Monticello will not be named a Mississippi Retirement Community,officials said.

“While the committee was most impressed with your community ingeneral, there were some areas, however, in which improvements needto be made,” Diana O’Toole, program manager for the MississippiDevelopment Authority, said in a news release.

O’Toole is out of town this week and was unavailable forcomment.

In the release, O’Toole said Monticello has many assets. Shecited the Atwood Music Festival; Atwood Water Park; an adequatehospital for a town of Monticello’s size; an active senior citizenscenter; an active civic center with a community theater; acreageavailable for residential development; and outstanding communitysupport.

However, in turning down Monticello’s request to join theprogram O’Toole cited six areas the town needed to improve uponbefore they could be included.

Mayor David Nichols expressed some dismay with the decision andsaid some of the six recommended steps were already in place andothers were ongoing.

The MDA recommended Monticello “continue proactive downtowndevelopment.”

Nichols said the town has been pursuing that goal for severalyears and has made great strides in the past half decade.

“We are constantly striving to develop our downtown. That’s thewhole purpose of the projected boulevard (to link the Highway 84Bypass to downtown),” he said.

The MDA also pointed to two appearance issues – continuing toclean up the appearance of entrances into the town and revisitingzoning to have areas zoned for mobile homes not located in thecenter of town.

Nichols said the town is addressing appearance issues. The cityattorney is currently reviewing a new state law givingmunicipalities more authority to have property owners clean uptheir property and to see if the board needs to modify an existingordinance.

As to the zoning, the mayor said, “mobile homes are not locatedin the center of town. We have strong zoning laws.”

More residential housing was one area where the mayor agreedwith the recommendations. He said a housing development on Highway27 South is in its preliminary stages, but more would beneeded.

The last two recommendations from MDA were simply wrong, hesaid.

The state agency asked the town to consider reallocating theduties of retirement director from the city clerk so that positionwould not be overwhelmed by the additional duties.

Those duties were always planned for the deputy city clerk,Nichols said.

MDA was also in error, he said, when they recommended Monticellodevelop a local TRIAD program for senior adults.

“We already have one of the largest TRIADs in the state. It’sbeen a model for some others,” Nichols said.

The Lawrence County TRIAD includes the town, Sheriff’sDepartment, Neighborhood Watch programs, high school, CommunityDevelopment Association, and several others, he said.

The mayor said he is working to clarify the issues presented inthe release with the Hometown Mississippi Retirement Programofficials. He does not consider the issue closed until the town isreconsidered with the appropriate corrections.

“I think with some clarification, if they’re going to let anyonein we have as good a chance as anyone,” Nichols said.

At stake for the municipalities is a huge boon in marketinginfluence promoting their towns as a ideal living area forretirees. Retirees are recruited because many become very active incommunity organizations and their economic impact is equivalent toa small industry.

Mississippi currently has 18 municipalities and one regioncertified as state retirement communities, including Brookhaven andMcComb.

The program was created about a decade ago and closedimmediately after completing the first round of certification. Thisis the first time the program has been reopened to allow for moreentrants since it was established.

Monticello made the short list of 10 municipalities underconsideration, but MDA has not decided on how many, if any, ofthose towns will be added to the program.

“Certification is going to a large degree on our funding,”O’Toole said earlier in the process.

The program’s budget has been cut in recent years. Each newentry into the program means less money individually for thosealready in the program as the shared funding is stretched further,she said.

“I understand with a reduced budget it’s hard to let newmunicipalities in, but I would hope that when additional fundingbecomes available Monticello would be accepted into the program,”Nichols said.