NATCHEZ &045; In 1992 the Historic Natchez Foundation’s Ron and Mimi Miller came back from vacation to find a surprise.

Specifically, they found that dozens of county record books and boxes of files dating to 1985 had been moved to the foundation without their knowledge. Undaunted, staff sorted the records, found storage space in the basement and on the second floor, and cataloged and mapped the contents.

Now the foundation plans to renovate its Commerce Street facility &045; an old school building dating back to 1901 &045; and needs county supervisors’ help to find space to store the records while the work is being done.

By February, the foundation hopes to install an elevator and new restrooms, repair outdoor fixtures damaged by a 1998 tornado and install modern floors in the basement storage rooms.

&uot;And we need these out of here while we do the work,&uot; said Mimi Miller, the foundation’s director of preservation and education, pointing out about 250 boxes and 1,000 bound volumes of county records.

So on Monday, she asked the Board of Supervisors to find temporary storage space for the records and to pay for movable, waterproof shelving for the records once the first phase of the renovation is complete.

Supervisors on Monday authorized County Administrator Charlie Brown to find the most affordable storage space for the records and to hire a moving company, if necessary, to move the documents.

Board Vice President Darryl Grennell abstained from the vote since he is a member of the foundation’s board.

&uot;We’ll have that done for (the foundation) in two to three weeks,&uot; just in time for the renovation work to begin, said board President Lynwood Easterling.

&uot;It seems like we’re asking for this at the last minute, but we just got the plans back from the architect&uot; last Thursday, Mimi Miller told supervisors.

Supervisors are also considering Mimi Miller’s request to purchase shelving that would be owned by the county but housed at the foundation building. What such shelving would cost was not known as of Monday.

As it now stands, documents stored in the basement are kept in cardboard boxes two deep in the basement.

Those include dozens of 50-pound boxes Mimi Miller must spend up to three hours moving and searching to find a document for a searchers conducting historical research, background checks and the like.

&uot;Often it’s the box on the bottom in the corner that has what they want,&uot; she said with a laugh.

This first phase of renovation is being done with a $160,000 state Archives and History grant matched with foundation funds &045; about $500,000 in all.

That amount also includes funds needed for Waggonner & Ball Architects of New Orleans to finish a plan for renovations to the building over the next 25 to 30 years.

While the plan includes the current renovations, it also includes future planned renovations for which construction timelines and funding do not yet exist.

Those include renovating the first floor of building &045; now offices and meeting space &045; to serve as exhibit space for a Natchez history museum.

Each room would be devoted to a different aspect of the area’s history, such as transportation, education, manufacturing, decorative arts and the like, Mimi Miller said.

The second floor will eventually be used for offices, a conference room and a large meeting room, said Ron Miller, the foundation’s executive director.

The basement will be renovated for use as a modern archival space for records, complete with climate control, a sprinkler system and a water pump in case pipes burst.