Progress could soon be made on the new proposed Lafayette County Office Park on County Road 406.

During their meeting last week, the Board of Supervisors authorized advertising for bids for a grading project  on County Road 406 to do site work.

County Engineer Larry Britt explained that he wants to “get a head of the game” and needed authorization to bid the project and authorization to sign the stormwater permit application.

Oxford city officials are currently reviewing the plans, which include a municipal court facility, as well as a multi-purpose building. County offices that will be relocated to the site due to the Mississippi Department of Transportation recently purchasing county owned property for the widening of Highway 7.

“That keeps the ball rolling,” Britt said. “We submitted to the city and we can probably be bidding while they’re reviewing. And in order to get anything bid, I’ve got to get the (stormwater) plan sent off to Jackson.”

Site work and construction cannot begin until that application has been filed with the state health department.

Supervisors also must find a bidder to remove the trees on the site before work can begin. The idea of mulching the timber instead of hauling the trees off or burning them on site was brought up and using the mulch as a secondary purpose for landscaping.

Britt said some companies may bid low on the project because they want to haul the timber off and sell it to cover some of their cost.

The board preferred the timber be mulched or hauled to an approved site rather than burned due to the smoke issue it could present in the area.

The board also held a public hearing on amendments to subdivision regulations and afterwards, Supervisor Kevin Frye made a motion to adopt the regulation changes and table the water system rules “to give us a little more time” and come back to the board with a full proposal. Frye and Supervisor Chad McLarty are hammering out a portion of the regulation dealing with fire flow in the water system, which deals with the amount of water pressure needed to fight a fire.