Itta Bena will hold a town hall meeting on Thursday to discuss the possible sale of town-owned land in the Itta Bena Industrial Park.
Possible grant funding for improvements in Itta Bena and ongoing efforts to open a grocery store there will also be on the agenda for the meeting, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the L.T. Brazil Center.
The Itta Bena Board of Aldermen has been considering a proposal to sell its share of the industrial park to Leflore County, which co-owns the property, in a bid to clear the land of a federal tax lien and help pay down the city’s debts.
Mayor Thelma Collins, who announced Thursday’s town hall meeting, has been an outspoken opponent of any plan to sell the land, the town’s portion of which is valued at about $490,000.
Collins has twice attempted to veto the decision of a majority of Itta Bena’s aldermen to approach the county about a possible sale. Alderwoman Mildred Miller, who supports the sale, said that Collins’ second veto, exercised last week, was illegal and had already been overridden.
The Board of Aldermen is set to meet again on Tuesday.
Itta Bena’s substantial financial challenges include towering debts and a $200,000 federal tax lien slapped on the town in July after officials at the Internal Revenue Service alleged that the town failed to pay federal payroll taxes between January 2012 and March 2013.
Also on the agenda for Thursday’s town hall meeting will be grants for the town, almost certainly including a pending site visit in May from officials at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which named Itta Bena one of 15 finalists for the New Jersey nonprofit’s Culture of Health Prize, which carries at $25,000 cash award.
Collins said she also hopes to discuss progress in the community’s effort to open a cooperative or community-run grocery store. The town of about 2,000 residents has been without a market for the last six years since its lone grocery store, a Big Star, closed.
Itta Bena is a recipient of the “Local Foods, Local Places” grant, a White House led initiative designed to help communities integrate local food systems into their economic development plans.
Consultants provided by several federal agencies told a meeting of Itta Bena residents in January that a traditional for-profit market probably wasn’t viable in the rural community and that they were exploring options to open a grocery store and farmers’ market on an alternative business plan, most likely as a community-owned nonprofit cooperative.
Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
