WOODVILLE &045;&045; At a special meeting last week, the Wilkinson County Industrial Development Authority hired a private firm to secure grants for the county’s on-going recreational park project.

The SJB Group, Inc., a Baton Rouge, La.-based company with offices in Gonzales, La. and Natchez, will be paid a percentage of any funding it secures for the project, according to Development Authority member and Wilkinson County Chancery Clerk Thomas Tolliver.

Tolliver said the Development Authority met with SJB representative and landscape architect Jose L. Barro on June 10. &uot;His job is to get grants for the development of the park,&uot; Tolliver said.

SJB’s five company divisions include engineering, construction services, land surveying, information solutions and a human resources section focusing on industrial and technical needs.

Touted by area officials as an opportunity to attract and maintain a permanent eco-tourism and recreational trade to the county, the park will be located on a 166-acre tract wedged between U.S. 61 and Mississippi 563 three miles north of Woodville.

Plans for the park include two 16-acre fishing lakes, four baseball parks, an amphitheater, a rodeo arena and equine center, a reception hall, RV camping, cabin rentals and horseback riding, hiking, birding and biking trails.

Officials have said some of the venues, such as the RV camping, cabin rentals, rodeo arena and amphitheater may be contracted to private operators.

Construction of the lakes and roadbeds on the park property has already begun.

The Development Authority is a non-profit entity formed in 1996 to recruit a private prison to the county and oversee its management.

Corrections Corp. of America operates the prison and pays the Development Authority an annual $200,000 Community Impact Fee to help recruit and support businesses and industries.

The prison revenue was used to purchase the park property at a cost of $408,000.

Construction costs for the project could run as high as $10 million, according to preliminary estimates.

Two federal grant sources, the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Recreational Trails Program, were initially explored to fund the project in phases.

&uot;We missed the first round, but SJB will be re-visiting those two programs, as well as other sources,&uot; Tolliver said.

The Recreational Trails Program pays 80 per cent of eligible construction costs, while the Land and Water Conservation Fund provides a 50 percent return. Both programs are administered by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.