Adams Co. Supervisors seek new building to house E911 Operations

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County supervisors have purchased property off Liberty Road to relocate Natchez-Adams County’s E911 emergency-dispatching operations, which are currently housed in the problem-plagued county jail building.

The board bought the property by Waters International Trucks on Feltus Street for $120,000, said county board attorney Scott Slover.

While county and city officials have been discussing in recent years the need to move the emergency-call operations they jointly fund, no agreement has been reached by the supervisors, mayor and aldermen.

County supervisors have been wanting to purchase a building, but city officials have favored reconfiguring space available at the Natchez police station as a cheaper alternative for the E911 dispatching center.

Mayor Dan Gibson and aldermen are asking contractors to submit cost proposals for renovations at the Natchez Police Department by July 18.

The discord about where to put E911 has raised chances the city and county will dissolve the consolidated dispatching operations and go separate ways.

E911 operators take phone calls from people in need of police, fire and ambulance services. The dispatchers have been housed for several years in the basement of the Adams County Jail and Sheriff’s Office. The building is substandard with various structural problems in recent years that have included raw sewage occasionally seeping from the upstairs county jail down to the E911 center.

It’s been costing about $660,000 a year to operate the local E911 service, with Adams County and Natchez jointly paying the expenses. In addition to a new facility, upgraded equipment is needed to replace antiquated fixtures, according to E911 operators.

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Adams County supervisors are seeking a debris-removal company to be on standby and be quickly called upon when needed for storm-cleanup operations. County Emergency Management Director Brad Bradford told supervisors Monday they need to be “proactive” in having a company contracted soon during this hurricane season. A contract would spell out the terms of what a debris-removal company would do and how much it’ll charge, he said.