Mayor vows road fix in Annandale

Annandale Subdivision residents have complained about the condition of their roads for a long time. Rough roads and drainage problems could potentially affect property values in this lovely Madison MS Real Estate Development.

It could take up to $10 million to repair roads in Annandale Subdivision, and while some county officials admit they don’t know where that money will come from, that didn’t stop Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler from promising to make it happen.

Mayor Hawkins made the promise to residents at a recent town hall meeting held by the Annandale Homeowners Association at the Chapel of the Cross that featured several county and city leaders.

Annandale is part of the proposed City of Madison MS annexation plan, so Butler said she is personally getting involved in the repair efforts.

“You will not be sorry, my staff and I will fight hard for you,” Butler said. “It is embarrassing that roads like this exist in this community.”

She also assured the homeowners that the Board of Supervisors will help with the problem, and promised that the roads will be fixed.

When asked why nothing had been done yet, she replied “We are looking at an $8 million to $10 million complete re-do. We want to make sure the job is done right this time.”

District 3 Supervisor D.I. Smith, who represents the area, was also on hand to address the crowd, but was not as enthusiastic about the possibilities of a quick fix.

“Reserve funds are getting smaller and smaller,” Smith explained. “There is no way the county can afford to make all the repairs at one time.”

Smith suggested a yearly expenditure of about $200,000 a year on the roads as one alternative, but said to fix the roads outright it would take the re-appropriation of funds already designated for other parts of the county.

Earlier this year the Board of Supervisors maxed out the county’s bonding capacity with a $33 million bond issue, over half of which will go to the planned Reunion Parkway interchange.

Smith said the county is spending a lot of money on new roadways such as Reunion and not enough on maintenance of existing roads.

“We should be able to take care of our existing roads before we build all of these fancy new roadways,” he said.

After the meeting, Guy Bowering, an Annandale homeowner and head of the board of directors for the Homeowners Association, said that he was satisfied with what the mayor promised.

“The mayor is very effective at getting things done, and we are confident that she will get involved with the project right away,” he said, noting residents have been waiting more than 10 years for better roads.

Before the mayor left the meeting, she guaranteed that in six months she would return with an update of the project.

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Article Remarks by By T.J. JERNIGAN
Madison County Journal