DHS out of Laurel

Supervisors decide on Highway 11 location

By Charlotte A. Graham, countyreporter@laurelleadercall.com

The decision is in.

The new Jones County Department of Human Services building will be located on Highway 11 near Ellisville.

During Monday’s board meeting District Three Supervisor Barry Saul made a motion that the supervisors “make the No. 1, primary site (for the DHS building), the property we have on Highway 11.” Beat Five Supervisor Jerome Wyatt seconded, with the motion passing with no opposition.

The Highway 11 site is one of three sites the supervisors were considering for the location of the building. The other two sites are located in Downtown Laurel.

One site is property on North Magnolia Street, which was offered by Laurel Pharmacist William E. “Bill” Wallace. Wallace, owner of Wallace Discount Drugs in Laurel, proposed to donate the property across the street from his business. He decided to make the offer after hearing and reading about the various concerns of city and county leaders, as well as area residents.

“I have this building in downtown that is basically my warehouse and the only thing I have in there are things we moved from our old building when we relocated here in 1984,” Wallace said in an earlier interview. “Since I have no other plans for it, I thought I would give it to them to eliminate some of the hassle.”

Last week Board President Andy Dial said the supervisors would get County Engineer Ronnie Clark to look at the property to see if it was feasible for the project. Clark presented the results of the property survey to the supervisors at Monday’s meeting.

“We’ve always stated that we need from two to three acres in order to have room for any future expansion and enough parking space,” said Clark. “It is not feasible to develop this project on (Wallace’s) property.”

Clark said he discovered that Wallace owned only a portion of the property he was proposing. His brother, John, owned the other piece and the two had apparently agreed to the donation.

“Both parcels were surveyed and this irregular shaped property is only 1.09 acres,” explained Clark. “If the county was also come in and acquire the upholstery business’ property that is next to this property, it would then be 1.39 acres. That’s less than an acre and a half.”

Clark said he could make it work, but there would only be enough room for 50 parking spaces, rather than the 100 or more recommended by DHS administrators. Also, instead of a one-story building, it would have to be a two or three-story building.

“Once you get over two stories, you have to go with elevators,” Clark continued. “A three-story doesn’t frighten me, but the cost of the building will increase with the additional stories and elevator.”

County officials have proposed to construct a 20,000 to 21,000-square-foot building. The estimated cost of the construction is about $3 million. The county has received a $600,000 Community Development Block Grant for the construction of the proposed building.

Wyatt said the board appreciates Wallace’s offer. He also noted that the supervisors were looking at ways to keep DHS in Laurel, but there are too many restrictions with the Wallace property.

“There are cost restrictions, size restrictions and other obstacles,” said Wyatt. “I’m willing to concur with the cost, but how can you make more land there. You just can’t do that.”

But the City of Laurel was in the process of negotiating with supervisors to construct the DHS building in Laurel. The initial site — selected by the supervisors — was the parking lot behind the Kress Building. Those plans were met with opposition from area business owners who feared locating the building on the site would result in parking problems and an unsafe environment for customers.

Although they have gone on record in favor of locating the DHS building in Laurel, city officials have expressed concern about the supervisor’s unwillingness to pay for the property or give the city any type of concessions. Last week, city officials said they were waiting for the supervisors to present an official request for property.

Also last week, Board President Andy Dial said the supervisors would have the county engineer develop a request which would contain information about the amount of land needed and other specifications. He said they hoped to have something to present to city officials by Wednesday.

However, on Monday Dial said there are currently no plans to meet with city officials about the DHS building. “As far as I know, we are moving ahead with constructing the building on Highway 11,” he said.

Saul added: “It’s final; we’re done with it. We have been working on this project since Hurricane Katrina. It’s time to do something.

“We already have that property down there on Highway 11,” said Saul. “It’s time for us to go on and use it.”

In other action, the board of superiors accepted four laptop computers donated by State Auditor Stacey Pickering, who was on hand to present the computers to Jones County Fire Coordinator Dan McKenna and Jones County Fire Council President Anthony Jordan.

Pickering’s office is donating more than 100 used computers to volunteer fire departments around the state. He said his office receives computers from various state departments. His office upgrades the software and pass them on to the fire departments.

Pickering, a former Jones County volunteer fireman, said volunteer firefighters will be able to carry the laptops on the front line with them and pull up valuable information about what to do in any given situation. The computers can also be used to keep records or whatever is deemed necessary.

“You decide how you want to use them,” Pickering told McKenna. “You know who needs what.”

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