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When the office relocates to Pike County in October, that business will almost certainly go with it to McComb.
"It's convenient for the administrators of this office to have work done closely," Ball said.
MDWF&P had little choice but to leave Brookhaven after the Lincoln County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in January to let the department's lease on the county-owned headquarters building expire. Supervisors hope to reclaim and renovate the building on 304 South Second St. for use by the Lincoln County Tax Assessor's Office, which has outgrown its current space in the courthouse.
MDWF&P, meanwhile, is set to relocate to Percy Quin State Park, just south of McComb.
Lavelle Sullivan, owner of Brookhaven's Sullivan Ford-Lincoln-Mercury, said his business often wins the right to service the department's vehicles through the bidding process, adding his dealership would take a "substantial" loss in business if that work were to be henceforth done in McComb.
But Sullivan, who said he has been active in the community since opening the dealership in 1991, was not worried about his business alone.
"Any time you lose a business office like that, it's going to impact your local economy," he said. "Not just my business, but a whole lot of them. You can't put a dollar figure on it, but it brings people to Brookhaven to come to that office. Certainly, it will affect more than just Sullivan Ford. I think it impacts the local economy in more ways than the community can imagine."
Sullivan said he hopes the services his company has rendered to MDWF&P over the years have been of good enough quality that the department would continue to bring its vehicles to the dealership for repairs, but he is concerned about the approximately 25-mile distance from Brookhaven to the department's likely new home at Percy Quin.
"I hate the fact we're losing the district office to McComb," he said. "You would think they'd be able to find some viable office space somewhere here in the city or county."
Brookhaven Glass owner Glen Allred said his company also enjoyed MDWF&P's business when the department's vehicles were damaged. He's hoping the unique service his business offers will continue bringing the department's business to him, which he estimated at "several thousand dollars" annually.
"We're continuously working with them," Allred said. "Some of them still come here from other counties, so I would hope they would continue. But we don't need to lose anything - anything's a help."
Allred questioned the necessity of forcing MDWF&P out of town for the sake of office space, saying he believed there was enough space for county employees without having the cancel the department's lease. He wondered what would happen if other county agencies grew larger and needed to leave their offices in the Lincoln County-Brookhaven Government Complex.
"What are we going to do, board up the courthouse?" Allred said.
Richard Maxwell, owner of Richard's Paint and Auto Repair, was less worried. He said his shop worked only occasionally with MDWF&P.
"We've done some for them, and I enjoyed what I got from them, but it ain't gonna kill me if they don't, I guess," he said.
