NATCHEZ — A project to widen and improve Morgantown Road is making progress and is expected to go to bids within the next 30 days, officials said.

Adams County Board of Supervisors Attorney Scott Slover said of 64 parcels of land needed for rights-of-way on the project to widen the road and add curbs and gutters, 12 parcels still need to be obtained.

“Most residents understand the need to obtain the land, we just have a little trouble communicating with these owners,” Slover said, adding the board would consider eminent domain proceedings to obtain the remaining properties. “We are probably 30 days from this project leaving my desk.”

After the property is acquired, the project can be advertised for bids.

The remaining rights-of-way properties, he said, are mostly small bits of land, 1/10th of an acre to 2/10ths of an acre and would not require any material changes to any of the properties.

The Morgantown Road project has been in the works for approximately 13 years and was started four years after an 18-year-old crossing guard, Casey Schrock, was killed at the intersection of Morgantown and Booker roads in 2001.

The county has been acquiring rights-of-way access on the road since 2009, but faced difficulties due to existing utilities.

In other matters at Monday’s Adams County Board of Supervisors meeting, the board:

* Granted Delta Energy Group a power line right-of-way and a little extra land at the former International Paper mill site so the company can expand and add a few jobs to the its existing 40-person payroll. Also, the board unanimously agreed to pay the difference in the cost of rebuilding a roof and the insurance payout on the Delta facility’s roof damaged by a tornado last year. The difference in payout insurance payout was $17,766.78.

* Presented $500 scholarships each to Danielle Marie Brown, a recent Trinity Episcopal Day School graduate and Natchez High School graduate Faith G. Lewis. The scholarships came from donations from each of the five supervisors.

* Heard a report from the Jane Hulon, Ph.D., new president of Copiah-Lincoln Community College. Hulon said the school had recently been honored by the Aspen Institute as one of the top 150 community colleges in nation and by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the top colleges for which to work. She said the Natchez campus would have approximately the same number of students as last year, which was 714. She thanked the county for contributing funding to the school and asked for the same amount of funding this year as previous years. The funding is set by a 2.67 millage rate and supervisors will keep the millage the same but County Administrator Joe Murray pointed out assessments are down approximately 2 percent so the amount the school receives from the millage will be down this year.

* Heard from Daye Dearing of Alcorn State University’s School of Business, who thanked the board for hiring an intern from the school this summer and asked the board to consider hiring another intern next summer.

* Appointed Dan Bland to fill an empty seat on the Adams County Port Commission.

* Heard a request from Jerry Cain of Concept Petroleum Energy Corporation expressing interest in purchasing former International Paper land from the county. The matter was discussed in executive session and no action was taken.

* Accepted an award from County Judge Walt Brown. He presented a Parent Representation Task Force certificate from the Mississippi Supreme Court to the board in appreciation for the board’s participation in the program to provide attorneys for parents in youth court.

* Approved several travel requests, including one for District 2 Supervisor David Carter and District 1 Supervisor Mike Lazarus to attend a Mississippi Leaders conference in Washington, D.C., for two nights. Other travel requests were in state, including five people to travel to Rankin County for a Mississippi Emergency Management meeting Aug. 23; fire coordinator Darryl Smith to travel to Starkville; Chancery Clerk Brandi Smith to travel to Jackson for domestic abuse training.

* Unanimously approved paying a $130,196 invoice to Camo Construction and JKS engineering for work on the Belwood Levee project.

* Heard a report from Adams County Emergency Services Coordinator Robert Bradford announcing a simulated emergency training scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Assembly of God Church that will involve fire, law enforcement and ambulance services.

* Agreed to add speed humps to Ratcliff Road after 80 percent of residents signed a petition requesting the installation.

* Removed seven properties from the tax rolls that were erroneously added, according to Lewis; and unanimously approved Lewis’ request to equalize the tax rolls; Lewis reminded people of the 2015 tax redemption deadline of 5 p.m. Aug. 29 to settle debt. Taxes can be paid with cashier’s check or money orders. Anyone with questions can call 601-446-6684

* Agreed to advertise a new road adoption ordinance that would allow the board a two-year period to review roads before deciding to adopt them.

* Voted 4-1, with District 4 Supervisor James “Ricky” Gray dissenting, to adopt Azalea Gardens road into county maintenance.

* Approved a $3,000 per year pay raise plus benefits for five court reporters — three in circuit court and two in chancery court — that is phase three of a pay raise enacted four years ago by the Mississippi Legislature. The raise takes the court reporters’ salaries from $58,000 to $65,000.

* Had preliminary budget discussions with the sheriff’s office to brainstorm on ways to keep costs down, Slover said.

* Recessed until 1 p.m. today to resume budget discussions.