NATCHEZ — Adams County is dirty. Local students need work. Some county supervisors see a potential solution to both problems in the other.

Supervisor Angela Hutchins is spearheading an effort to start a summer youth program to hire local students to go out and pick up litter in the county. Hutchins has contacted the Southwest Mississippi Planning and Development District to see if any grants or other monies are available to fund such a program.

If not, Hutchins said the program could be funded through the county’s general fund.

“It wouldn’t cost too much, because we are thinking about using no more than eight (youth workers) — four on the north side of the county and four on the south side — and paying them minimum wage,” she said.

Hutchins has also contacted the WIN Job Center about helping with recruitment. She said she will also check with the Adams County Youth Court about the use of youth offenders.

Supervisor Mike Lazarus first suggested the idea of a youth litter program, but said he later deferred to Hutchins because she sits on the workforce development board with WIN Job Centers.

The origin of the idea came after Lazarus recently went on vacation on the coast. His son, back home from college, mentioned something offhand that got the wheels in Lazarus’ brain moving.

“As I was driving back from vacation, all of these communities I passed through, the grass is cut and the highways are clean, and you can tell they take pride,” he said.

“Now, I am thinking about trash, and my son comes in and says none of his college friends can find work. So I was thinking why can’t we have some kind of program to let them work? The will and desire is there, so I think we should let them work.”

Supervisor David Carter, who has been a proponent of a more aggressive effort to beautify the county since taking office, said he supports such a program in addition to using inmate labor as the county currently does.

There is unfortunately enough litter to support both efforts, he said.

“When you get out into the county off the actual road, litter control is a significant problem,” Carter said. “It is somewhat frustrating to know that so many people don’t have any value for our county that they would litter at the rate they do.”

But Carter said he also thinks the youth program shouldn’t be just limited to picking up trash, and that youth workers could be used to take care of small but neglected maintenance tasks at county buildings, such as painting.

Hutchins said she does not have a timeline for when she thinks she will be able to bring a full proposal to the board, but Hutchins said she wants it to be soon.

“I am trying to do it as quick as possible, because I want to give the kids a chance to have more than a month to work,” she said.