By Billy Davis, David Howell
and Jason Mattox

A spokesman for U.S. Senator Roger Wicker has confirmed that the senator is in discussions with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to transfer ownership of property at Sardis Lake to the town of Sardis.

Sardis currently enjoys a 25-year lease on 1,000 acres located along 4-H Club Road on the Upper Lake.

The property transfer, if approved, would include the 1,000 acres under lease and an additional 1,000 acres adjacent to it, Sardis Mayor Rusty Dye said this week.

Parties involved in the apparent discussion cited economic development around the lake as the main reason for both the city’s diligence and Wicker’s continued support.

“This is something that will be a real shot in the arm for Panola County and surrounding areas,” said Dye.

 The leased land is part of Sardis Lake Marina, a long-planned project that dates back two decades.

The marina finally became operational in 2003 with help from then-Congressman Roger Wicker and other Mississippi delegates in the U.S. House and Senate.

Wicker’s communication director, Jordan Stoick, acknowledged the senator’s effort on behalf of the town of Sardis. He was responding to an inquiry by The Panolian.

Wicker is “working with local officials to transfer the leased land, along with adjacent land, to the city…,” the statement, released February 4, reads.

The statement did not describe a total acreage.

A second spokesman for Wicker’s office said no legislation has been introduced by Wicker related to a transfer of the federal property to the City of Sardis.

Clues have trickled from Sardis City Hall for several years that city government is eyeing a larger development on the lake property.

Dye told The Panolian in 2006 that he had met with Corps officials in Vicksburg to receive a “list of dos and don’ts” related to future development.

At the time, Skipper Marine, which has the contract to operate the marina, was planning to build a hotel and conference center. That project was considered a second phase of development. 

The topic of time-share development was discussed with Corps officials in hypothetical terms and would need “special congressional permission” to be approved, Dye also said at the time.

Until Wicker’s Senate office released a statement, no one has ever said publicly that Sardis plans to gain ownership of federal property.

“That’s news to me,” Alderman Mike Wilson, now serving his second term, said this week when asked about the planned property transfer.

Few details have emerged from any discussions between Dye and the Corps, said Sardis Alderman-at-Large Roy Scallorn.

“I’ve just heard the mayor mention that he’s been talking to (the Corps), but I don’t know what about,” Scallorn said. “It hasn’t been presented to the board.”

Dye, interviewed by The Southern Reporter, said he has been involved in the project since he was a Sardis alderman. He is currently completing his first term as mayor.

Without describing details of the project, Dye said a major developer is “at the table.”

Wicker’s press release also stressed the potential for economic development on the lake, which has seen little development around its banks.

“Use of the land would increase job opportunities in the area as well as expand the tax base, benefiting local schools, roads and other public services,” the press release states in part.

“This is not going to be a fishing camp and minnow store,” said Dye.

The current 25-year lease is part of the negotiations. The developer would need to build on property that is owned by the city, or a longer lease must be approved, said the mayor. 

A Corps public affairs official in Vicksburg, the Corps’ district headquarters, would not comment about the property transfer.

“We do not discuss pending legislation,” said chief public affairs officer Frank Worley.

The marina project got off to a wobbly start in Congress. In 1997, then-President Bill Clinton, using the line-item veto, cut the dredging of Sardis Lake from a $21 billion appropriations bill.

The bill appropriated $1.9 million for the dredging, which was necessary to prepare the lake cove for boat traffic.

But the line-item veto was later declared unconstitutional, rendering Clinton’s veto meaningless.

The dredging project, and the future marina, then moved forward.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the marina in August 2003.

“We started this process in 1989 and said it would take at least 20 years to come to fruition. We are now in year 14,” Mayor Richard Darby, then the mayor of Sardis, said at the ceremony.