NATCHEZ — Due to a high number of applicants, the Adams County Board of Supervisors has delayed the hiring of a new county administrator.

Interim Administrator Charlie Brown will continue to work indefinitely.

Supervisors President Darryl Grennell said the board received 22 applications for the job. Grennell said the board will next look through the packets and eliminate those not qualified.

“I have delivered copies to all of the supervisors,” Grennell said. “Once we screen the packets we will sit down and interview those that remain.”

Screening and interviewing should take approximately a month, Grennell said. He added that Brown would stay on to train whomever the supervisors’ hire, which would take approximately 45 days.

“I would comfortably say that by July we will have a new county administrator in place and trained,” Grennell said.

Brown, who served from 1989 to 2004, said he would work until supervisors found a replacement. Brown said he knew terminating Cathy Walker, whom he replaced, put the board in a bind.

“We have always had a good relationship, so I was willing to help them in any way I could,” he said. “And I’ve kind of missed it, to be honest with you.

“Of course, I miss being retired too.”

Brown, 82, said he was happy to serve the county as long as it doesn’t last too long.

On April 28 and 29, Brown is attending a refresher course for administrators at the Hilton Hotel in Jackson.

“The meeting is just a matter of me getting my feet on the ground — a lot happened while I was away,” Brown said. “Getting up to date will help me in training the next administrator.”

Grennell said the board has confidence in Brown.

“He has been on top of a lot of things since coming back,” Grennell said. “I have faith that he can handle it.”

Brown was the first to serve as county administrator after the county switched to a unit system of government, which requires a county administrator. Walker served in the position from 2004 to March 19, when she was terminated 12 days before her resignation from the position was final.

Grennell said in a previous report that the county administrator position is similar to that of a mayor.