NATCHEZ &045;&045; Topics covered by Adams County supervisors in their Tuesday meeting ranged from the coroner’s budget to road improvements.

Supervisors debated increasing Coroner James Lee’s budget by $1,800 to pay health and life insurance for Lee’s secretary.

Lee did not realize his secretary was eligible for such benefits, since she works part time. But County Administrator Charles Brown said the employee works 20 hours a week, the minimum needed to qualify for such benefits.

&uot;He’s the first coroner in Adams County to have a secretary,&uot; said Supervisor Sammy Cauthen. &uot;And according to figures that were in the paper, his budget was escalated enormously.&uot; Cauthen was referring to advisement run prior to the Nov. 4 election by coroner candidate John Pullen.

&uot;But his office has had an exceptional number of calls,&uot; Supervisor Thomas &uot;Boo&uot; Campbell.

Besides, he added, such benefits &uot;are something every other county employees has&uot; who meets the minimum number of work hours per week.

Lee himself said later last week he was informed by accounting that his secretary was eligible for insurance and only asked Brown if she was eligible. &uot;It was not a demand,&uot; Lee said. &uot;If she was eligible, fine; if not, fine. My question was ‘Can we put it in the budget?’ If not, omit it.&uot;

However, supervisors voted to take the matter under advisement.

Also during the meeting:

4Supervisors voted to removal trees on a county right-of-way on Martin Luther King Jr. Road.

4The board gave Deputy Chancery Clerk Pat Powell permission to destroy bid files and copies of purchase orders generated prior to 1988, as allowed by state law. Powell is moving to a smaller office and needs the extra space, county officials said.