Key officials gathered at the Brookhaven Boys and Girls Clubbuilding on Second Street Friday to decide how best to spend a$350,000 grant that falls far short of needed funding.

“We’ll look at a couple of options and price it out,” saidMichael Boerner, architect for the renovation project.

Replacing the roof is the organization’s first priority, saidBobby Bell, chairman of the Boys and Girls Club board ofdirectors.

“The roof is gone,” he said. “It’s been gone for years.”

Any leftover monies – if there are any – will be used to addressother needs, he said. Those needs runs the gamut from mold on thewalls of the computer room to new flooring to repairing damagecaused by the water leaks when it rains.

Club officers also hope to add four classrooms inside theactivity room at the rear of the building.

“It’s an old building and it’s needed something done for a longtime,” said Chancery Clerk Tillmon Bishop. “It’s going to rotcompletely if we don’t do something.”

Boerner said engineers will work in the building this week todetermine the best approach to replacing the roof.

“There’s no telling what that roof is liable to cost. That’s theunknown,” said Woody Sample, a county consultant who helped thesecure the grant from the Housing and Urban DevelopmentDepartment’s Neighborhood Initiative Grant program.

The grant was secured approximately two years ago after countyofficials made a trip to Washington, D.C., to share their concernswith U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, who was chairman of the SenateAppropriations Committee at the time.

“These are special appropriation funds obtained by the board andTillmon (Bishop), who specifically asked for funding for thisproject,” Sample said. “These monies are hard to get. They werevery fortunate to get it.”

Club officials elected to hold onto the grant money for a timeto see if they could find additional funding for the project, Bellsaid.

“We’ve put this off for a year to try to get another $350,000,”he said. “It was a chance we took that didn’t pan out. We’re goingto go as far as the money will allow us to go.”

District One Supervisor the Rev. Jerry Wilson said the countywould continue to pursue funding the project.

“It’s going to get used,” he said of the building. “I watch thekids come here every single day.”

Bell said the center averages 75-80 students a day between theages of 5 and 14 for its afterschool programs, which includetutoring.