Supervisors agreed Monday to send an architect to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks' District Five headquarters to compile an estimate of renovation costs and planned to request a MDWF&P official to review the project at the next board meeting on Monday, July 6.

If costs are manageable and the department agrees to the deal - which requires them to move into a smaller office space and pay double the current rent - supervisors will go forward with renovations and MDWF&P will cancel a planned relocation to Percy Quin State Park in McComb. But if the department rejects the deal or renovation costs are too high, supervisors will drop the proposal and efforts to keep MDWF&P in Brookhaven will likely end.

"If that became a cost problem for us, it might not work out," said District Four Supervisor Doug Moak. "We might could ask them if they'd consider staying until we get this worked out."

Supervisors plan to move the department into the rear half of the county-owned building at 304 South Second St. after renovations and relocate portions of the Lincoln County Tax Assessor's Office - which has outgrown its courthouse offices - into the more spacious front half. MDWF&P will have its monthly rent increased from $500 to $1,000 to help pay renovation costs as part of the deal.

The renovation plan was devised last Monday after weeks of public debate surrounding supervisors' January decision not to renew MDWF&P's lease on the building. Local merchants decried the decision, saying their businesses collected thousands of dollars from department officials and their guests, who come to Brookhaven from all over District Five's 12 counties.

Brookhaven Monument owner Dave Pace last month authored a petition calling for supervisors to reverse their decision. Pace presented the final copies of the petition Monday, saying he had gathered 1,150 signatures.

Renovations will be expensive, supervisors said up front, but new money worries arose Monday when county assessor Leon Perry reported 90 percent of the building's interior walls are masonry. Though it is unclear if all the walls are load bearing, the concrete structures will make renovations more difficult and possibly more expensive.

"It is gonna make it challenging to tear them out," said county engineer Ryan Holmes, a civil engineer with Dungan Engineering PA. "You could probably tear some of them out and put in columns, but it would be tough."

If MDWF&P accepts the deal and renovations are scheduled, the building known as the courthouse annex will undergo several changes.

Plans call for approximately 2,200 square feet of space in the rear half of the building to be renovated for MDWF&P and roughly 3,500 square feet in the front to be refurbished for the tax office. Additionally, supervisors plan to enclose 966 square feet of courtyard on the building's south side and also take in a 368 square-foot strip on the north side. A drive-through window for the tax office will also be installed.

Lincoln County Tax Assessor/Collector Nancy Jordan agreed Monday that her office would be accommodated by the renovation plans, but the board said it needed input from MDWF&P.

"The two most important parties need to sit down at the table," said board attorney Bob Allen. "There's a cut-off point for them space-wise, there's a cut-off point for you (supervisors) money-wise. You've got to have some kind of ballpark figure. Is it cheaper to just level it and start from scratch?"

MDWF&P officials could not be reached for comment.

District Three Supervisor Nolan Williamson said regardless of MDWF&P's future in Brookhaven, the building in question would have to be fully renovated for future purposes.