In their regular meeting Tuesday:

• Accepted for information an order from Circuit Judge Isadore Patrick hiring Melanie N. Sanders as court administrator.

Sanders, 30, a three-time Miss Vicksburg between 1999 and 2004 and named Miss Atlanta in 2005, was hired officially Jan. 1, according to the order Patrick signed Dec. 15. She graduated from Spelman College in 2003.

The position’s salary will remain at $51,000, the same amount retired administrator Brenda Williams was paid, the order said.

• Authorized advertising for a construction contract for the second phase of the bayou-clearing project, an effort funded by a Katrina-related disaster grant with aims to clear Glass, Hatcher and Stouts bayous of debris.

Work has stalled following a small test site around Round Alley after too few landowners offered to donate property along the ditch so crews can enter legally.

• Accepted for information word that $14,704 in grant money from the Mississippi Department of Health has been approved.

The money cover equipment purchases for emergency responders in the county’s six volunteer fire departments and for dues in the state Emergency Medical Services district.

• Approved a tax abatement for Riverbend Land & Development LLC, the holding company that owns the former Super 10 building on Washington Street.

The tax break is tied to development in historic districts. Taxes are exempted in the county for six years and in the city for seven years starting this year, meaning only school taxes will be owed for the period.

• Approved travel expenses for District 1 Supervisor David McDonald to accompany other local officials on an annual lobbying trip to Washington, D.C. District 2 Supervisor William Banks voted against the allowance.

• Reappointed Lonnie Boykin to the Mississippi Regional Housing No. 6 Board of Commissioners.