Pearl River County’s Board of Supervisors discussed the need to conduct costly repairs to the Pearl River County Health Department’s heating and cooling system during Wednesday’s meeting.

The Carriere building’s chiller system has stopped working and will be expensive to fix, said County Administrator Adrain Lumpkin. Air conditioning has stopped working entirely and heat only works a little.
The building is being used frequently as a location for free drive-thru COVID-19 testing.

The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors declared the situation an emergency, and will get emergency quotes for the repairs.

Construction on a new county building is underway at the corner of Julia Street and West Pearl in Poplarville.

The new county administration building is being constructed next door to the Board of Supervisors meeting building, across the street from the county courthouse. The building will hold the offices for the county administrator, county payroll and the Mapping Department.

The project will probably take six months to complete and is being constructed using county funds, said Lumpkin. The county is using in-house labor for much of the work.

On Wednesday, the Board of Supervisors approved some of the initial payments for plumbing, concrete, termite treatment, concrete pumping and concrete finishing. The Board acknowledged checks for $8,703 for work on the building to various contractors. The Board also acknowledged purchase orders for $21,251 for a framing package and $5,436 for windows, both to Wheat’s Home & Building Center. A purchase order for concrete has been issued to Huey P. Stockstill at a rate of $113 per cubic yard.