Supervisors decided Monday to reject all previous bids on the Adams County Courthouse renovation because the bids all came in far above the architect estimate.

Local architect Johnny Waycaster of Waycaster & Associates met with supervisors to discuss options after opening disappointing bid packets for the job. The bids were almost double Waycaster’s $257,000 estimate.

Innovative Construction Company Inc. of Crystal Springs submitted the lowest base bid of $417,000 and the lowest number of days to complete the project at 180 calendar days.

&uot;With project deductions, that brings it to $352,000,&uot; said Waycaster. &uot;We’re still 80,000 to 100,000 over our estimate.&uot;

Harold West Contractors of Laurel had the next lowest bid of $478,800.

The highest of the three bidders was Edgin Construction Company of Natchez with a base bid of $557,500.

Waycaster told supervisors there were two routes they could take in responding to the bids. The first was to award the lowest base bid with the deductions.

The alternative, which supervisors supported, was to reject all bids, restructure the project and rebid it.

Waycaster told supervisors they could save money by &uot;breaking out trades&uot; or specific work like painting, metal work, and flooring.

In the end, Supervisor Darryl Grennell led the vote to reject all bids and have Waycaster go back to the drawing board to break out the large ticket items into separate bids.