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They are unsure, however, if the existing structure can be renovated adequately or if it should simply be torn down and a new building constructed. The majority opinion on the board is to renovate the building and continue using it, while at least one supervisor is in favor of new construction.
Waycaster and Associates Architects owner Johnny Waycaster said his team would study the building and compare its qualities to the tax office's needs and supervisors' wishes, but warned the structure is "real close to the end of its useful life."
"The piece of dirt under it is probably better than the building sitting on it," he told supervisors Monday. "Concerns with that building would make it much more costly and difficult to make it much more than it is right now. I don't see it as the long-term solution to your problem."
District Two Supervisor Bobby J. Watts, who first posed the idea of new construction during last month's failed final effort to maintain the MDWF&P office in Brookhaven, said he would not vote for renovations. He contends the office building is so old and worn down that any further upgrades would be a waste of money.
"My thought is to demolish that building and build it back like it's supposed to be," Watts argued. "As low as construction prices are right now, if we're going to get a grant, let's get one for a new building."
Watts said the new building should be built three stories tall, with two levels completed and occupied and the third left bare but ready in case of future renovations. The bare floor could be used to store the tax office's many records, he said.
District Four Supervisor Doug Moak favors renovations, citing financial concerns amidst the current economy.
"I'd like to look for a short-term fix to get us going," he said. "I don't know if we're ready to jump in hands-down. Let's use what we've got. We're not going to be able to live in a perfect world for a while."
Lincoln County Tax Assessor/Collector Nancy Jordan asked Waycaster if a third floor could be built onto the Lincoln County-Brookhaven Government Complex, but he and supervisors said the structural work and costs necessary for such a plan would be too great.
"Since I went and looked at it, it's in worse shape than I ever thought," Jordan said of the Courthouse Annex.
The building has been used by MDWF&P since 1996, but that long tenure will end by Oct. 1 when the department moves its District Five headquarters - which serves 12 Southwest Mississippi counties - to McComb.
Wildlife officials made the decision to leave Brookhaven shortly after supervisors voted to cancel the department's lease on the Courthouse Annex in January, opting instead to pursue the plan to place the tax office in the building. Supervisors began negotiating a solution to keep MDWF&P in Brookhaven in June after backlash from the public, which included approximately 1,200 signatures to a petition calling on supervisors to reverse their January decision.
The negotiations failed and the department's departure was finalized in early July after demands and counter demands between MDWF&P and supervisors were incompatible. The wildlife department wanted to keep the building for five years at $500 per month, while supervisors wanted to cut the space in half and charge $1,000 monthly to help cut down on expected large renovation costs.
But large costs are likely to be incurred no matter the path chosen by supervisors. Constructing a new building will obviously be an expensive undertaking, but due to the fact most of the Courthouse Annex's interior walls are supporting walls, renovations, too will be costly - if not impossible.
Supervisors also want inside walls in the current tax office to be examined to see if they can be removed to make more room for the office's employees, but renovations to the existing office would still likely be only temporary. Lincoln County - and citizens' business in the tax office - has grown, causing the size of the tax office to expand beyond its walls.
"For right now, to get everybody out of a bind, cut a hole in that room and then get down there in that building," said District Three Supervisor Nolan Williamson.
