Walthall pursuing courthouse updates

June 29, 2021

http://www.enterprise-journal.com/news/article_9f24f4b8-d864-11eb-842f-db5b1fc8f1c5.html

Walthall County supervisors set the stage for another round of renovations on the county courthouse Wednesday.

Dungan Engineering representative Parker Dungan, speaking for the renovation committee, secured permission from the board to have architect Johnny Waycaster inspect the courthouse and update recommendations he made previously.

The committee will reprioritize the prospective projects and have Waycaster begin the paperwork needed to advertise for bids on the chosen projects and alternate additional bids for some of the other projects on the list.

The board has about $500,000 available to put into the courthouse, including a state appropriation of $250,000. Dungan said all of the projects on the list would cost about $1 million.

“We’ll put the top items in the base bid of $500,000, and also bid out some alternative additions,” Dungan said.

Board attorney Conrad Mord suggested that some updates, such as bathroom renovations and heating and air conditioning repairs or replacement, night be acceptable uses for federal American Recovery Plan Act funding.

The board voted earlier in the meeting to hire the Butler Snow law firm of Ridgeland to advise the county on how it can legally use the ARPA funding, and the bathrooms and heating and air system will be part of that discussion.

County economic developer Pam Keaton suggested that Mord might also see if repairs to the courthouse elevator might also be aa valid use of the federal funds. Previous repair estimates came in at about $90,000.

Dungan said another concern, the building’s windows, could be taken care of by keeping the windows now there and installing protective barriers for them.

Board president Larry Montgomery lamented that that the county had replaced windows 10 years ago, and you can’t tell it now.”

Supervisor Lloyd Bullock asked whether the security updates could be part of the plan, and Dungan said that could be included as an alternate project.