County supervisors looked up for recent repairs to a leakingroof at the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Government Complex.

>Now they’re looking down.

“All the carpet in the building will be replaced for the firsttime since it was built in 1981,” said Chancery Clerk TillmonBishop. “We’re presently preparing specifications to bid theproject.”

The project will be funded with federal grant funds remainingafter the roof repair work completed late last year. Bishop saidthe county received $450,000 in funding for renovations to thecourthouse, and the roof required most of that funding.

“The roof was the worst and most expensive part of that, so wedid it first,” he said.

Supervisors have approved the bidding process to investigate thepossibilities of replacing carpet in all areas where it presentlyexists – all city-occupied areas, the upstairs lobby, chancerycourt and the county conference room.

“Right now we have to make sure the bids come in within thefunding available,” Bishop said.

Once contractors have submitted their bids for the project,supervisors will determine whether to proceed, he said. Supervisorsmay still continue with the project should it come in higher thanexpected.

“If there was an absolute need to replace some flooring, I thinkthe board would do it,” Bishop said. “We’ve had some requests tonot carpet some areas carpeted now, but we’ll take the bids onwhat’s there now and make any changes later.”

Not carpeting an area would not save money on the project, hesaid, because the area would still require flooring of somesort.

Bishop said the county should not expect to see any progress onthe project until October at the earliest because of the length ofthe bidding process.

The project should not affect business conducted at thecourthouse in any way, he said.

“They’ll do most of their work on Friday, Saturday or Sunday,”Bishop said. “We don’t usually have much court activity onFriday.”