Mayor Frank Melton surprised members of the Jackson City Council Tuesday when he called off the city’s months-long efforts to sign a new, multi-million wastewater contract.
He told council members that he wants to throw out the three bids that the city has received and, instead, extend its current contract for three years.
“I will give us ample time to revisit this in the proper form,” Melton said.
The move would keep the contract with Pennsylvania-based Severn Trent Services, which has run the city’s wastewater system since 1985. The council is set to vote on the extension at a meeting Monday.
The city has been working for months to try to sign a new contract to run Jackson’s three wastewater treatment plants and 93 sewage pump stations. The five-year contract would have been one of the city’s largest. Severn Trent Services is paid about $7 million a year.
The process has been plagued with delays and missteps.
Magnolia Tribune
