Construction sounds will change from hammers to trowels soon ascrews complete roof and vestibule renovations and begin work onflooring at the Brookhaven-Lincoln County Government Complex.

The new roof was installed before Christmas and crews have beenworking steadily to finish aesthetic work in the past few weeks,said David Fields, county administrator. Crews have been trimmingthe roof with steel to improve its appearance.

Chris Smith of Smith Painting, a subcontractor on thevestibules, said electricians and others will be arriving this weekto complete work there.

A second set of doors has been added to create the vestibule tohelp control heating and cooling costs within the complex, Fieldssaid. Two sets of doors allow less air to escape as people enterand leave the building.

“Once they’re done with that, we’ll start on the flooring,” hesaid.

All of the carpeting in the hallways is at least 25 years oldand needs to be replaced, Fields said. In addition, city officialshave requested to have their offices’ carpeting replaced withtile.

“We’re certainly going to try to take care of that if we can,”he said.

Fields said he is presently coordinating with city officials onthe type and color of tiles they would like to use.

“I’d like to have had new flooring throughout the courthouse,but we don’t have enough money to do that,” he said.

The renovations at the government complex are being funded by anapproximately $500,000 grant through the Department of Housing andUrban Development. Fields said he credits Sens. Thad Cochran andTrent Lott with securing the grant.

Although the grant funding is not sufficient to fully installnew flooring throughout the government complex, Fields said hebelieves there may be some money left over after the target areasare complete.

“I’m hoping to have enough left to do some aesthetic landscapingand other beautification projects,” he said.