Brookhaven aldermen agreed Tuesday night to work with RosePowell and the O Foundation in an effort to clean up Dr. Martin L.King Jr. Drive through a road sponsorship program the foundation isdeveloping.

Powell said the plan, which is in its formative stages, wouldinvolve something akin to the adopt-a-highway program, wheredifferent businesses, organizations and individuals could adopt astretch of Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Drive and pledge to see that it’skept clean in return for a sign bearing their name or the name oftheir business or group. She said it was the hope of the OFoundation that they could recruit the sponsorships and the citywould put up the signs.

When asked what the cost for the sponsorships would be, Powellsaid, “Well, we haven’t gotten into that yet, but even if they’djust get out there on the sidewalk with their weed eaters it wouldhelp.”

The issue, Powell said, is not to try to gather funds for theproject, but instead to try to get people to take accountabilityfor the right-of-way on the road.

“We’re not trying to make people spend money, we just wantpeople to help, like the O Foundation already picked our block thatwe’re going to keep clean and use the weed eater on,” she said.”The main thing is getting out there and getting the ballrolling.”

Ward Two Alderman Terry Bates seemed skeptical, however, sayingthat in the past the city has encountered resistance in asking forpeople’s help to clean even their own private areas.

“You can paint the streets with gold and if the yards and housesaren’t taken care of, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “We pick up thetrash, and there are bottles and cans in front of people’s houses,and they’ll say, ‘It’s not mine.’ But if you go to do somethingthere, all of a sudden, ‘It’s mine.'”

Ward Four Alderwoman Shirley Estes said she felt the plan was agood one and that the city should help in whatever way itcould.

“We should do everything we can to encourage this because itsounds like a great idea to me,” she said.

In other business, Mayor Bob Massengill informed the board thecity had received seven proposals from engineering firms for workon the city water system expansion. His suggestion was thataldermen review the seven proposals and narrow them down to threeat the Nov. 6 board meeting.

After the narrowing-down process, the board would invite the topthree firms to make a presentation to the board detailing otherprojects they had done in the past and their other qualifications.The board would make a selection at the Dec. 4 meeting.

“We have to remember that this is major work and will runseveral years,” he told the board. “We need to have good rapportwith whoever we choose.”

Alderman at large Les Bumgarner said he thought past jobs wouldbe an important factor in finding a firm to do the work.

“I’d definitely like to see us use someone who has done worksimilar to this,” he said.

Also Tuesday, Massengill told the board he had been in touchwith the Mississippi Department of Transportation on the issue of apossible stop light at the intersection of Biglane Drive andHighway 51. He said he had both written them and called themrequesting another traffic survey, but that MDOT had not given himspecifics on a date they might be able to conduct the survey.

Massengill also discussed proposed lighting at Exit 40.

The mayor said he had been assured by the district engineer thatthe construction of the lights would be fully funded as long asBrookhaven and Lincoln County would pay for the upkeep on thelights, as well as paying for the cost if they are ever taken downfor any reason. A timetable for when the work would be done was notmentioned.