NATCHEZ — Recreation in Natchez took a step up to the plate Monday when county leaders approved an initiative that could help recruit a potential director.

Now, members of the Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission are hoping the city can help them get on base and move forward with the hiring of that director.

Commission Chairman Tate Hobdy appeared before the Adams County Board of Supervisors Monday to ask for a letter of intent from the board stating the county would participate in funding for recreation if a director is hired.

Having a director in place, Hobdy said, is vital to the future of recreation in the area and needs to happen before any concrete plans and budgets are made.

A signed letter of intent from the county, and hopefully a similar letter from the city, will help in the recruitment of a director, Hobdy said.

“The county has said they would fund the director and the benefits of the director, but their budget and recreation (facilities) are not really big enough for one full-time person,” Hobdy said. “To get a good candidate, we need to show him or her that they’ll have full city and county budgets, so they can actually do what they need to do.”

For the commission to get to the point of advertising and hiring a director, Hobdy said he wants to have a commitment from the city that it would be willing to contribute its recreation budgets and facilities to the project.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen recently voted to turn over its $1.4 million recreation budget to the recreation commission. As part of the commitment, the city board asked its attorney to find out if the supervisors would commit to $5.4 million in funding for a proposed future recreation complex. Members of the supervisors said the board couldn’t commit to spending money for a complex until the bankruptcy and sale of Natchez Regional Medical Center are completed.

Members of the commission will appear before the city board today. Hobdy said he’s not sure what exactly will be discussed, but hopes it relates to the hiring of the director.

“We received a formal request to be at the meeting, but that’s all I know,” Hobdy said. “We really want a letter of intent like we got from the supervisors before we discuss anything else.”

The Adams County Board of Supervisors had previously committed to providing $45,000 for the director position. At the time, the figure was considered to be two-thirds of the salary for the proposed position.

When the board voted recently, the members reaffirmed the $45,000 number along with benefits as the salary.

Board President Darryl Grennell said the letter of intent approved Monday was the county’s way of helping move recreation forward.

“We need to try to move this in some way because it’s long overdue,” Grennell said.

The recreation commission was created after the residents of Adams County overwhelmingly passed a non-binding referendum in 2009 stating support for a consolidated recreation complex.

The referendum referenced a potential complex that was not to exceed $5.4 million in cost.

Since 2009, the proposal has shifted from building a single complex to broader talks of a unified city-county program, and in recent months the discussion has focused on funding and how much each participating government body will provide.