NATCHEZ — Tweaking a previous recommendation from the Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission, the Adams County Board of Supervisors voted to fund the position of a consolidated recreation district director with benefits.

The board had previously agreed to fund two-thirds of the recreation director’s salary, but at the request of recreation commission member Bubba Kaiser, the board voted unanimously to fund the director’s position along with benefits.

The vote came after the Rev. Clifton Marvel, representing the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, asked the county board to get moving on the long-stalled recreation proposal.

Both the county and city board of aldermen have said the other body was the holdup on recreation, largely focusing on the issue of who would fund what, Marvel said.

“I don’t understand all of this political financial transacting, but we are adjuring all of you to get it together,” Marvel said. “Come together and hatch out something that is better.”

Supervisor David Carter said the supervisors have done everything the recreation commission has asked of them, including provide for a director and vote to turn over the county’s $50,000 annual recreation budget.

Kaiser agreed with Carter the supervisors have done everything the commission has asked of them.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen recently voted to turn over all of its $1.4 million recreation budget to the recreation commission. As part of the commitment, the city board asked its attorney to find out if the supervisors would commit to $5.4 million in funding for a proposed future recreation complex.

Supervisor Calvin Butler said Monday the board can’t commit to spending until the bankruptcy and sale of Natchez Regional Medical Center are completed.

“We can’t borrow any money or take out any bonds until we save those 300 jobs (at the hospital),” he said.

The $5.4 million figure attached to a complex was originally included on the 2009 non-binding referendum Adams County voters overwhelmingly passed.

Kaiser told the supervisors the commission wasn’t asking for $5.4 million, saying that number was based on an old estimate.

“Could ($5.4 million) have been done back then?” he said. “Possibly. But the board of supervisors bought a $9 million piece of property since then, and my taxes haven’t gone up, and they bought a big building in the port, and my taxes haven’t gone up. The commission’s consensus (currently is) to get the board of supervisors’ budget and the city’s budget together and build something.”

Supervisor Mike Lazarus said the county could have built the recreation complex in 2009, but the county’s economic development commitments have changed things.

“The Rentech property wasn’t for sale then, and now that we have that property, we are marketing it — and jobs come first,” he said. “When we get this hospital sale behind us, we may free up some capital in a lot of ways.”

A lot of new ideas have been brought up in the last five years, Kaiser said, and all the commission wants is to have a director so long-range plans can be formulated.

“For the commission to ask for $5.4 million right now is premature,” he said. “We are not asking for anything other than to get the director hired.”

Natchez Alderman Ricky Gray was present at the meeting, and said the issue for him was fairness and the even allocation of funds from both boards.

“If we are going to go all in with $1.3 million from the city, $50,000 from the county is not all in,” he said.

Supervisors President Darryl Grennell said the issue was not that the board was unwilling to fund recreation.

The board can’t commit to building something that isn’t planned, he said.

“Basically, it is let’s hire a director first, and he or she can come up with a plan, come to us and say, ‘County board, this is the plan,’” Grennell said.

Gray said he agreed with that idea.

The director can serve as a point person to meet with members of the community to get a feel for what the new consensus on recreation is, Kaiser said.

“At 50 weeks a year, basically $4,000 a day is spent on recreation just by the city,” he said. “Can we as a commission — with a director — look at that budget and possibly build something and then come to the board of supervisors for money to expand? Can we build something with that, I don’t know.”

The supervisors had previously committed to providing $45,000 for the director. At the time, the figure was considered to be two-thirds of the salary for the proposed position.

When the board voted Monday, the members reaffirmed the $45,000 number along with benefits as the salary.

“If the applicants need more, they can reapproach us at that time,” Grennell said.

Lazarus said having the county fund the position and the benefits made for easier bookkeeping.

Kaiser said now that the county has agreed to fund the position outright rather than jointly with the city, the commission will wait for the city to hand over its recreation budget.

“The commission has jointly moved that we are not willing to (hire a director) until the city and county are fully funding their (recreation) budgets to us,” he said.

“We are not hiring a director until we are fully controlling that check book on both sides, so this doesn’t mean we are going out to find a director tomorrow.”

Natchez Mayor Butch Brown and Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis were also present at the meeting, but did not speak during the recreation discussion.