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County staff reports progress on grants, Mid Delta airport engineering and an innovation hub partnership
Summary
County staff briefed supervisors on multiple grants advancing to final phases (EPA and USDA rounds), ongoing brownfield and airport engineering work and a USDA/Mississippi State partnership to develop an innovation hub in Stoneville; no county funding was requested for the hub.
County staff provided a multi‑item economic development and grants update, describing several grant applications and early project steps.
Justin B reported that two local grants were approved to support expungement clinics (about $60,000 total) and that a USDA‑related grant (noted as $1.5 million in the transcript) will fund an innovation hub in Stoneville with Mississippi State contributing an additional $750,000. He said Mississippi State and other partners will convene locally and that the county will be invited to meetings to coordinate alignment across sectors; staff emphasized that the hub funding would come from federal and partner sources, not as a direct request to the county.
Justin B also reported that Haskell has begun engineering work on 642 acres at the Mid Delta airport and that site renderings are expected in about four weeks, after which cultural studies and wetland reports will begin. Brownfield remediation and legal work on approximately 35 buildings (and about 70,000 square feet already addressed) were also noted as moving forward.
Supervisors asked clarifying questions about the hub’s focus on precision and R&D commercialization and were told the project aims to help startups translate research into local businesses that could be based in Washington County or the Delta. Staff committed to circulate additional materials and to include the item for follow‑up coordination with Mississippi State.
