NATCHEZ — The Natchez-Adams School District Board of Trustees made a verbal commitment toward building a new high school Monday, provided financing could be found.

Trustees also hired a financial advisor to look into how much money could be fielded toward the approximately $42 million venture of building a new high school.

On Monday three members of the board met with representatives from construction consultant Volkert Inc. to discuss the district’s options of renovating or building a new Natchez High School or Frazier Elementary.

Washington School renovations were also on the table, but Interim Superintendent Fred Butcher said problems with the sewage system at the school make it unfeasible financially for the amount of relief it would bring to the district’s overcrowding at the elementary level.

Butcher said in an ideal world he’d like to build a new high school in the beanfield next door to the current school. Once the school is completed, he’d then like to renovate Natchez High School, move the middle school to that location, close down Frazier Elementary School and use the Morgantown school as an elementary campus.

It would cost more than $60 million to renovate Natchez High School and build a new high school next door.

Renovating Frazier Elementary would cost approximately $11 million. Building a new elementary school would cost $17 million, but Philip Russell with Volkert said that figure would not include land costs.

Russell said room exists in these construction estimates to trim some costs, as Volkert opted for a conservative middle-of-the-road option. Russell also said because construction would be moving next door when the new high school was complete, that would also save money.

Regarding renovation, Russell said these two buildings were built in the 1960s and are starting to show their age. Renovations could improve the campuses — but compromises would still exist, particularly in the area of technology.

“Technology was not thought of when the schools were built, as it should not have been,” he said.

Renovations would improve security on the campuses by closing up the outdoor walkways and courtyards, Russell said.

Russell said he had Volkert’s financial consultant run some numbers and leveeing the 3 mills remaining before the district hits the 55 mill cap and with 16th section land interest the district could generate approximately $19 million over a number of years.

Russell said in 2017 and 2018, two existing district bonds will be retired, which could help the district get to the level of funding needed to build a new high school. Russell said the previous superintendent had led consultants to believe the two bonds were in perpetuity, but that’s not the case.

Should the public elect to pass a referendum to renew the bonds going off the book, Russell said it is possible the new high school could be built without any new taxes.

Russell said he did not know exactly what the bonds were worth and he recommended the district hire a financial consultant to dig into precisely what the district could raise.

Board attorney Bruce Kuehnle and Business Manager Monica Anderson said they did not know what the millage leveed on the bonds were.

The board voted 3-0 with Benny Wright and Amos James Jr. absent to bring on Tony Gaylor of Chambers & Gaylor Law Firm of Jackson to be the district’s financial consultant. Gaylor is originally from Natchez.

Trustees Cynthia Smith and Phillip West both said their top priorities were building a new high school.

“What the general public wants to know is, ‘How much does this cost me in terms of dollars and cents each year?’” Smith said. “That’s the thing we need to point out that your kids in Natchez-Adams are worth, say, $25 dollars a year.

“When you put it like that, many people will say, ‘Yes.’”

West said the facilities would add efficiencies that help improve education and save costs.

“It’s about more than the children. This is a total community deal,” he said. “You are talking about economic development, business development — they are all interconnected.”

Another aspect to consider, Russell said, is a new high school would likely enable the district to capture some of the children attending private and parochial schools.

While the beanfield site has enough acres for a new high school, Recreation Commission Chairman Tate Hobdy said the land’s future use was already committed to recreation. To build a new high school on the beanfield site would require a vote from not only the school board, but also the Adams County Board of Supervisors and the Natchez Board of Aldermen because of an interlocal agreement involving the recreation district.

Hobdy said the commission’s intent at this point is to use the site for a recreation project,

“If it is decided for the common good that something else needs to go there, that’s fine,” he said. “But we would still like to use the bean field.”