NATCHEZ — The Adams County Board of Supervisors voted Monday to start the search for a full-time information technology director in hopes of getting the county’s technology up to speed and offering online services to residents.

County Administrator Joe Murray said the county currently has a contract with Premise Inc. for IT services, and the company comes out three days a month to address any tech issues in county offices. He said, however, the county has needed the company to come out more than the three days a month and fix numerous issues, which is costing the county a pretty penny.

“We’ve gotten to the point where we’re having so many computer problems that we could pay an IT director’s salary with the money we’re spending on (the extra days of work),” Murray said after the board’s Monday meeting. “By far, it would be more efficient to have a full-time director.”

Murray said Premise has suggested over the past year that the county needed a full-time IT director.

“We knew this was coming,” he said. “A full-time (director) will give us a chance to assign more duties to someone and get us where we need to be,” Murray said.

Supervisor Mike Lazarus said at the meeting that he wanted one of the first priorities of the county IT director to be making online bill-paying services available to residents, such as paying taxes on the county tax collector’s website.

“I can’t stand to hear another excuse about why we can’t do that,” Lazarus said.

Supervisors President Darryl Grennell agreed and said getting the tax collector’s office technology up-to-date needs to also be a priority, as well as updating the county’s website and its services.

Murray said after the meeting that having a full-time IT director will also be beneficial because county departments will not have to wait to have someone fix printers, copiers, fax machines and even voting machines.

The City of Natchez hired its first IT director, Eric Junkin, in March. Supervisor David Carter questioned at the meeting whether now would be a good time to partner with the city on an IT director for both entities.

Grennell said he did not think it made sense to share an IT director with the city since the city has already hired its director, and because he believed the county had enough IT needs to keep a full-time director busy.

Carter suggested the county compile a list of its IT needs so the board will know exactly what it will want and need in an IT director.

Murray said after the meeting that the county will more than likely keep its contract with Premise in addition to an IT director because the company handles the county’s main server.

In other news from the meeting:

• At the request of Natchez Inc. Project Manager Chris Hinton, the supervisors approved the application for a $264,000 grant from the Mississippi Development Authority’s Development Infrastructure Grant Program for Fores Frac Sand LLC. Natchez Inc. Executive Director Chandler Russ said after the meeting that the grant is the state’s commitment to the fracking-supply project for upgrades to rail services. Russ said the application is a formality and said he expects the grant to be awarded sometime in the next few weeks.

“This is just the paperwork catching up with the process,” he said.

• The supervisors opened six-month and one-year bids for supplies for the county road department and voted to take the bids under advisement.

• Resident Jency Marsaw invited the supervisors to a fundraiser for the Providence playground on June 16 at the park.