NATCHEZ — Members of the Adams County Board of Supervisors attended this week an ethics and educational seminar in the state capital.

The Mississippi Association of Supervisors hosted its new term orientation in at the Hilton in Jackson this week, and every returning supervisor and District 4 supervisor-elect Ricky Gray attended.

The sessions included education about purchasing laws, ethics and State Aid roadwork.

District 2 Supervisor David Carter said the session was essentially a reminder of information the supervisors might have forgotten over the last four years.

“It was a refresher to help recalibrate us, to present some new information,” he said. “We need to be sure we are not breaking any laws.”

One thing all the supervisors walked away from the ethics session with was a discussion about how board members can’t skirt public meeting laws.

“If we have someone who meets with two supervisors in the morning, and then two more later in the day and then one in the evening, that is still considered a meeting even though there is not a quorum there,” District 1 Supervisor Mike Lazarus said.

Gray, whose experience as a city alderman is similar to the beat system, said the sessions he was a part of outlined how county governments operate on a unit system rather than a beat system.

In the unit system, things such as road management are directed by the road department rather than directly by the board, which hires the road manager.

Gray said the conference was a good opportunity to network with other newly elected and experienced supervisors.

“I found out we had quite a few mayors and aldermen who are now supervisors, so I met a lot of old friends there who went from city government to county government.”

Carter said the conference served as a chance to meet and connect with other regional supervisors, including the five new board members in Jefferson County.

“We need from time-to-time to touch base with those folks,” he said. “We don’t see them but a few times a year, but we do work with them on regional grants.”

District 3 Supervisor Angela Hutchins, who along with Carter and District 5 Supervisor Calvin Butler is completing her first term, said it’s also a good chance to learn from those whose experience is wider than her own.

“It is good to network with people, because there are some people who have been there many more years than you have, and you can network with them and pick up what they know that you don’t know,” she said.

Hutchins said she also attended a session that clarified what kinds of revenue counties can collect and what county boards can and can’t do in response to school district tax increases.