NATCHEZ &045; On Monday, members of a countywide Recreation Commission voted to delay until July 8 a vote on whether to postpone an election on a bond issue to fund recreation improvements.

Six of nine commission members were present at Monday’s meeting at City Hall. Of those, most favor postponing the election for a year to give them time to better formulate a plan for the project and its funding.

That, they said, would also give them more time to sell the project to voters &045; 60 percent of whom would have to vote for the plan for it to pass.

&uot;We also need to get public input&uot; on what the project will entail, said Joe Eidt, who was elected as the commission’s chairman Monday.

In addition, the commission does not yet have land set aside on which to build recreation facilities. Even the &uot;beanfield&uot; property north of Natchez High cannot be leased from the National Park Service until that agency completes an environmental study of the property.

That cannot be done until the commission knows what improvements it wants to build, how much those will cost and where they will be located, said city Recreation Director Ralph Tedder.

But commission member Dr. Harold Wayne Barnett expressed concerns that while &uot;we have the three boards working together now, Ša year would give them a chance to lose momentum.&uot;

Those boards are the Natchez Board of Aldermen, the Adams County Board of Supervisors and Natchez-Adams School District, who appointed and will fund the commission.

In order to get the project &045; and a proposal to fund it &045; on the ballot in November of this year, the commission would have to get the information to the Secretary of State’s Office by Aug. 5.

The commission will not know exactly how much money they will need until they know what improvements they want to make.

Ideas for improvements have included ballfields, walking trails and picnic pavilions, a horse arena and a pool &045; at an estimated cost of $12 million to $15 million, and probably done in phases.

Specifics of the project and its funding are not yet known, because the commission could not hire a consulting firm to draw such plans until it became a legal board. Members were sworn in June 16

The commission’s next meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the conference room at City Hall on Pearl Street.

After that, the next step will be for the commission to formally request from the city, county and school board the funds &045; an estimated $30,000 to $50,000 &045; to hire a consulting firm to draw up the recreation plan.