Adams County supervisors started their first meeting of the millennium with necessary housekeeping duties. Chancery Clerk Tommy O’Beirne called the meeting to order Tuesday morning and presided over the election of Virginia Salmon to another year as president of the board.

Nominated by Sammy Cauthen, Salmon will hold the gavel another year through the votes of Cauthen, herself and new supervisor Lynwood Easterling.

Supervisor Darryl Grennell was also nominated by Supervisor Thomas &uot;Boo&uot; Campbell, gathering those two votes.

Cauthen was elected as vice president for the board.

At the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting, board attorney Marion Smith was seated in the unfamiliar territory of the gallery until his reappointment as board attorney. Jim Marlow was reappointed board engineer.

In board business, Janet McNeely, director of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, requested an additional $1,000 per year.

&uot;My expenses in maintaining the Senior Citizens Multi-Purpose Center have gone way up,&uot; McNeely said.

Current funding from the county amounts to $2,000 per year. With the increase, McNeely said she would be able to meet expenses.

A separate request for funding is being submitted to the city, McNeely said.

&uot;That money will go to cover increases in administrative costs,&uot; she said.

Walter Brown, attorney for the board of trustees for Natchez Regional Medical Center, requested a tax-exemption on the lease/purchase of a nuclear medicine gamma camera for the hospital radiology department. The tax exemption, which supervisors approved, enables the hospital to secure a lower interest rate on bond issue, Brown said.

The terms for this bond issue will be $385,000 at 5.29 percent over 5 years.

Easterling’s first motion as supervisor was to request that supervisor’s meetings open with prayer by various ministers from around the county. His motion was approved.

Clint Pomeroy reported that renovations at the Natchez Airport are going very slowly, but airport traffic has been up considerably due to attorney traffic in and out of Fayette for the Phen-fen trial.

County Road Manager Russell Dorris reported excessive litter from the holidays.

&uot;Litter has overtaken us while we were gone for the holidays,&uot; Dorris said.

Work crews would be out in force to rein in the additional trash, he said.

The board approved the request of George Souderes, director of Adams County Civil Defense, for two members of the county maintenance crew to train on maintenance of specialized fire vehicles.

Adams County owns four of the water shuttle vehicles that maintenance personnel would be trained to repair – two at Lake Montrose Volunteer Fire Department, one at the Liberty Road Volunteer Fire Department and another at the Kingston Volunteer Fire Department.