Hinds County Supervisors voted 3-2 to hire Integrated Management Services, Neel-Schaffer and McElroy 3 and Associates Architects to design a proposed $14 million parking garage. Supervisors Charles Barbour and Peggy Calhoun voted against the project, with Calhoun saying she had too many concerns about its long-term costs.
"I am against a bond that would possibly require a tax increase and tying up this county in debt, and possibly keeping us from funding future prospects and maintaining the fiscal integrity of county government," Calhoun said.
Supervisor Doug Anderson has pushed hard for the construction of the parking garage, and last week, he acknowledged that McElroy was his ex-son-in-law.
"I had not known that McElroy and Associates was Anderson's ex-son-in-law until another supervisor brought that to my attention," Calhoun said, and accused supervisors of "going behind locked doors" to make decisions regarding the garage.
Anderson has also urged the supervisors to buy the Mississippi Valley Title Insurance Building, but last week supervisors voted not to hire an appraiser to buy the building. This week, the supervisors upheld that decision on another 3-2 vote, putting the purchase on indefinite hold.
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