A Mid-Delta Empowerment Zone Alliance grant for $158,000 that has already been spent on Leflore County's business incubator has suddenly turned into a loan that the Board of Supervisors doesn't want.
The board went behind closed doors Monday to discuss its options, including the possibility of a lawsuit against MDEZA.
Supervisors voted back in November 2001 to accept the grant for the Leflore County Business & Manufacturing Development Center.
"I was under the impression that this was a grant," Board President Robert Moore said Monday. "I think everybody who has been associated with this up to this point was under the impression that this was a grant. And now it has turned into a loan."
Willie Perkins, the board's attorney, said he noticed the apparent switch Monday in a contract from MDEZA.
"The document submitted to me as a proposed agreement clearly indicated they meant it to be a loan," Perkins said. "It indicated that the funds are to be repaid over a period of 15 years."
Said Moore, "It will probably involve litigation."
