Mississippi Code Title 57. Planning, Research and Development § 57-31-1

Any county in the State of Mississippi bordering on the Mississippi-Alabama state line, traversed by the Tombigbee River and in which is situated a senior institution of higher learning under the control of the Board of Trustees of Institutions of Higher Learning of the State of Mississippi, where the board of supervisors of such county shall find and determine that the public convenience and necessity requires the same, as evidenced by a resolution duly adopted and entered on the official minutes of such board, shall establish an industrial development authority, to be known as the industrial development authority of such county. The county industrial development authority shall be composed of seven (7) resident citizens of such county, who shall be qualified electors therein, appointed by the board of supervisors of such county for a term of four (4) years. One (1) member of such authority shall be appointed by the board of supervisors from each of the five (5) supervisors' districts of said county, and the remaining two (2) members thereof shall be appointed from the county-at-large by said board of supervisors, from a list of four (4) nominees recommended by a nonprofit industrial development foundation operating within such county. Upon the creation of such authority, the members appointed thereto from supervisor district numbers one (1) and two (2) of such county shall be appointed for a term of one (1) year; the members thereof appointed from supervisor district numbers three (3) and four (4) shall be appointed for a term of two (2) years; the members thereof appointed from the county-at-large shall be appointed for a term of three (3) years; and the members thereof appointed from supervisor district number five (5) shall be appointed for a term of four (4) years. Thereafter, all appointments to such authority shall be for a term of four (4) years, or until a successor is qualified and appointed.

Said authority may, with the approval of the board of supervisors of the county in which the same is situated, authorize appointment of two (2) additional associate members of said authority to be appointed by the board of supervisors of any counties adjacent and contiguous to the county in which such authority is created, to serve without a vote.