NATCHEZ — Talks about drainage in Concordia Parish are anything but stopped up, and Tuesday night no one could stop Mayor Hyram Copeland from sharing images of what he thinks is causing the problems for the parish.

Those present at the Vidalia Board of Aldermen meeting watched a video showing clips of different parish drainage areas.

Copeland attempted to show the video at the Concordia Parish Police Jury meeting Monday night, but was denied.

Video shown at Vidalia town hall meeting highlighting drainage problems in the parish. Click here for video

The video shows damaged, partially collapsed and completely collapsed culverts that are to direct run-off water from the parish into the Vidalia Canal. The video also showed dense vegetation and sediment deposits that have developed in ditches and in the canal, impeding the flow of run-off water out of the parish and into Cocodrie Bayou.

Copeland said the videographers who filmed for the video traveled the 11.7 miles of Vidalia Canal to identify trouble spots. Maintenance of the Vidalia Canal falls under the jurisdiction of the police jury.

“Until the Vidalia Canal is clean and clear, and until Cocodrie Bayou is clean and clear, we can’t get out,” Copeland said.

He said the City of Vidalia invested more than $1 million to put a pumping station at Wild Cow Bayou, but water isn’t able to reach that point because of the problems with Vidalia Canal and the ditches and culverts leading to the canal.

“We have sent $3.2 million in the past 10 years to the police jury for drainage to help with the drainage issue,” Copeland said. “We don’t mind doing that, if we get results.”

Also included in the discussion of drainage was the development of the municipal complex and recreation complex site in the city.

Copeland said Vidalia had a drainage study done on the property and presented that study to various state agencies without any resistance until the study was presented to the police jury.

“No other agency has rejected our study,” Copeland said. “I can’t understand why at the last minute the police jury is trying to shut the project down.”

In the study done by a hydraulics engineer, it was recommended that in the process of building the municipal and recreation complexes repairs be made to culverts and ditches that would bring those drainage structures back to their designed capacity, Vidalia City Engineer Bryant Hammett said. The study also recommended placing an additional 30-inch culvert under U.S. 84, Hammett said.

Copeland said the plans for the complexes include provisions for those improvements.

“We are going to spend $1.5 million on drainage at the municipal complex,” Copeland said.

Hammett said the development of the site will actually help drainage from that site. Currently the site is exposed agriculture land, Hammett said. Once it is developed, it will be 90 percent grass, he said.

Hammett said the grass will help absorb rainfall and will cut down on the amount of sediment that runs off of the dirt land now.

Copeland said the purpose of the video and discussion was not to indict the police jury but to attempt to create a solution.

“No one likes the word tax,” he said. “I don’t like the word tax, but the (homeowners in Concordia Park) don’t like water in their houses.

“All I ask is that we sit down and talk about it and figure out what we are going to do.”

In other news:

4 The board of aldermen voted unanimously to extend the corporate limits of the city on U.S. 84 to include the property where a proposed apartment complex is to be located.

The change will be added to a map of Vidalia and submitted for approval to the U.S. Department of Justice.

4 The board appointed Arthur Lewis to the position of police chief. The board had approved the appointment on Nov. 1 to replace Ronnie G. “Tapper” Hendricks, but had to do so again in a regular board meeting.

A special election has been scheduled for April 2 to fill the remainder of Hendricks’ term. Qualifying for that election will be Feb. 9, 10 and 11.

4The board approved a sign application for Sonic Drive In to install a new sign to replace the existing sign.