Harrison County approves $100,000 payment to Cypress Valley Navigation District, removes "per year" language

The Harrison County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to approve a $100,000 payment to the Cypress Valley Navigation District and to remove contract wording that implied the county would make that payment every year.

The motion to approve the payment while striking the phrase “per year” from paragraph 2 was made by Commissioner Sims and seconded by Commissioner Christian Ebarb. The court recorded the motion as passing 4 to 0.

Court members said the higher amount had been used in the current year to support replacement of navigational markers. Commissioner Christian Ebarb said the contract language could be read to obligate the county to pay the same amount annually and asked the wording be removed. "This language kinda implies that it's gonna be we're gonna do it every year, and that's not the case," Ebarb said.

A Cypress Valley Navigation District representative who identified himself to the court as a district board member said board members had surveyed the lake, mapped channel markers that need replacement and had 26 channel poles on hand. He described outreach to contractors to set work schedules and said crews will wait until water levels drop before installing replacements. "We've got it mapped. We got them marked," he said. He also told the court the district had recently increased funding to address channel-marker work after several recent boat wrecks.

The court did not set a repeating annual obligation in the contract; the adopted motion removed the phrase that implied the payment recurred every year. The contract as approved and the payment amount for FY 24-25 were recorded during the meeting.

Court members invited the navigation district to return with an update if the district made substantial progress on the marker replacements.

Votes at a glance: Motion by Commissioner Sims; second by Commissioner Christian Ebarb; vote 4–0 to approve payment and remove per-year language.