NATCHEZ — Three local governmental boards told the Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission Thursday night that they need to see a plan — for operation, costs, construction and funding.

Each of the boards — Adams County Board of Supervisors, the Natchez Board of Aldermen and the Natchez-Adams County School Board — all appointed an ex officio member to the commission in order to stay more connected to the process.

“Sometimes some boards feel like they are being left out,” NACRC Chair Tate Hobdy said. “This is to help smooth out communication.”

The supervisors appointed David Carter to serve as their ex officio representative, while the aldermen appointed Mark Fortenbery and the school board chose Tim Blalock.

When he was asked what he thought the next step should be, Hobdy said setting some kind of timeline would be good.

Carter said he believed a good step would be to form some kind of management plan for the complex.

“How is it going to be managed?” Carter said. “That is going to determine the success, not how it is built, but how it is going to be run.”

The current lack of a plan is troubling, Alderman Dan Dillard said.

“I am still struggling to see a plan — I need to see something in a written format,” Dillard said. “I think we need a fair and equitable plan on how these things are going to be run.”

When Hobdy said the complex was designed to generate revenue, Dillard said he knew how much certain recreation infrastructures — such as lights — cost to run, and he would like to see a plan that he could take to a commercial lender and get their critique.

“If you can get us those (cost) numbers, we will be able to accommodate you,” Hobdy said.

Cost projections for the operation of the complex have been based on similar facilities in similar demographic areas, he said.

Hobdy also said that until the commission is given a construction budget, cost projections are nothing more than making up numbers.

Dillard continued to pursue the funding issue, stating that the operations costs would go up for the city — which would still have to maintain the property at Duncan Park that would no longer be used for ball fields — and that he thought a 60-40 county-city cost split was “equitable.”

That suggestion was not greeted with enthusiasm, and after a few tense words between Dillard and Supervisor Mike Lazarus, Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said, “The Vidalia (recreation) facility is going to go up whether we sit here and fight or not.”

Natchez-Adams County is a bigger metro and should get in on a piece of the recreation pie, she said.

One difference in the Concordia Recreation District No. 2 complex and the proposed Adams County complex is that the Concordia one is funded by an ad valorem tax, Lazarus said.

School Board Member David Troutman said that maybe the consideration of a sales tax to fund the complex is in order. County Administrator Joe Murray said other communities have a similar sales tax.

Such a tax would probably require a referendum, Supervisors President Darryl Grennell said.

When a question of funneling revenue from the Roth Hill casino project was raised, Mathis said it was best not to count on revenue that isn’t yet coming in, saying, “A bird in the hand is better than one you’re counting on.”

Also during the meeting, attorney Walter Brown told the three boards they would have to reaffirm the recreation inter-local agreement at some point in the near future. The agreement expires June 30.