NATCHEZ — The three companies holding their breath — perhaps against the smell — to find out if they would be awarded Adams County’s waste disposal contract will have to wait 30 days more.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors met Thursday to award the 10-year contract for landfill services, but deferred awarding a bid because two board members, supervisors Calvin Butler and David Carter, were not able to attend the meeting.

“Because of the length of this contract, the whole board should participate in the decision,” President Darryl Grennell said.

Instead, the three supervisors present decided to extend the current contract with Waste Management, which was set to expire Friday, for 30 days. The county’s trash pick-up contract, which is separate from the waste disposal contract, is current through next year.

The bids submitted for the landfill contract by Riverbend Environmental Services, Triad Disposal and Waste Management were opened Wednesday, and Grennell said they are quite extensive.

“We got some really competitive bids, and the time would be really well used to go over that, and the chance would be taken to get some more information,” Board Attorney Scott Slover said.

Supervisor Mike Lazarus made the motion to amend the contract, and Supervisor Angela Hutchins seconded it.

“This is a 10-year commitment, and we want to do what is right and look through all (the proposals),” Lazarus said.

The contract extension is legal as long as the county doesn’t spend $50,000 on waste disposal during the 30-day period, Slover said. If more than $50,000 was spent, the project would have to be let out for bid under state law.

“There is also a cap (in the contract extension),” Slover said. “We wouldn’t pay more than $49,000, and Waste Management would not have to dispose more than 1,200 tons of waste. Currently we average 500 tons a month — we are not going to worry about garbage not being taken care of.”

Slover said the county is mandated by state statute to collect waste, and that mandate allows for the county to collect the waste itself or to contract with a private company. Grennell said in the past the county had a garbage crew, but the collection has been privatized for some years.

Because Waste Management currently manages a landfill in Adams County, the company pays the county a host fee for operating the landfill, Slover said.

While the supervisors are asking for a 10-year contract, the contract that will now expire at the end of June was a 20-year contract. Slover said by law the county can set a waste contract for up to 30 years.

The contract currently under discussion is for the disposal of waste at a landfill, and Grennell said the idea of consolidating trash pickup with the City of Natchez is a separate issue.

The idea, however, is still under consideration, he said.

“Our pickup contract comes next year, and I think the city’s comes up sometime this year, and we had talked to the city about entering into a single-year pickup contract to see if we can get a better price by negotiating together,” Grennell said.

“It is not that we are going to consolidate it where the county or the city will pay for it all, it is we are trying to bid it together so we can get a better price.”