NATCHEZ —Adams County officials took exception to a statement Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell made in reference to a series of forums the City of Natchez plans to conduct in May about consolidation of city and county services.

The forums will feature representatives from the Mississippi State University’s John C. Stennis Institute of Government at 5 p.m. May 7 and May 21 at the Natchez Convention Center.

In discussing the forums for a newspaper article Wednesday afternoon Grennell made reference to past consolidation efforts with the county.

“Another example of consolidated service … is actually fire protection,” Grennell said in the story published Thursday in The Natchez Democrat. “We are the only city in the state of Mississippi that provides fire protection outside of the city limits. So right there is an example of consolidated services that does not exist anywhere else in the state of Mississippi.”

District 1 Supervisor Mike Lazarus said the county supports the city’s fire protection services by paying nearly $700,000 each year, adding that other cities provide fire protection to surrounding areas at no cost.

“I’m not trying to correct Darryl, but we have looked into this before and there are a lot of city fire departments that go out into the counties and provide fire protection,” Lazarus said. “In fact, there are a lot of cities that do that and don’t even charge for it. … There’s some that charge per call. It’s done a lot of different ways.”

Lazarus said Adams County Administrator Joe Murray also disputed the statement that Natchez is the only city to supply fire protection outside of city limits. Murray did not respond to messages seeking comment for this story.

Stephen Applewhite, field agent for the Mississippi State Rating Bureau, which grades the city and county’s fire protection services, said to his knowledge, Natchez is unique from other cities in regards to the level of fire protection it shares with Adams County. Other cities, however, do extend service to areas beyond their limits, Applewhite said.

“Natchez is the only city that I know of that responds to all structure fires in the county,” Applewhite said. “Other cities like Madison and West Point, Southhaven and Gulfport respond to structure fires outside of the city, but may not necessarily go to every one in the county.”

Grennell said the city has an interlocal agreement with Adams County that has been in place for several years; In exchange for county funding, the city firemen respond to fires in all areas of the county and at times even before volunteer stations are called, Grennell said.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors has studied the possibility of building additional fire stations in areas of the county where faster response times are needed, Lazarus said, and are still in the early planning phases for determining locations for those stations.

“The city and county have an agreement, and I’m not complaining about that agreement at all,” Lazarus said. “I’m willing to work with the city in any way we can, but I would also like to see the county have some more fire stations built so that we can lower the fire rating in certain areas of the county.”

Applewhite said other cities throughout the state have contracts for paid services outside of city limits to various degrees. However, they are not contracted to respond to every call in the county as Natchez is.

Natchez has maintained a fire rating of 5, which is rated on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the worst possible rating, Applewhite said.

Grennell said he believes the fire rating could be lowered to at least a 3 if the city did not expend resources in the county, adding that with the addition of a $919,000 fire truck that is expected to be delivered in June the rating could be lower than 5.

Whether the city’s paid service to the county is harmful to the city’s fire rating is dependent on a number of variables, Applewhite said.

“Depending on the personnel and the number of calls that the city has, it has a potential (to hurt the rating) but that is not necessarily a given,” Applewhite said.