If last week is any indication, the future of economic development in Natchez and Adams County looks bright indeed.

The new, leaner, meaner board of the Natchez-Adams County Economic and Community Development Authority met with consultant John Lovorn this week to discuss what the group is looking for in its next executive director.

Lovorn has conducted some 150 similar searches, but the Natchez-Adams County search is different, he said. The EDA’s executive board wants to keep the entire process open to the public, and that’s great.

Doing so will help go a long way toward picking the best applicant for the job. Lovorn expects to have a list of five potential candidates by July 18.

And if that quick work wasn’t good enough, the EDA board members met with several other elected and business leaders from the area on Friday to discuss how to come make the area’s economic development efforts more cohesive.

The group of more than 20 leaders met with a facilitator from the Mississippi Development Authority to work on a strategic plan.

Not wasting any time, the group plowed right into solving the most important issue facing our area – improving the public school system. The group formed a task force to begin looking at ways to improve the district and consider options which may be necessary to lift a 1989 court order.

This week’s progress proves the community is working together as one and, more important, it proves the effort is heading in the right direction.