Wiggins gets little response from DMR about spending
State Sen. Brice Wiggins didn’t care for the response he got from the Commission on Marine Resources when he raised concerns about Department of Marine Resources spending.
Wiggins wondered why the DMR would pay to haul some of what would’ve been a Magaritaville casino to its artificial reef staging site off Reichold Road in Gulfport when it already had enough concrete to fill 30 Olympic swimming pools. So he wrote CMR Chairman Jimmy Taylor on Feb. 11. He has yet to receive a response.
Wiggins said he and DMR Executive Director Jamie Miller spoke briefly about the plan to use some of the concrete pilings of the abandoned building, but they “didn’t go into detail.”
Some of the concrete will be taken directly to the Katrina Key Reef south of Deer Island. The rest will be stored for later use on reefs.
Wiggins said it is up to DMR, which is in the middle of awarding a contract for moving the concrete from the casino site, whether to proceed. He said he just wanted the agency to know it was being closely watched in Jackson, especially because the artificial reef funds played a big role in a recent DMR scandal, which has led to a guilty plea by former Executive Director Bill Walker to conspiring to enrich himself and others from money controlled by DMR.
Sunherald
2/25/14
Magnolia Tribune
