Supervisors seek to deal with issues at county-owned buildings

The Franklin County Board of Supervisors is looking to address concerns related to two publicly owned buildings in the near future.

During the panel’s last business meeting on Monday, Aug. 15, board attorney Morgan Halford Poore said quotes are currently being drafted to spruce up the exterior of the building at the corner of Main and Walnut streets in Meadville housing the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the Franklin County Museum.

This comes on the heels of the completion of repairs — totaling $80,740 — to a perpetually leaking flat roof that had caused considerable damage to ceilings, walls and flooring inside that building.

The board contracted with Independent Roofing on Dec. 20, 2021, to tackle the project that required addressing ineffective flashing, low spots that held a great deal of water after each rainfall event and rotten wooden materials.

“There has been talk for years and years about painting that particular building,” Bill Halford, who also serves as board attorney, said during the discussion. “But, the thought was that there was no need to paint it with the roof being in the shape that it was.”

Halford Poore said the building, which is directly across the street from the courthouse, is easily one of the most recognizable buildings in the area and the county desires to improve the structure’s overall appearance.

“There are a lot of improvements going on in downtown Meadville right now with the renovations to the bank and others working on their buildings, and this would help show the county stands with those trying to make things better,” she went on to say.

Board President Jimmie “Bodi” Bass, who represents District 5 on the panel, agreed and noted the building serves as a backdrop for one of three stages for the annual Homochitto River Festival, which attracts thousands to the area for the day-long event featuring music, activities along with arts and crafts vendors.

“I don’t think everything we might want to do could be completed by this year’s festival (which will be held on Saturday, Oct. 22), but it would be something that would look great for the future,” Bass said.

“There are a lot of other places that have taken buildings like this and painted a mural on them that says something about the area.”

Halford said the county might want to look at attempting to get a pleasing base coat on the building before the festival and look at more intricate designs after the fall event to show that progress is at least being made.

District 2 Supervisor Henry “Eddie” Stebbins said communities of various sizes like Fayette in neighboring Jefferson County as well as larger cities in other parts of the Magnolia State like Canton and Laurel have used public art displays to make their streetscapes more attractive.

Bass then brought up the inside of the Meadville building – in light of the damage caused by the leaking roof and said the county was going to have to try to address things like damaged and discolored ceiling tiles, warped paneling and stained carpeting or loose floor tiles.

“The water pretty much got in everywhere and that’s going to involve doing things like taking down some paneling to see how much damage was done and hopefully prevent or address any mold concerns,” Stebbins said.

“I, for one, don’t want to just do the roof without addressing the inside part,” Bass said.

“We’ve talked a lot in the past year about making sure we do what is necessary to fix the problems there, and we still have work to do.”

District 4 Supervisor Pat Larkin also pointed out during the session that work still needs to be undertaken to get stormwater runoff away from around the perimeter of the Mississippi Department of Human Services building in Bude and to address lingering termite issues there.

“If we don’t move the water away from the building and address the termites once and for all, then nothing is going to fix the problems we have there,” Larkin said.

“As important as it was to fix that roof across the street, we have got to do something on this problem, too.”

Talks progressed in the meeting as to how supervisors might “ditch” the water away from the structure, but noted the property — part of a former sawmill site — could potentially have concrete below the topsoil that might damage county equipment if digging were to proceed without some prior investigation.

Supervisors noted they might try to rake back the topsoil using heavy equipment to get a better picture of what might be buried on site before any actual trenching were to take place.

In addition, Chancery Clerk Jill Jordan Gilbert said the variety of termites that have been found in the building in the last two years have been connected with the standing water at the location — making any drainage work that much more important.

The county is expected to investigate the extent of termite damage as part of its overall assessment of the building situation in Bude.