NATCHEZ — Advocates for a renovation of the former Margaret Martin School building are continuing to raise funds and support for the facility despite the loss of a potential $6 million in state funding.

Last week, Senate Bill 3065 that included an appropriation of $2 million a year for three years for the Margaret Martin building was rewritten in legislative conference to eliminate funding for the building.

A local group of supporters, calling themselves Friends of the Natchez Centre, envisioned the facility being turned into a multi-cultural landmark museum and performance venue for visual, culinary, literary musical and performing arts — using the existing classrooms and kitchen space for instruction, museum displays, gift shops, restaurants and office space.

During a regularly scheduled Adams County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday morning, a local bed and breakfast owner and spokesperson for Friends of the Natchez Centre, Dan Gibson, requested support from the board of supervisors.

Gibson presented a similar request to the City of Natchez last month.

The requests did not include a dollar pledge, per se, Gibson said, but rather a show of support and perhaps an allocation of funds later if the boards find themselves legally and financially able to do so.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to show their support for the project.

“I think that when you’re a citizen of a community, you should always give back more than you take,” Gibson said. “I have been blessed already by the generosity in Natchez.”

Gibson said a fundraiser Sunday night raised $1,000 for the project while an anonymous donor pledged to match donations up to $5,000, making it possible for the group to raise a needed $10,000 for a down payment on hiring an architect for the project.

“We’ve had Belinda Stewart (of Eupora), a celebrated architect, visit Natchez,” Gibson said. “We interviewed Belinda and decided she was our architect, and so now we’re working to raise funds so that she may be working on a plan for us and for Margaret Martin.”

In other matters during the Adams County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday, the board:

• Hosted special recognition for Adams County Christian School student council members, who recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
• Unanimously rejected payments to Waste Pro upwards of approximately $50,000 for trash services due to failure of the company to complete services included in its contract.
• Unanimously approved minutes for March board meetings.
• Unanimously approved dockets, monthly expenditure reports and quarterly appropriations for the tax assessor, tax collector and sheriff’s office.
• Recognized Downtown Karla Brown shuttle services as the Adams County Business of the Month.
• Heard a presentation from Jack Kelly announcing a festival called “Harmony in the Park,” which would take place at noon April 20 in Jack Waite Park.
• Heard a presentation from Jason Jones about the Mississippi State University Extension Service introducing new hires.
• Unanimously approved a motion by District 2 Supervisor David Carter to advertise for a public hearing pertaining to an ordinance proposal for cleaning up limbs that have been trimmed.
• Hosted a public hearing pertaining to the county’s abandonment of a stretch of road and bridge on a dead-end portion of McGehee Road, during which a lone resident on the road, Ross McGehee, said he was not opposed to the county abandoning the road and bridge, along with any maintenance of it.
• Unanimously approved a new hire for the road maintenance department with an annual salary of $22,880 for the first six months and $23,920 after six months.
• Unanimously approved requests for spoil dirt — excess dirt from digging projects — for residents on Lower Woodville Road, Kingston Road, Ogden Road, Clifford Road, Lotus Drive and Johnston Circle.
• Unanimously adopted a declaration of a state of emergency resulting from Mississippi River flooding so the county could be reimbursed for money spent on flood control.
• Unanimously approved a contract renewal for Code Red services for the emergency management department for $10,000 per year pending legal review by the County Attorney Scott Slover.
• Approved departmental travel requests to Hattiesburg, Jackson and Shreveport for training classes and conferences.
• Heard a presentation from American Medical Response Inc. pertaining to medical emergency response times and airlifts. AMR also announced a “First Responders Day,” scheduled for noon on May 18 at a yet-to-be determined location.
• Unanimously approved a match resolution up to $26,000 for a Development of Infrastructure grant used for widening Dave Levite Road. Adams County Administrator Joe Murray said the match would be paid “in kind,” meaning the county road department would contribute up to $26,000 worth of work on the road to account for the cost.
• Unanimously approved payment for construction invoices for Delta Energy in the amount of $3,990 and $128,819.78.
• Heard a presentation from Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten regarding three community events, starting with a “Town Hall” meeting intended to bridge the communication gap between young adults and law enforcement officers. The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. on April 9 at the Natchez Convention Center. Patten also announced the annual Health and Safety Fair starting at 10 a.m. April 13 at the Natchez Mall, where Alcorn State University’s Family Clinic would offer women’s health education and free breast exams, pap smears and HPV vaccines. Lastly, Patten said the annual Sheriff’s Rodeo starts at 7 p.m. on May 17 and 18 at the Wayne Johnson Arena.
• Unanimously renewed an employee flexible spending health insurance plan pending legal review by Slover.
• Unanimously denied requests for a reduction in annual tax assessments for 2015, 2016 and 2017 because none of the requested reductions were presented by their legal deadlines.
• Unanimously approved two grant application requests for the county drug court.
• Unanimously approved payout of the remainder of annual appropriations to Southwest Mississippi Behavioral Health, which amounts to $71,743. SMBH provides care to mental health patients in nine Mississippi counties, including Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Franklin, Jefferson, Lawrence, Pike, Walthall and Wilkinson.
• Entered into an executive session to discuss potential litigation with the City of Natchez pertaining to a Tax Increment Financing agreement from 2008 for the convention center. Slover said the board needed to review whether all payments included in the agreement had been made. Also discussed in executive session was potential right of way purchases on Morgantown Road and individual employee health insurance claims.
• After the executive session, the board re-entered an open meeting and unanimously approved a budget increase reserved for purchasing rights-of-way on Morgantown Road in the amount of $40,000.