Commission reviews $666,000 supplemental, $18M multimodal award, ratifies $13.9M in payables and moves into closed session

At its Feb. 4 meeting, the Mississippi Transportation Commission reviewed a series of procurement and legal items, ratified large payments, and authorized legal actions before approving the agenda as amended and moving into a closed "labor session."

Speaker 4 presented a supplemental agreement under the CENI master contract with Michael Baker Incorporated to provide owner-advisor services for the I-20/I-55 freight-corridor construction manager/general contractor project in Hinds and Rankin counties. The supplemental agreement was listed as not to exceed $566,583.05, producing a revised total contract amount of $666,092.70.

Speaker 8 described Strategic Multimodal Investment Fund awards, saying the funds stem largely from a one-time legislative appropriation of $18,000,000 plus interest and returned funds from under-budget projects. Speaker 9 outlined IT and consulting procurements: Hubert Crook Computer Consultants (up to $588,000 for systems engineering); Deltek Inc. (a one-year subscription listed in the transcript as $1,150; the department did not clarify magnitude); and a public-transit call-center solution and traffic-camera purchases (up to $764,010.55 and $58,720, respectively).

Administrative services (Speaker 5) presented financial items: accounts payable totaling $13,966,166.72 for the periods of Feb. 4 and Feb. 11, 2026; a payroll docket not to exceed $5,000,000 for Feb. 1–15, 2026; and commissions/executive salaries and expenses totaling $17,692.30 for the same pay periods.

Speaker 6 introduced John Scarborough as a new attorney in the legal division and presented several legal items: an agreement with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks for a boat landing on the commission’s right of way near Bridge 46.2 (Highway 32, Tallahatchie County); a master agreement to retain Jay Wesley Hasall of Stroud, Fletchers & Dalton for eminent-domain representation at a rate of $170 per hour for attorneys and $65 per hour for paralegals (contract maximum $75,000; effective 01/01/2026–08/31/2029); authorization to pursue a claim against Logistics X Experts LLC for $11,407.05 for guardrail damage on I-55 at Bridge 35.8 in Lincoln County; acceptance of a $25,000 policy-limit settlement from Farm Bureau Insurance on behalf of named insureds for vehicle/equipment damage; and termination of a Xerox Corporation rental agreement effective Feb. 10, 2026.

Before taking up the legal items in closed session, the commission approved the agenda as amended by voice vote and then moved into a "labor session" to consider the workers' compensation settlement and litigation recommendation, citing Mississippi Code section 25 41.

What happens next: specific contracts and claims will proceed through procurement and legal channels; staff will execute agreements and pursue the identified claim and settlements. The closed-session discussion was scheduled to address those legal recommendations.