NATCHEZ — The changes in computer use in Adams County’s government offices in the last 15 years have, in the words of Board of Supervisors’ President Darryl Grennell, “gone from the dark ages to the new ages.”

Those changes are, in part, why the supervisors decided to begin the search for a full-time IT director earlier this week, a position Grennell said has been needed for some time.

Tax Collector Peter Burns said his office’s computers are connected to state databases, and that most of the problems they have are with the connection to the state.

However, Burns also said that he has a minor recurring glitch with his office computer that only takes a few minutes to fix, but because the county does not have an IT director, he may have to wait several days to get access to his computer again. The county currently has an IT contract with Premise Inc. that provides three days of service a month.

“While I wait, I have to walk down to the chancery office to use their computers,” he said. “It is really inconvenient for me to wait for (the Premise staffer) to come.”

Burns said that while access to regular computer maintenance is a plus, he hopes the new IT director will be able to establish a website listing county land and tax rolls.

“That way, if people don’t get their tax bill and they are unsure of what they need to pay, they can check and mail the payment in,” he said.

At one time, the tax collector’s office, justice court and chancery court clerks were all using dummy terminals hooked into a basic mainframe. That kind of technology is outdated, and Grennell and those offices have upgraded to personal computers because their legally sanctioned business demands it.

“They are all using PCs now because you have to be hooked into the Internet to upload the (information) to the state offices,” Grennell said.

County Administrator Joe Murray said the county’s overall IT needs well exceed the three-day contract with Premise, and he said the cost of the contract plus the overtime the county is paying on the contract are enough to fund an IT position.

Pike County — which has a similar-sized government — has two full-time IT employees, Murray said.

While the possibility of sharing IT services with the City of Natchez was floated at the meeting earlier this week, Murray said he does not believe one person could handle the workload for both governments.

“I don’t know right now what our needs are, but they are so great, and it is going to take someone working a long time to get our needs straight,” he said. “We have got some serious needs and the city has serious needs, but I believe we have more than enough work for one person.”

The City of Natchez hired an IT director, Eric Junkin, earlier this year.