Gluckstadt board pauses on Arrington dam funding request, asks legal to seek Attorney General opinion

At a special called meeting April 23, 2026, the Gluckstadt Mayor and Board of Aldermen heard a presentation from Mary Clark, representative of the Arrington Homeowners Association, about repairing the Arrington subdivision dam and did not authorize additional city funding pending legal review.

Clark told the board the most recent repair estimate is $540,000 and said the homeowners association can contribute about $130,514. She said the project has a state grant through the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and that the association could risk losing that grant because the grant period requires timing the contractor contract signing; she added that an original grant application did not require 501(c)(3) status but that the current grant process does and obtaining that status could take about a year.

Board members asked detailed questions. Alderwoman Jessie Campbell questioned total cost, history of the grant and whether the board had evidence of a public need. Alderman Jayce Powell asked whether the project is shovel ready and why there was urgency for city funds. Alderwoman Miya Warfield Bates asked whether the project will report progress to the city, whether the grant is reimbursable and whether funds exist in the FY26 budget. Clark said the last engineering report was prepared in 2023 and that engineers and MDEQ have been working on the design for nearly a year.

City legal advised that seeking an Attorney General opinion would provide legal protection if the board contemplated contributing public funds for repairs, and that, based on the record and the hydraulic report presented by engineers, the board could find the repair is a flooding-control measure that benefits the city and floodplain. The mayor asked legal counsel to seek an AG opinion on behalf of the board. No board member moved to rescind the April 14 vote or to approve city funding at the April 23 meeting.

City Clerk Lindsay Kellum said a budget amendment would be required at a future meeting to move FY26 funds into the appropriate ledger line if the board later chose to contribute. A resident of Arrington subdivision, Roger Trisler, addressed the board briefly about how the issue affects his property.

The board took no formal funding action on the Arrington request at the session; the next steps recorded in the meeting were for legal to seek an Attorney General opinion and for the board to consider any budget amendment at a future meeting.