The Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors discussed an array of topics in a Thursday work session as county officials work on infrastructure projects, coordinate with movers and more.

Road Manager Rush Mayatt said he will be asking supervisors on Monday to accept a bid of $836,592.41 from MS J&M Inc. for the installation of two box culverts along Lizelia Road. J&M was the lowest of three bids received on the project, he said, and the only one under the engineering estimate of $1 million.

Mayatt said he will also be requesting to work off of the county right of way along Bogue Flower Road to pick up chicken fertilizer at no cost to the county. He said he had been contacted by a chicken farmer, who had large amounts of chicken fertilizer available several times per year. The farmer agreed to give the county the waste material.

“He doesn’t want anything for it,” he said. “If we had a use for it, basically, we could have it.”

Board approval is needed for work off of the county’s right of way as county resources are not supposed to be used for improvements to private property. Exceptions, however, can be made in instances where the work is necessary or beneficial to the county.

The fertilizer will be put to good use in the county’s industrial park, where there are several areas where grass is unable to grow. Putting down the material and hopefully getting some vegetation established along the bare slopes will help mitigate erosion and reduce silt and other material from clogging up the drainage infrastructure, Mayatt said.

“I don’t intend on using it elsewhere,” he said. “I literally plan on trucking it straight there.”

As the road department continues forward with its projects, other county departments are preparing to make the move to the new Lauderdale County Government Center, which is being built along 22nd Avenue.

County Administrator Chris Lafferty said he had been in touch with CSpire, a telecommunications company, about providing internet service to the new building, and the work should be done by Oct. 13. The first few departments to move will likely try to transition over to the new space a day or two before and have Oct. 13 be the government center’s first day of business.

The county, however, is running into some snags with furniture, Lafferty said. Several departments have decided they would prefer their old furniture to be moved into the new space instead of using the newly purchased desks and chairs.

Prior to ordering new furniture for the government building, county departments were asked to provide a list of any furniture in their current offices they would like moved to the new spot. At the time, there were only a few individuals who opted out of receiving new furnishings.

The change of heart, Lafferty said, leaves the county with about $15,000 of new furniture that will either be redirected to other departments, go to storage or be declared surplus and sold.

The other part of the equation is that the county has already paid for the furniture to be delivered and assembled in the new office space. While the county is hiring a moving company to do most of the heavy lifting, swapping furniture is not part of the contract and will likely require a change order increasing the cost of the move.

Supervisor Kyle Rutledge said he was getting exasperated by the number of changes the board has been asked to make. If departments want their old furniture, let them have it, he said. However, they will have to pay moving costs from their own budgets.

Another looming issue is the matter of parking and who will be allowed to park where. The new government building will have a gated employee parking area, with approximately 41 spots, 12 of which are covered. Additional parking will be available along the back of the building, in the front and on the side by the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department.

Board Attorney Lee Thaggard said judges and the district attorney will take up some of the covered spots. The board will have to decide how it wants to divide up the rest.

The new government building is almost complete, Supervisor Jonathan Wells said, and the county is starting to move from the needs part of the project to the wants. The board will have to decide where it wants to draw the line with further changes.

Supervisors are expected to discuss the matters further in their meeting at 9 a.m. Monday on the first floor of the Raymond P. Davis Annex building.