Lincoln County supervisors and Brookhaven aldermen are on theverge of finalizing a joint resolution that will allow a localtrucking and warehousing company to move into the speculativebuilding on Manufacturer’s Boulevard, ending a 10-year headache oftesting, cleaning and waiting at the always-vacant industrialsite.

Both boards approved their halves of the resolution Tuesday.Brookhaven City Clerk Mike Jinks said Wednesday the two governmentsare ready to offer a lengthy lease agreement to Bert Carollo, ownerof Sola Fide Inc., who has worked and invested alongside localleaders to prepare the 50,000 square-foot spec building foryears.

“It’s been a six-year project and we’re excited,” Carollo said.”It’s just taken some time, been a lengthy project, but it’sfinally coming to a good close.”

The occupation of the spec building by a productive industrylike Sola Fide Inc. – which has done well weathering the economicrecession – is a magnificent change of pace for city and countyofficials, who have watched the approximately $340,000 building situnoccupied since its construction in the late 1990s after the sitewas found to be contaminated with dioxins in 1999.

Testing and cleanup efforts by the Mississippi Department ofEnvironmental Quality finally ended with the department grantingapproval for further construction in late 2007, and the cityrecently completed work on the building with a $250,000 grant fromthe Mississippi Development Authority.

Now, Jinks said Carollo has only to pay a $77,000 cost overrunfor the city’s work and he will be offered a 10-year lease for$3,000 per month with a buyout option at the end of the agreement.The monthly rate will be split evenly between the city andcounty.

Carollo said he and his 20 employees are ready to move theiroperation into the spec building and leave behind their confiningfacility on Old Highway 51. He said the spec building will offerhis company an additional 5,000 square feet of storage space.

“As soon as (the lease agreement) is done we’ll be moving intothe building,” Carollo said. “It’s an upgrade for us, a more modernfacility. The building is designed differently from what we use now- it has higher ceilings – so it will allow us multi-levelstorage.”

Carollo said he doubled his employee base four years ago inanticipation of moving into the spec building and has been forcedto turn down storage contracts because his current facility’s lackof room. He said his company has maintained “fairly constant”business throughout the economic downturn, and he expects contractsto pick up again once the economy improves. He’ll need the specbuilding’s extra space to do it.

“The only way to grow is to add more space,” Carollo said.

Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce Executive VicePresident Cliff Brumfield said although the spec building groundsare now clean and pose no health threat, some industries wouldstill be wary of moving to the site of past contamination. He isthankful that Carollo stuck it out while problems at the site werecorrected.

“Another positive is the fact that he is able to utilize thisfacility without reservation,” Brumfield said. “Although thebuilding is clear, not every industry or would-be occupant would becomfortable with that. Mr. Bert Carollo has shown interest in thebuilding for a number of years … while also making improvementsto the building at his own expense.”

Lincoln County Chancery Clerk Tillmon Bishop, who served as thechamber’s executive VP when the spec building was planned andbuilt, said Sola Fide Inc. would be paired well with its new home.He pointed out the county’s half of the $3,000 monthly paymentswould cover the costs of a spec building loan supervisors are stillpaying, and if Carollo chooses to buy the building in 10 years,most of the county’s input costs will be recouped.

“It’s a building made for what (Carollo) is gonna use it for andit will take some budget stress off both the city and the county,”he said. “Sometimes the best of ideas don’t work out right off thebat, but you always like to see ’em turn out for the best, and Ithink that’s where this one is headed.”