For everyone who thought the Jones County Department of Human Services saga involving the County Supervisors and City of Laurel had come to an end, consider this popular American proverb: “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings!”

The fat lady apparently hasn’t sung for the DHS building. Although in early October the Jones County Board of Supervisors said their vote to build the new DHS building in Ellisvile was final, on Monday they agreed to try again for a Laurel location.

The decision came after Board President Andy Dial recognized the presence of Laurel City Councilman Trey Chinn of Ward Seven and stated the City of Laurel has proposed a resolution that will give the county property behind Fred’s in Downtown Laurel for the construction of the new facility.

“I am prepared to offer a resolution stating that we are conveying property to DHS building tomorrow at the City Council meeting,” Chinn said. “I will add the item to tomorrow’s agenda.”

The City Council meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. Chinn said he expects to receive the votes needed to OK the construction of the DHS building on a portion of the parking lot behind Fred’s.

Dial informed supervisors that he thought Laurel officials would have the resolution prepared and ready to present at Monday’s board meeting. Since a formal resolution was not ready to present to the Board of Supervisors, Dial asked Chinn to explain what the City of Laurel is proposing.

“The City of Laurel is offering the parking lot behind Fred’s in its entirety,” said Chinn. “The only thing we ask is that you leave some parking space for Fred’s customers.”

Dial then asked County Engineer Ronnie Clark if he thought the property behind Fred’s would be feasible for the DHS project. Clark said he sees no reason why it wouldn’t work.

“We need to measure things up and see what makes it adequate when the Wallace (Drugs) property was not,” said Clark. “At the peak time, DHS needs at least 120 parking spaces.”

Without measuring the property, Clark said it looks like it would be able to meet those specifications. However, he would measure the area and get the information back to the board by Wednesday or Thursday.

Clark added that with the property behind Fred’s the county would not have to do any drainage work like it would have had to on the Wallace Drugs property. The parking lot is already paved and the county won’t have to take on the expense of building storm water retention.

Clark also said that if all goes well and the city does give the county the property behind Fred’s it would mean the DHS building would have to become a multiple story facility. When asked how much additional expenses the county would acquire, Clark said the only additional expense would be the cost of an elevator.

“And if you go two or three stories, the cost of the elevator won’t change,” he said.

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

Many Laurel residents have voiced concerns that moving DHS to Ellisville would cause a hardship on the majority of those who use the facility.

Concerned about wasting more time and perhaps jeopardizing the $600,000 grant for the project, Supervisors Barry Saul of District Three and Danny Roy Spradley of District Two voted in opposition of any consideration of constructing the DHS building in Laurel.

“I don’t think it makes sense to keep delaying this thing,” said Saul. “We’ve been working on this since 2005, before Hurricane Katrina and we need to go ahead and do something.

“I don’t think transportation is an issue, especially here in 2009, going on 2010. I think the main thing is Laurel wants to stay in the running for this building. But I’m afraid we are going to lose that grant money if we don’t do something now. We’ve already had one deadline to pass and we had to ask for an extension.”

Spradley refused to comment.

When all was said and done, Saul, of District Four, and Supervisors Jerome Wyatt of District Five and Johnny Burnett of District One, voted to build the new DHS building on the two lots behind Fred’s if the city follows through and approves Chinn’s resolution at today’s City Council meeting. If the resolution is not approved, the board will go ahead with plans to locate DHS on property the county has already purchased on Highway 11 near the Jones County Health Department.

“The clients ought to be the primary issue,” said Wyatt. “We need to locate the building in area that would not make transportation an issue.”

In other action, the board voted to grant the proposed new owners of the Home Cable Entertainment, Clark Mobile Homes of Laurel, a franchise to operate a cable company and serve in Jones County. The supervisors anticipate that the Home Cable property will be sold to Clark Mobile Homes on Nov. 6. It is the only company that has made a serious inquiry about the property.

The supervisor’s decision to sell the property comes after years of failed attempts to get property owner Leland Dennison of Walker, La. to address customer concerns. In addition the company was not licensed to operate in Jones County and owed thousands in taxes.

According to Burnett, the company, which is in his district, hasn’t paid any taxes since 1989. In a review of the company’s business records dating back to 2001, the Jones County Tax Assessor’s office discovered that Dennison owes the county about $19,000 in taxes. No one is certain of the amount owed the county in commissions, but Burnett estimated that the company collects from $4,000 to $5,000 a month.

Home Cable served about 114 homes in Jones County.