NATCHEZ — Unwilling to accept more delays in the construction of a public pool,  city and county leaders vowed to take a more direct role in the project after recent bids came back $700,000 more than expected.

After discussion in a joint meeting, the Adams County Board of Supervisors and the Natchez Board of Aldermen separately voted unanimously to ask the Natchez-Adams School District to temporarily deed the property near Liberty Road over to the two entities for construction.

The purpose of the quick deed would be to allow the county and city to supersede the recreation commission on bidding the pool project out for construction. Officials said the recreation commission would still manage the pool once complete, but for several reasons the boards believed they should handle the bidding.

“We need to do what we need to do or we will be here this time next year, in 2018, with no pool,” Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said. “As we let this go, the prices will only go up. That’s why it is an emergency situation.”

Arceneaux-Mathis said the delay was not the only concern. The alderwoman said she had heard some members of the recreation commission might not be legally bonded. A personal bond for members of boards and commissions is common. The bonds are similar to an insurance policy ensuring the proper behavior and standards of the person being bonded.

“We need to make sure this is being handled in a proper manner by the law,” she said.

Recreation Chair Tate Hobdy said after the meeting the commissioners are bonded through Stephens and Hobdy Insurance Agency. Hobdy said he was not present at the meeting because the city waited until Tuesday morning to ask if he could be available for the meeting.

Hobdy said a supervisor asked at a previous joint meeting if the commission was bonded, and he said following the meeting he sent the bonding information to both entities.

“I am very disappointed in the way they handled it,” Hobdy said. “We have been trying to work as diligently and as responsibly as we could — we were not going to be rushed into a project improperly.

“If this is the way they want to go about it, so be it. I felt like we were making good progress and this feels like a step back, but it is up to them.”

City Attorney Bob Latham said if a problem does occur in the bidding process, the fallout would ultimately hit the city and the county, not the recreation commissioners.

Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell said the Interlocal Agreement concerning the pool project might have to be altered to allow the city and county to construct on property owned by the school district. The ILA allows for the recreation commission to go forward with construction on the site.

County Attorney Scott Slover said it would be quicker to allow the recreation commission to rebid the pool than to modify the interlocal agreement.  Not only would the county, city and school boards have to approve a modified ILA but so would the secretary of state and attorney general’s office, Slover said.

Arceneaux-Mathis said if the quickest way to have a pool were through the recreation commission, the pool would be built by now. Arceneaux-Mathis suggested an option quicker than modifying the ILA might be to ask the school board to deed the property over to the city and county until the pool project is complete.

District 2 Supervisor David Carter said if this was just about the bond issue, why not get the commissioners bonded, bring someone in who knows the construction process to help them and get the project moving forward. Carter said he was concerned the city and county taking over would prolong the process.

Grennell said the legal issue was deeper than commissioners being bonded, as purchasing laws also play a role.

“Cities and counties, they have to abide by certain purchasing laws and the recreation commission doesn’t necessarily have to comply with those purchasing laws and procedures,” Grennell said. “That’s something I was concerned about in respect to the recreation commission handling city money. I’m not sure if they would be following the purchasing laws in place we would have to comply with.”

Grennell said he believed because fiscal responsibility was ultimately with the city and county, the two boards should go forward with construction.

District 1 Supervisor and board President Mike Lazarus said Magnolia Bluffs co-owner Kevin Preston had told him he would like to help the county and city complete the pool project.

Preston, who also serves on the community development board created by the casino’s lease with the city, said he is in the process of a construction project in Gulfport. Preston said he believed he could leverage the relationships he has with pool vendors to get the bid down more in line with the $1 million cost for construction originally projected.

Following both boards accepting the quick deed proposal, Ward 3 Alderwoman Sarah Smith asked if a second motion was needed to ask for separate bids on the project, but Grennell said the boards should ask the school district first to see if they will temporarily deed the property for construction purposes.

Grennell said the recreation commission would still be involved in the project in terms of design.

“They will be in the loop,” he said. “The recreation commission is playing a major role in it. All we are doing is basically putting it out for bid, getting it constructed and then turning it over to them.”