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By HUNTER CLOUD

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — Adams County Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 2 to appoint George Ford of IMS Engineers, Planners and Project Managers’ Jackson office as Adams County’s engineer during Monday’s supervisors meeting.

Voting for the appointment were supervisors Angela Hutchins, Rickey Gray and Warren Gaines. Supervisors Wes Middleton and Kevin Wilson voted against the appointment.

The county’s former engineering firm was Jordan, Kaiser & Sessions of Natchez.

IMS is one of the largest African-American owned and operated engineering firms in the United States, according to the company’s website, headquartered in Houston, Texas, with offices in Jackson; Dallas; Memphis; New Orleans; Shreveport and Baltimore, Maryland.

Chris Harrison represented IMS at Monday’s meeting. Harrison has worked at IMS for 13 years and is a native of Natchez and graduated from Natchez High School and Tougaloo University.

“We have served as county engineers for a number of different counties,” Harrison said. “I just feel good that you have offered us the opportunity to serve y’all as county engineers. Based on the work I have seen that the firm has done in the past, I’m pretty sure we will serve you in the best capacity.”

Wilson, who voted against the appointment of IMS, said he did so because the supervisors do not have enough information to make a change.

“We just don’t know enough about this. We don’t have enough information,” Wilson said.

In other matters at Monday’s meeting, supervisors voted unanimously to name District 3 Supervisor Angela Hutchins as board president and District 1 Supervisor Wes Middleton as board vice president.

Supervisors also voted unanimously to approved annual reappointments, including:

* Appointment of County Comptroller Denise Bell

* Appointment of Road Manager Robbie Dollar

* Appointment of Volunteer Fire Coordinator Darryl Smith

* Appointment of County Engineer George Ford of IMS

Appointments made by the County Administrator Angie King

* Frances Bell as Purchasing Clerk

* Claudia White as Receiving Clerk

* Corvet McNeal as Inventory Clerk

In other action, supervisors voted unanimously to:

* Authorize bidding and publication on contracts for purchasing commodities.

* Appropriations for the Sheriff, Tax Collector and Tax Assessor

* Receive reports of expense from the Sheriff’s Department, Chancery Clerk, Tax Assessor and 4 Tax Collector

* The purchase of two Chevy 1500 V8 4×4 trucks off of the State Contract list for the county’s emergency management agency for the Volunteer Fire Departments to use as brush trucks.

* Updated requisition list from purchasing clerk and the credit card report from Purchasing Clerk

* Approve the sheriff’s request to hire two criminal deputies

* Approve property board orders for the county assessor office

* Extend Contract with Drug Testing Program Management

* Approved Chancery Clerk Certificate of attendance, January bonds and Court Report for Adams County Sheriff’s office for December of 2020

* Designated Darryl Smith as fire inspector for the county to the Mississippi Insurance Department.

* Approved a contract between MDOT and Adams County for State Park Road