NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County supervisors on Monday reiterated the need to meet with Natchez officials to discuss how to continue their cooperatives for fighting fires, running E911 operations and managing Natchez-Adams County pool.
County and city officials have been stalemated for many months on renewing compacts they’ve had for years that include the county paying the city for the Natchez Fire Department to respond to calls out in the county.
“You can see how hard it is to get all on one accord,” Adams County Supervisor Warren Gaines said of the protracted impasse concerning fire protection and E911 operations.
The county Board of Supervisors and city officials have been “on two different pages,” said Supervisor Ricky Gray, who pointed to financial discrepancies that need to be reconciled for sharing expenses before agreements can be reached. “You can’t do that unless the numbers are right,” he said.
Adams County supervisors, Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson and city aldermen have for months mentioned the need to jointly meet and discuss how to reach accords, but they’ve not come together yet. A joint meeting of the two boards and mayor was recently canceled because of scheduling conflicts.
City officials say they have a fire-fighting arrangement drafted to renew the compact Natchez-Adams County has had since 1994 for the NFD to respond to fires outside the city. The county board has been paying the city annually about $800,000 in recent years for the NFD’s service. With Adams County only having a volunteer fire department, residents outside Natchez rely mostly on city firefighters.
Since the long-term contract expired last year, the county has been paying the city on a month-to-month basis. While no fire compact has been finalized, the city and county boards did recently collaborate to purchase a fire truck the NFD has ordered costing about $900,000.
A separate proposal has been drafted for the city and county officials to continue the emergency-dispatching operations they’ve jointly operated and funded since 2017. Adams County supervisors have advanced plans to move the E911 call center from the county jail to a building they bought off Liberty Road. However, city officials have not officially agreed to that new location. The county jail has been plagued for several years by structural problems.
It’s been costing about $600,000 a year to operate the local 911 service, with Adams County and Natchez jointly paying the expenses.
In April, E911 operators fielded 1,008 calls for the Natchez Police Department, 451 for the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and 23 for the Natchez Fire Department (with 20 of those from outside the city), according to a report presented to the Board of Supervisors.
Among recent E911 calls was from Sim Mosby, who angrily complained Monday to supervisors about the emergency-dispatching operations. He said cops didn’t promptly respond to his E911 call for helping move another motorist’s stalled vehicle on U.S. 61. In response, Sheriff Travis Patten told supervisors his deputies were busy at the time and were told Mosby was able to assist the stranded motorist with others without law officers’ assistance.
Also being worked out is a new arrangement for the city and county to operate the community pool and soccer field. A drafted agreement has the county operating the public pool with a three-member commission overseeing it and the city recreation department managing the nearby soccer field.
Supervisors agreed Monday to open the Natchez-Adams County aquatic center May 25 for the summer season. However, city aldermen will have to agree to make the pool opening official.
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