NATCHEZ — Delta-Energy met last week a benchmark of making a one-time payment of $125,000, and is in the process of negotiating a longer-term lease with Adams County.

The payment, which was due April 1, will be followed each month with rent payments of $30,000, Adams County Board of Supervisors President Mike Lazarus said.

When Delta-Energy announced its location to Adams County in February 2015, officials said the company would eventually spend $3.75 million to purchase a building and 30 acres on the former International Paper property, which Adams County has owned since 2013.

Since that time, the company has started improvements to the facility — as well as continuous operations — under a lease-purchase agreement with the county. Under the agreement, the company had two years to exercise an option to purchase or negotiate a lease.

The payments on the initial lease-purchase agreement were fulfilled when Delta-Energy made approximately $200,000 on a county-owned fire loop system, Natchez Inc. Executive Director Chandler Russ wrote in an email last month.

Adams County Board of Supervisors’ Attorney Scott Slover said Monday that after receiving the one-time payment, the county is in the process of negotiating a longer-term lease with the company — which was one of the initial possibilities under the first lease-purchase contract.

“(The new lease) is going to contain a (purchase) option on it, so it will allow them to continue doing what they need to do, but it helps them from a cash flow perspective,” Slover said.

“The parties have agreed to negotiate in good faith a longer-term lease. It will still have that option, and ultimately they will still probably purchase it.”

Delta-Energy uses a proprietary process to render used rubber for carbon solids and hydrocarbon liquids used in rubber compounds.

The company has completed the first phase of its plans — including starting operations — and has started the build out for its second phase.

As of last month, the company had hired 32 of a planned 91 jobs.