The Lincoln County Board of Supervisors Monday opened bids for a road project at Brookhaven Industrial Park and a building project at Ability Works and in both cases Trustmark National Bank was the lone bidder.

The first was a $780,000 building bond at 3 percent interest for a 15-year term, which will be used to pay the county’s matching portion of the Manufacturers Boulevard repair and improvements.

The second is a $775,000 road bond at 2.5 percent for the first five years and 2.6 percent for the second five years, which will be paid for through the county’s lease agreement with Ability Works.

The building bonds will be used specifically for the renovation of the Ability Works building at 934 Industrial Park Road NE. Jay Van Construction is the general contractor for the project.

The bonds being issued by Lincoln County are tax-exempt bonds. These bonds can be used for any public purpose, including public buildings, bridges, highways and airports. The federal government allows bond owners to deduct interest earned. There is no federal cap on the amount of tax-exempt bonds local governments can issue.

Lincoln County has been awarded a $1.25 million grant to repair three roads serving the Brookhaven Industrial Park. The project to rebuild and repair Manufacturers Boulevard East, Manufacturers Boulevard West and Fender Trail is expected to cost $2.7 million.

The grant, awarded in August, will save Brookhaven and Lincoln County about $1.25 million because the work desperately needed to be done, said Garrick Combs, executive director of the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Industrial Development Foundation and the Chamber of Commerce.

“That infrastructure was going to have to be repaired sooner or later,” he said last year. “It saved us $1.25 million on a project we were going to have to do, so that’s great news.”

The gap between the total project cost and the grant will be split between Brookhaven and Lincoln County.

The $775,000 road bond is the county’s share.

The Brookhaven Industrial Park houses several businesses with about 1,500 direct jobs and 340 commercial truckloads a day, he said.

Approximately 2.6 miles of industrial park access roads will be resurfaced with hot mix asphalt, said county engineer Ryan Holmes. The project will also include strengthening of roadway shoulders for truck parking.