The two companies looking at locating a correctional facility in Adams County will meet with the board of supervisors Monday, the board president said Friday.

The two companies, Corrections Corporation of America and The GEO Group, Inc., will request the county approve advertising, a necessary legal step to locating such a facility in the state.

“Representatives from both companies are supposed to be there,” Supervisors President Darryl Grennell said.

The two companies are competing for a federal contract, Grennell said.

CCA, which manages the Wilkinson County correctional facility, is looking to choose between Adams County and Pike County for a new Mississippi facility, spokesman Steve Owen said Friday.

Whatever company wins, the facility will likely be low- to medium-risk inmates, Grennell said — no highly dangerous prisoners.

One of the steps toward locating in Adams County is publishing that the company is looking at putting in a facility. By state law, if the citizens put together a petition with a certain number of signatures, the county must hold a vote as to whether or not a facility should be allowed to locate.

“As we assess communities and assess which we’re going to ultimately partner with, having the hurdles out of the way is helpful,” Owen said.

Phone calls to The GEO Group were not returned by press time.

While CCA is deciding between two Mississippi locations, the GEO Group is looking only at Adams County for its newest location, Grennell said.

For him, that’s a plus.

“If CCA is awarded a contract from the federal government, we don’t know which site they’re going to select,” Grennell said. “GEO has totally committed themselves to Adams County.”

CCA has already started geotechnical research of the U.S. 84 land in the northeast part of the county where they’re thinking of locating, said Walter Brown, an attorney representing the company locally.

Time is of the essence because time limits of the federal contract and the Gulf Opportunity Zone, which provides benefits to business owners in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

“One of the (GO-Zone) requirements is that in order to receive the benefits, you have to have the facility in operation no later than Dec. 31, 2008,” Brown said.

Wherever they locate, CCA is planning to begin construction in June, Brown said. In order to file the necessary paperwork, they would have to get the go-ahead from the community soon.

While CCA is thinking of buying private land in the county, GEO is considering buying county land at the county-managed Natchez-Adams County Airport, Grennell said.

That doesn’t get Airport Manager Clint Pomeroy too excited.

“We’ve been hoping to use it for industrial development of the airport, maybe some aviation facility,” Pomeroy said. “We would love to have that, and there’s potential for that down the way. If it were used for the prison, it wouldn’t be available in the future.”

Although no such aviation industries have asked to buy the land recently, they’ve had some inquire in the past, Pomeroy said.

Lighting might also be a problem, he said. If the facility was extremely well lit, it might distract pilots.

“That’s an issue that would just have to be looked at carefully,” he said.

Another hamper to the GEO facility would likely be the Federal Aviation Administration. They would have some say in how the airport land was used, Pomeroy said.

The board of supervisors will meet at 9 a.m. Monday.