Aug. 12—Lauderdale County supervisors are considering using some of the county's allotment of American Rescue Plan Act funds to address antiquated HVAC systems throughout county offices.

In a work session Thursday, the board of supervisors heard from Chad Moore, and engineer from Jackson, about what it would cost to upgrade the county's HVAC systems.

"We've talked a lot about ACs the last couple years, one of which being the animal control building that we need to make some decisions on, along with DHS and E911," County Administrator Chris Lafferty said. "I asked Chad to come explain that along with some alternatives. We need to get some things out to bid pretty quick if we're going to get these things going."

Starting with the Lauderdale County Animal Shelter, Moore gave the board a quick overview of the work each building would need to modernize the HVAC systems and give the county the climate control it needed.

LCAS, Moore said, had some design deficiencies that made it difficult to control the humidity and temperature in the animal holding area. Fixing those deficiencies, he said, would be a rather invasive process.

"This project is to address kind of the original design deficiencies so that we can actively control the temperature and humidity in the animal holding area of the facility," he said.

The project would entail taking out the ceilings in the building to remove and redo all of the current duct work, Moore said. With a large amount of work needed to address the issues, he said the cost would be about $400,000.

"And let me preface this by saying this is based on historical data that we have. All the pricing that I share with you today is based on historical data, but it's changing so fast out there right now in the bid market that I can't guarantee you that this is going to be an accurate number," he said.

At the Department of Human Services building, Moore said a complete system overhaul was needed. The current climate control system, he said, were the original equipment from when the building was constructed in the 1980s.

Moore said his plan would replace the current climate control system with a variable refrigerant system, which is extremely energy officiant. The county would also benefit from several local contractors who had the expertise and supplies needed to service the system should it ever break.

"A lot of contractors here locally have installed these and have experience with them," he said. "You'll be able to service and maintain them pretty well."

Moore estimated the cost for the new system would be about $1.6 million.

The DHS building also presents some logistical challenges, Moore said, as the building would likely need to stay open while the project was going on.

"It's going to be tearing ceilings down, working in offices basically everywhere in the building," he said. "How do we do that and keep the building in operation."

Moore suggested either doing the project is stages, such as floor by floor, or looking to temporarily relocate DHS staff while the work was being done. Having a plan for how the project will be done is crucial not only for the design, he said, but also for contractors to quote an accurate price.

"Those are things that need to be discussed on how we execute the project," he said.

The board reviewed additional HVAC projects in the Lauderdale County Agri-Center, at $80,000, and the county E911 building, another 80's holdover, at $500,000.

Beyond the cost of the projects, Moore said the county would also need to factor in excessive lead times for materials and contractors who are already inundated with school HVAC projects from previous pools of federal funds.

Moore suggested waiting a month or two before putting the projects out for bid to allow contractors more time to finish up their current projects and begin looking for new work. Regardless of when the project is bid, he said, it will still be close to a year before substantial work can begin.

"Some of this equipment has 50-week lead times. That's a year, and that's today," he said. "I couldn't tell you what it's going to be next week."

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