JONESVILLE, La. – The owners of Mardy’s Contracting are considering a building in Jonesville as their new location, town and Mardy’s officials confirmed this week.

On July 26, the building the company was leasing on First Street in Ferriday – a building owned by the Town of Ferriday – was destroyed by fire. Since then, co-owners Martha Whatley and Judy Cooper have done limited work in a shed at Whatley’s house.

So Whatley and Cooper are now considering leasing from the Town of Jonesville a 5,000-square-foot building next to the former Garan building on Fourth Street. Jonesville officials will hold a public hearing on the lease Sept. 11 at Town Hall.

&uot;We’re seriously looking at moving. We haven’t found anything here,&uot; Whatley said, referring to industrial buildings in the Ferriday area.

Mardy’s, which employed about 20 people at the time of the fire, would employ about 10 to 12 people in Jonesville at first, said Mayor Billy Edwards.

The proposed Jonesville location is ideal because it has plenty of storage space for the company’s supplies, Edwards said.

Mardy’s was first located in a small building on Louisiana Avenue.

The Town of Ferriday then received a $124,000 state grant and $15,000 grant from Entergy late last year to renovate the Serio Building on First Street to house the company.

Meanwhile, Ferriday Mayor Glen McGlothin has said the town will relocate its fire station to the Serio Building site from its current Tennessee Avenue location. &uot;We’ve applied for grants, but we haven’t gotten anything yet,&uot;&160;McGlothin said.

The site already belongs to the town and is a more central location than the current fire station, he said.