by Hunter Dawkins
At Monday’s Harrison County Board of Supervisors monthly meeting at the Second Judicial Courthouse in Biloxi, a lengthy discussion was presented after the U.S. 2020 Census Partnership Specialist; Traycee Scott-Williams, came forward to distribute catalogs about the U.S. Constitutional mandate required every decade. According to Scott-Williams, the state will receive federal funding by the more folks that participate and asked each supervisor to find a trusted voice in their community to create a more accurate census count.
District 5 Supervisor and Vice President Connie Rocko expressed an invasive form of the census during the last count, but Scott-Williams mentioned the new form having only nine questions, which can be found online of by paper request and the U.S. Census Bureau to be hiring. The Board of Supervisors indicated a future attempt will occur at a later date.
Following this examination, the Board heard from Coastal Mississippi in review of their budget, as executive director Milton Segarra conveyed a drastically different portfolio before June 2019 and after due to the beach closures from the effects of the Bonnet Carre Spillway. Overall, Segarra delivered positive numbers while stating that 67% of the budget is delivered to marketing and 40% of the flights to the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport are in relation to the casinos.
In other actions, the board approved a $22,500 payment for the U.S. Geological Survey for annual operation and maintenance of river stream gages while adopting the resolution requesting the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) to erect a “No Wake” zone signage at the northeast entrance to Mallini Bayou.
Finally, an authorization of expenditures to advertise the resources of Harrison County was unanimously passed in giving West Harrison High School $500 for name and logo on t-shirts plus banners during the school year. Additionally, Long Beach High School received $100 from the board on a large sign in the gymnasium in this school year.
