City does not take annexation lightly; serious consideration

Business that will be under consideration by the mayor and aldermen during today’s meeting is expected to include annexation of three areas, one each beyond the north, east and west sides of present city limits.
Discussion to date among city officials has been in general agreement about the areas to the east and west along Highway 6. Alderman have been in agreement that protection is desirable along those city approaches over the major highway, especially since regulation of development along the corridor between Batesville and Oxford leading to the front door of Ole Miss is in concert with officials of the county, Lafayette County and Oxford.
The area to the north of present city limits — the northeast quadrant of the I-55/Highway 35 intersection — has raised more questions. Among them: Will annexation by the city make the Airport Industrial Park site more attractive to economic development prospects who want the protection of city codes and restrictions, or will it make it less attractive because people who want to establish business and industry are seeking to avoid as much government red tape as possible?
Then there’s the question about what advantage would it be to the city to annex the Panola County jail. Urban Planner Mike Slaughter told Alderman Bill Dugger that he could think of none.
There is one we can think of, and it is a bit far-fetched. For several years, the city and county have been working on an inter-local agreement that would afford Batesville Police Department enhanced protection from liability while assisting the Panola County sheriff and his deputies outside city limits. (Remember, the sheriff and his officers have jurisdiction anywhere in the county; police officers have jurisdiction inside city limits.) Of course, Batesville police do assist outside the city under a present cooperative arrangement, but the city’s attorney and the county’s attorney have been working on an inter-local agreement that would formalize the arrangement and give the city and its officers more protection from liability than under the present agreement.
(If you have stayed with me this far, you are to be commended for your stamina and for your interest in local matters.)
Now, if the jail were annexed into city limits, the city and its officers would be assured the same protection from liability for law enforcement actions there as anywhere else in the city. Consider, God forbid, there was an incident at the jail which required a major manpower response from area officers of every jurisdiction. City officers would be among the first to respond. And if a legal question arose about a city officer’s actions as a result of that response, it could not be a question of whether the officer had proper jurisdiction.
Now consider the Panola County Airport. Presently it lies in the Sardis Lower Lake Fire Department District whose volunteers take that responsibility seriously. If the airport is annexed, the primary responsibility for fire protection at the airport would pass to the Batesville Fire Department.
Now, realistically, if there was a fire at the airport today, we would see personnel and equipment from both departments and others responding to the emergency as rapidly as possible. And if the airport were brought into the city limits tomorrow, we would see the same.
But if fire protection needs at the airport grow to the extent that specialized fire equipment is needed for protection, the city, having more options for raising revenue than the county, might be in a better position to come up with matching funds, if needed, for available grants.
Granted, both of these scenarios sound a little far-fetched, the latter violent and the former perhaps wishful thinking.
But since the question was raised — “What advantage would it be for the city …” — we have tried to take it a step further to consider what’s best for all of us.