The Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors will soon accept bids for lease properties that meet the requirements for a temporary Lauderdale County Courthouse.

This comes about a month after the board approved a non-binding concept of relocating courthouse operations to the 82,000-square-foot JC Penney building at Bonita Lakes mall for a period of two to three years.

Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to advertise for bids after they learned it was a statutory requirement.

“We’re just dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s,” said board attorney Lee Thaggard, who added that the process will allow all interested parties to submit a bid.

The tentative plan was to have operations up and running at the J.C. Penney building at Bonita Lakes mall on March 1.

After approving the concept, Yates Construction, LPK Architects, P.A., and Thaggard planned to move forward to review details, the most important being the exact cost of renting the property.

Although the cost has since been obtained, the building’s owner will be required to formally submit a bid for review.

Bob Luke of LPK Architects said the bid process doesn’t necessarily change the plan, as it is “more of a fail-safe.”

Luke plans to have a recommendation within the next several weeks and allow the board to make “an informed decision.”

Luke also expects to have an answer on the availability of the federal courthouse building at that point.

“What we’re trying to do is put together a decision-making matrix that will show us what is the most cost-effective — and then what the variables are,” Luke said.

At last month’s meeting, Luke and Justin McDonald of Yates Construction suggested preparations be made to have the county operations up and running by March 1.

McDonald said J.C. Penney was at the top of a short list made after inspecting a number of properties in Lauderdale County.

The building, McDonald said, meets the county’s minimum need of 81,000 square feet for the temporary relocation.

Criteria considered in choosing the building include the neighborhood, functionality, secured parking and operating costs.

The board also approved the advertisement of bids for a long-term document storage facility and for the disposal of Lauderdale County surplus property on multiple floors of the courthouse annex.

In other action, District 2 Supervisor Wayman Newell was named president of the board, and District 1 Supervisor Jonathan Wells was named vice president. County Administrator Chris Lafferty and County Road Manager Rush Mayatt were reappointed to their respective positions.

Pat Jordan was hired as a contract Justice Court Public Defender for $1,500 per month, while Dustin Markham was hired as as contract Justice Court Public Defender at the pay rate of $1,000 per month.

Tommy Jackson and Ryan Brown were appointed to four-year terms on the Ag Center Advisory Board.