NATCHEZ — From now on, former Gov. Bill Allain will be watching over the government functions of Adams County.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors dedicated Tuesday an official portrait of Allain in the county courthouse. Allain died in December, and shortly thereafter the supervisors adopted a resolution stating his portrait would hang in the courthouse in perpetuity.

Allain was a Washington-area native and practiced law in Natchez before he was appointed assistant attorney general in the 1960s. He was elected state attorney general in 1979 and served as governor from 1984 to 1988. During his tenure, he oversaw educational reform and the restructuring of the state government.

Allain’s nephew Bill Peale hung the portrait with the help of other family members and Allain’s former college roommate and former county administrator Charlie Brown, who said he met Allain in the first grade and remained friends with him throughout his life. Family members described the former governor as “passionate about Mississippi.”

“Uncle Bill always wanted to come back to Natchez, but he got busy in Jackson and never made it,” Peale said. “Now he is in the courthouse watching over the supervisors to make sure you are as frugal with the taxpayers’ money as he was.”

In other news:

4The board approved a three-year contract with Receivable Solutions Services to serve as the county’s collection agency for delinquent justice court and sanitation fees.

Board Attorney Scott Slover said RSS — which has been the board’s collection agency for several years — has now offered to help the county track down problem accounts to notify them to come to court ahead of time.

“They have agreed to send us a list of names each week that there is a good chance they can collect on,” he said. “They are going to help us identify potential accounts they think are collectable.”

County Administrator Joe Murray said the contract will also include the collection of delinquent personal property taxes on mobile homes.

“That is something that has never really been collected before in addition to the justice court and sanitation fees,” he said. “You need to go ahead and start paying it now to keep that extra cost of collection fees from being added to your fines.”

RSS operates as the county’s collection agency at no cost to the county. Instead, the company adds a processing fee to be paid by those who owe the fine on top of what is owed the county.

Slover said once an account has been turned over to RSS, it remains with RSS until the contract expires, but the agreement does not bar the county from adding another collection service if needed.

4The supervisors adopted a resolution to be sent to the state legislature urging the state body to change how section 42 housing is assessed for taxes.

Section 42 housing is low-income housing for which property developers receive tax credits for building.

Under a supreme court opinion issued last year, how the properties are assessed will now negatively affect Adams County by approximately $500,000 across its city, county and school jurisdictions, Slover said.

4The supervisors voted to reduce the amount of taxes owed on the former Brumfield School apartments by New Hope Missionary Baptist Church pending the advice of the Mississippi Department of Revenue.

New Hope Pastor the Rev. Stanley Searcy said the apartments should have been assessed as owned by a non-profit once they were purchased by the church last year. The church already has the Washington Apartments — 30 units of affordable housing located adjacent to the church — under a housing non-profit.

Tax Assessor Reynolds Atkins said the commercial assessment of the property was his mistake, and he requested the board exempt the property for 251 days of 2013.

The church will still owe $6,591 in taxes after the reduction.

Searcy has previously announced the church’s plans to renovate the building and operate the apartments as low-income housing.

4The board met in executive session to discuss the potential sale of Natchez Regional Medical Center.

They also discussed the potential lease of property in the Natchez-Adams County Port and had an unrelated planning session for potential litigation.