Which way for EDA?
Published 12:11 am Sunday, August 16, 2009
NATCHEZ — Since January, city and county officials have been calling for change at the Natchez-Adams Economic Development Authority — now they say it’s near.
But the meeting required to make changes has yet to be set up.
House bill 1847, which established the EDA, requires the Adams County Board of Supervisors and the Natchez Board of Aldermen meet annually in August to discuss funding and changes at the EDA.
Former City Attorney Walter Brown said the two boards have not met since at least 2002, if at all.
But local community leaders and those working closely with the EDA said they’re committed to meeting this month and feel confident the meeting will yield positive results.
In January, the supervisors, citing a lack of economic development in the county, cut funding to the EDA.
After later learning such action was illegal, they reallocated the funding.
“Since then we’ve been in a transition period,” said EDA Board Chairman Woody Allen. “But I think by the end of this month we’ll have a plan for some changes. We can’t keep doing what we’re doing now.”
While both boards will discuss possible changes to the EDA board at their yet-to-be scheduled meeting, the main purpose of the August meeting, as dictated by the legislation, is to determine how much funding the EDA will receive in the coming year.
The EDA’s $275,000 budget comes from a $175,000 county allocation and a $100,000 city contribution.
Shortly before the board cut the EDA’s funds, former EDA Director Jeff Rowell left town for another job and the director position still hasn’t been filled.
Allen said he won’t even start looking for another director until both boards have confirmed he’ll have the funding to pay a director’s salary.
And while both boards have started working on their own budgets and agree change is needed at the EDA, there’s some question as to how much funding the EDA will receive.
Supervisor Darryl Grennell said he would support a cut to the EDA’s budget that would eliminate the city and county contributions that make up the director’s salary since the position is vacant.
“We may want to reduce the budget since there’s no director,” Grennell said.
That cut should not negatively impact the EDA since they have been receiving full funding for several months and have not had to pay a director, Grennell said.
Grennell said once a full-time director is hired, he supports a full reallocation of salary funding.
Including benefits, Rowell’s salary was approximately $80,000.
Supervisor Mike Lazarus and board President Henry Watts said while they support funding the authority, they’re unsure if the EDA should receive full funding since changes in the makeup of the EDA board seem eminent.
“We’re kind of up in the air,” Lazarus said. “If the structure of the whole board is going to change, then there’s no use funding it until we know.”
And since any changes to the composition of the board must get legislative approval, Watts said funding the EDA will be difficult.
Watts said while he supports the EDA, the timeline the county and city boards must work on presents an odd situation.
Watts said it’s possible that the boards could decide on ways to restructure the EDA and provide funding on those changes only to have the state legislature reject the plan in the spring.
“What do we do if that happens?” Watts said. “It makes funding difficult.”
While Natchez Mayor Jake Middleton said he believes the board of aldermen will continue to provide $100,000 in annual funding, some aldermen are taking a wait-and-see approach.
Alderman Dan Dillard said the timeline question presented by Watts is valid.
“It’s a factor,” Dillard said. “But I don’t think it’s a hurdle we can’t get over.”
Alderman Mark Fortenbery said while the funding amount could depend on the new structure of the EDA, he felt confident the boards would be able to reach a resolution.
“We can all agree we need to have an EDA,” Fortenbery said.
While the boards now agree an EDA is necessary, there’s also an emerging consensus on how the current EDA should change.
Allen, Middleton and Watts said they, and their boards, agree there needs to be less local government involvement and more involvement from private businesses and the private sector.
“Right now boards are making all the appointments and local government is providing 100 percent of the funding,” Watts said.
“It’s totally political. We need to move away from that.”
Middleton said in addition to more local business leaders working on the board, he’d like to see representation from local universities and community colleges.
While the responsibility of scheduling the meeting falls with no one entity, Watts said all three boards are working to schedule the meeting in the coming weeks.