details here:
The Pearl River Valley Water Supply District:
An Overview For Decision Makers
The John C. Stennis Institute of Government
Mississippi State University
Pages 9 through 12
Link to full report HERE
Previous section HERE
Bottom of Page 9
The total bond issuance was to be in the amount of $22,000,000; upon the recommendation of the investment consulting firm, a $4,400,000 increment bond sale was offered by public auction on December 8, 1959, rather than being sold by sealed bid. According to the State Times (December 28, 1959), the bonds were purchased by
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the Leland Speed Company, the First National Bank of Memphis, Allen and Company of Jackson and Hamp Jones of Jackson for a bid of 4.4999 percent interest; with no competitive bids being entered at the sale. A subsequent $8,800,000 bond issue was sold in May 3, 1960 by sealed bid to A.C. Allen and Associates of Chicago. On Tuesday, December 16, 1964 the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported that a $24,500,000 revenue bond issue by the Pearl River Valley Water Supply District failed to receive acceptable bids; reports indicate that the PRVWSD rejected the only two bids that were received. Some reports attributed the failure of this bond issue to the low 3.65 percent interest ceiling the District had placed on the bonds and other sources indicate that the NAACP boycott of the sale of these bonds was the cause.
In an agreement dated November 18, 1959, the District was to receive $500,000 from the City of Jackson over the life of the bonded indebtedness. The agreement stipulated the specific obligations of the District to the City of Jackson; these items included the construction of the reservoir and spillway; a satisfactory flow of sanitary quality water, and the installation of an intake structure. The agreement also required the District to perform a study of shoreline development and planning, and directed the District to obtain the maximum benefit from revenues from the shoreline development with the objective of early retirement of the bond issue.
The original master development plan anticipated that after the 5th year of operations, 4,000 residential lots would be leased at $125 per lot per month and that approximately 20 commercial lots would be leased at $20 per lot. In 1960, MWH Engineering began construction on the reservoir; it was completed in 1963 and filled to its normal capacity by 1965. The dam is an earth-fill dam that is 23,400 feet in length with a maximum height of 64 feet; elevation at the top of the dam is 308 feet. The principal spillway consists of ten 40– by 21-foot tainter gates with a discharge capacity of 180,000 cubic feet of water per second (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers).
