NATCHEZ — The Adams County Board of Supervisors voted Monday to reaffirm its commitment to a consolidated recreation program for Natchez-Adams County.

The vote came following a conversation with a group of residents and Natchez city officials — including former Mayor Phillip West, retired Judge Mary Toles and sitting Aldermen Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis and Ricky Gray — about the current recreation proposal.

The proposal, for which the county, city and school boards have signed a letter of intent, includes the construction of a pool and soccer fields near Natchez High School. It also includes the discussion of having the YMCA operate the facility.

West said the group approached the supervisors for a status update on the project, to which Supervisor Mike Lazarus said he was under the impression the government bodies and the Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission were waiting for word from the YMCA.

Lazarus said he is only in favor of the pool proposal if the YMCA is involved.

“We can take the county excavator out there and start digging tomorrow, but we don’t know what we are digging,” Lazarus said. “(The YMCA does) this all around the country, and we don’t know what we are doing, and the worst thing we can do is do it wrong.”

The YMCA has a meeting scheduled with the interested parties June 29, board attorney Scott Slover said.

“While the logistics of the YMCA are being worked out, the (legal) counsel for the recreation board and the supervisors is trying to get the interlocal agreement drafted for the supervisors, aldermen and school board as well,” he said.

The proposal, which has been agreed to in principle by the three boards, includes:

-A one-time contribution from the City of Natchez of $500,000 and a one-time contribution of $700,000 from Adams County for the construction of a junior Olympic-size pool and two soccer fields.

-An annual commitment of $500,000 from the City of Natchez and annual commitment of $334,000 from Adams County to fund the maintenance and operation of all city and county recreation facilities.

-Matching annual contributions of $100,000 each from Natchez and Adams County for 10 years to fund a bond issue that would build the recreation capital improvement budget.

Much of Monday’s discussion included a rehash of months’ — and in some cases, years’ — worth of financial back and forth between city and county officials that ended with Lazarus saying, “We want the public to know the county is matching the city dollar-for-dollar.”

West said everything in the proposal came as a result of conversations between the Magnolia Bluffs Community Development Board — of which he is a member — and representatives from the city and county governments.

“You all have to decide once you meet with (the YMCA) whether or not they are proposing something that will be feasible,” he said.

“We don’t have a quality swimming pool or a quality utility area where you can have soccer fields. We want to make sure we are on the same path and all of us are moving together. When the city says, ‘We have our money and we are waiting,’ we want to be able to say, ‘The county is ready, too.”

Supervisor David Carter expressed his continuing concerns about opening a pool, noting that Duncan Park and the former Elk’s Lodge both have closed pools formerly accessible to the public.

“We are not talking about that kind of pool,” West said. “We are talking about something of real quality. We want something for the future.”

Duncan Park, West said, “represents yesterday.”

Following the discussion, Supervisors President Darryl Grennell offered a motion to reaffirm the board’s commitment to the recreation proposal. Supervisor Angela Hutchins seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.

In other news:

-The board voted to approve an application by T-Mobile to place six atennaes and associated cabling and equipment on an existing tower on Dave Levitt Road.

County Tower Inspector Spencer Stutzman said the installation will mark the entry of T-Mobile into the Adams County cellular phone market.

-The board voted to authorize cash requests from the grant for the von Drehle roadway project of $420 for Jordan, Kaiser and Sessions engineering and $31,270 to Midway Construction.

The project, funded by a development infrastructure program grant by the Mississippi Development Authority, added a second roadway to access to the von Drehle plant.

-Slover said the transaction selling four acres of the former Belwood Country Club to Great River Industries had closed. The property was sold for approximately $25,000 an acre.

Lazarus said the company is building a new warehouse and the Belwood property will be used for a lay down yard. Slover said the terms of the sale included a “strong” clause that would have the property’s ownership revert to the county in the event the company does not do what it stated it would.