Local leaders showed up in force at Monday’s meeting of the Adams County Board of Supervisors to show their support for a federal courthouse in Natchez.

&uot;The Chamber of Commerce wants to go on record in support of this,&uot; said Fred Middleton, economic development chairman of the Natchez-Adams County Chamber. &uot;It will be good for economic development.&uot;

&uot;The city is very much in favor of it, and I&160;hope the board will be likewise,&uot;&160;Natchez Mayor F.L. &uot;Hank&uot; Smith said in a public hearing held during the meeting.

The project will entail the renovation of a building with much historic value, said Mimi Miller, executive director of the Historic Natchez Foundation. The courthouse will be housed in Memorial Hall, a building owned by the foundation.

Miller also said the building is close enough to the Adams County Jail to make it easy for prisoners to be transported to and from court.

A letter was also read from the Adams County Bar Association in support of the project.

Supervisors voted to adopt an &uot;urban renewal plan&uot;&160;under which the urban renewal bonds would be issued to fund project. The estimated cost of renovating and furnishing the building will be $4.5 million. Of that, the federal government will pay $3.5 million and $1 million will be funded by the Natchez and Adams County.

&uot;Hopefully, that $1 million cost can be split evenly,&uot; Natchez City Attorney Walter Brown said after the meeting. It will be at least 15 months before court can be held in the building, Brown said. The cost of operating the courthouse will be paid by the federal government.

Local officials have been trying to lure a federal courthouse to Natchez since 1999, when they successfully lobbied Congress to pass a bill allowing Judge David Bramlette to request federal funding.

Supervisors voted to allow Deputy Chancery Clerk Patricia Powell to open bids for county purchases. The board would vote to accept one of the bids – usually the &uot;lowest and best bid,&uot; Cauthen said – during the next board meeting after bids were opened. Previously, bids had to be opened at a supervisors meeting. But bids were usually taken under advisement anyway to give county officials a chance to review them to see if they met county specifications.

Supervisor Darrell Grennell voted against the measure. &uot;We should be opening bids at an official public meeting,&uot;&160;he said.

But according to Cauthen, the time and place bids will be opened must already be advertised in the newspaper prior to opening, which is open to the public.

In other business, supervisors voted to pay to cremate the body of a Jefferson County resident who died of AIDS in Adams County several days ago and whose body has not been claimed.

They also voted to accept White Oak Road into the county’s road system.

The board of supervisors adjourned until 9 a.m. Sept. 4.