A project to make restrooms at the county’s homeless shelter more accessible to those with disabilities is moving forward after supervisors voted 5-0 Monday to award the project to the lowest and best bidder.

D&E Construction was the sole bidder for the project at a cost of $403,800.

The renovations planned at the Frances W. Davidson Memorial Center for Homelessness, more commonly referred to as the Mt. Barton homeless shelter, will include building new, handicap accessible restrooms in the men’s and women’s dormitories, as well as renovating existing restrooms to be more accessible to those with disabilities.

The Board of Supervisors in March were forced to rebid the project after only receiving one bid. Due to rules surrounding the Community Development Block Grants, which is how the county is funding the project, projects receiving only one initial bid must be put out for bid a second time. If again only one bid is received, that bid can then be accepted.

Liz Dudley of Engineering Plus said the bid package also included several alternates to help manage costs if needed. Taking the alternates will only add new restrooms to the project, cutting out the remodel portion of the work. The three alternates give supervisors the option of reducing the cost of the project by $21,000, $23,000 and $24,000 respectively.

Regardless of alternates, she said, the county will need to come up with some additional funding to move forward with the work.

Lauderdale County’s CDBG grant will cover up to $137,493, with a required match from the county bringing the total grant up to $249,195, Dudley said. CDBG grants can be more, but the county applied for what it thought was needed when the project first started in 2021, she said.

It will be up to the county to come up with the difference between what was awarded and the cost of the project.

In a work session Thursday, Supervisor Joe Norwood Sr., whose district includes Mt. Barton, said he is ready to move forward with the project. Although the cost is higher than originally anticipated, he said it is likely the price will only increase down the line.

County Administrator Chris Lafferty said Monday his suggestion is to use some of the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds. A project to install water and sewer lines along Jimmy Rodgers Parkway came in under budget, he said, and the leftover funds can easily be redirected to the Mt. Barton project.

In other business, the county will:

— Send eight road department employees to truck driving school at Meridian Community College at a cost of $3,200 per student.

— Begin work on Murphy Road bridge after supervisors awarded the project to R&J Construction at a cost of $602,598.24. Road Manager Rush Mayatt said his department has some fencing work to do prior to the contractor arriving, and crews will get to work as soon as possible.