferguson as a part-time deputy city clerk.
