Repairs, upgrades, claims fill Jones Co. Board of Supervisors agenda

LAUREL, Miss. (WDAM) - Bridge repairs, HVAC upgrades and MEMA claims filled Monday’s Jones County Board of Supervisors meeting agenda.

The board voted to approve emergency repairs on a bridge at Old Hwy 15 Road near Spur Line Road. According to Beat 4 Supervisor David Scruggs, the bridge’s headwall is failing. He said repairing just the headwall without replacing the pilings would cost around $20,000 and around $85,000 to replace everything.

Scruggs said the county could use six pilings Beat 4 had left over from a previous bridge project to help cut costs, cutting the total pilings needed from 16 to 10. To further cut costs, Beat 2 Supervisor T. Larry Dykes offered an additional 10 pilings from the 12 leftover in his district.

The board voted to approve both repairing the headwall and driving new pilings.

Later in the meeting, the board also voted to approve a bid from Hanco Corp. in Hattiesburg to upgrade the HVAC system at the Jone County Courthouse in Ellisville.

The bid came in at $1,543,000. According to the Jones County Engineer’s report to the board, around $1,463,000 of these expenses should be eligible for funding through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The county would be responsible for covering the additional $80,000. These other expenses include new lighting on the second floor - which Mississippi History & Archives requires to match existing fixtures - and the addition of a ladder from the third-floor balcony to the attic space.

Hanco Corp. would have 100 days to complete the work from when Jones County issues a “Notice to Proceed” once the new HVAC units are delivered.

Next, the board discussed MEMA claims for weather damage incurred from June 14-19. None of the supervisors had a claim ready to submit at Monday’s meeting, but they voted for any supervisor with expenses in their beat to move forward with compiling a claim. The minimum threshold for applicable costs is $3,800.

The next Jones County Supervisor meeting will be at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, October 2, at the Jones County Courthouse in Laurel.

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