NATCHEZ — Local elected and employment-related officials are vowing to do what they can to help the employees affected by the pending closure of the Isle of Capri casino.

What shape that action takes, however, is still in the works.

The Isle of Capri announced Tuesday it will close its Natchez dockside casino and sell its hotel to the parent company of Magnolia Bluffs Casino in October.

The company employs 240 people locally.

“Those 240 individuals are our main concern right now, the loss of jobs and the vendors that will be affected who have been dealing with (the Isle of Capri),” Natchez Mayor Butch Brown said Wednesday.

“At this point, we have offered to do anything we can to help the Isle make their transition, to help them deal with their employees, which they are concerned about.”

WIN Job Center interim director Diane Brooks said the office — which is an extension of the Mississippi Department of Employment Security — has sent inquiries about getting a state rapid response team to come to the area.

“We were pretty much surprised by the announcement,” she said. “Some applicants came in yesterday evening, and that was the first we got wind of the information.”

Natchez Inc. Executive Director Chandler Russ said his office will work with the rapid response team once it comes to the area, but before that can happen the Isle of Capri has to file an official warn notice with the state.

“Any time you have over 50 employees, you have to warn the state of the termination and when that ends,” he said. “Hopefully at that point they will send us a rapid response team, and it will be in conjunction with the WIN Job Center, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Natchez Inc. and other entities.

“We will try to walk through with the employees their options and the way through what is in front of them regarding everything from benefits to training opportunities and other options, like entrepreneurship — but our immediate focus will be on the displaced employees and assisting them.”

Russ said his office had been hearing some rumors about the possible closure, “but we were not aware it was coming (Tuesday), quite frankly.”

“We had some significant momentum with some of the industrial announcements and the growth we have had the last few years, but this was a setback that we will deal with and move forward on and try our best to help replace those jobs and really work with those employees to see if we can get them placed,” Russ said. “That is the biggest concern right now, thinking about those employees coming out of that market. Our prayers are with them, but Natchez-Adams County is an area that has had setbacks before, and we are going to figure this out and move forward in a good matter.”

The Adams County Board of Supervisors has not specifically discussed any action it can take, but is scheduled to meet Friday, where the topic will surely be discussed, Vice President Mike Lazarus said.

“I will probably call (Isle of Capri Natchez General Manager) Dick Stewart and find out about,” Lazarus said. “It is sad. I wish both casinos could have made it work, because I sure didn’t want to lose the employees. That is the main thing that bothers me, the employees losing their jobs. We are going to work with them to see what we can do.”

The Isle of Capri location in Natchez has seen declines in revenue since Magnolia Bluffs opened in late 2012, and has posted losses in excess of $2 million for each of the last two fiscal years.

The Isle of Capri leases approximately 24 acres of land in connection with the Natchez operations, paying an annual rent of approximately $1.1 million. The company also leases approximately 7.5 acres for parking and owns six additional acres and the property on which its hotel is located.