WTOK-TV Meridian
Mayor Percy Bland recaps trip to Washington DC
Bland said routine meetings like this are essential to the continued economic growth and infrastructural development of Meridian.
By Zack Rogers
MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) - Mayor Bland made an annual trip to the nation’s capital this past week, alongside a few of Meridian’s city councilmen.
He says the focus was to engage with legislative officials and federal agencies to secure resources and funding for the Queen City and its infrastructure.
“We met with the entire delegation. We met with Senator Wicker, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Congressman Bennie Thompson, and our local congressman, Michael Guest. We also met with a congressman from the Gulf Coast, in regard to some of the major projects that we have on the table right now that’s in legislation. And it deals, again, with our water and sewer projects, our consent decree,” said Bland. “We also have a big cops grant, which is a two-million-dollar public safety grant, and we have some other major improvements that we’re doing inside and around the city to our medical district that we specifically met with them about.
Bland says routine meetings like this are essential to utilize federal funding and ensure continued economic and infrastructural growth in and around Meridian.
“Whenever you can utilize federal funding, monies that, you know, you don’t have to pay back, it’s going to mean better public safety, better streets, better infrastructure, and gives us another way that we don’t have to increase people’s taxes here locally,” said Bland.