NATCHEZ — The Adams County Board of Supervisors delayed naming a county engineer Tuesday.

Jim Marlow, who has served in the position for more than 20 years, will continue to serve in the role temporarily until someone is named. The county named Marlow as the interim county engineer during the board’s first meeting of the year.

Following the supervisors’ meeting, Marlow said he had no comment but has previously said he was not looking to retire.

District 2 Supervisor David Carter, following an executive session to discuss the performance of the county engineer, offered a motion to appoint Marlow as county engineer. Initially, District 5 Supervisor Calvin Butler seconded the motion, but he withdrew it following discussion from District 5 Supervisor Ricky Gray.

Gray said during executive session District 1 Supervisor and Board President Mike Lazarus had mentioned other engineers had approached the county looking to potentially seek the position. Gray said he was under the impression the board planned to hear the other engineers out.

Lazarus would not name the prospective engineers.

While the board is still sorting through the county engineer issue, Lazarus said he did not foresee making a change.

“I have the utmost respect for Mr. Marlow,” Lazarus said. “I think he has the best interest of the county in his heart.”

Lazarus has said when asked about potential changes, that a concern the board has had is communication between the supervisors and Natchez engineering firm Jordan, Kaiser and Sessions.

Marlow privately serves as the county engineer but is also employed with Jordan, Kaiser and Sessions, which is the firm the county primarily uses for engineering projects.

Board Attorney Scott Slover said Marlow is in charge of supervising the engineering efforts of the county, so any potential problems ultimately fall to him.

The county also met in executive session to discuss potential litigation with Camo Construction, the company that constructed the new multipurpose fields on Liberty Road.

While county officials said the fields are well constructed, a mistake in the bid quantity calculations caused the project to cost approximately $30,000 more than the original bid of approximately $80,000.

The Vidalia-based company has not received payment for the approximately $30,000 related to the overage.

Slover said legal formalities were not followed correctly in the change order to approve the work on the overage through the recreation commission, which approved the work order after it was already complete.

A principal with Jordan, Kaiser and Sessions gave the order for Camo to go ahead on the construction with the materials that should have been included in the original bid package to make sure the field would drain properly.

Because of the issues with the change order, Slover said the Chancery Court would have to order the county to pay Camo. Slover said he did not foresee any issues.

“(Camo Construction) will get paid,” Slover said. “They acted in good faith.”