No historic district or districts shall be designated until the Mississippi Department of Archives and History has been notified by certified letter by the governing authority of a municipality or county and invited to make recommendations concerning the proposed district boundaries. The Mississippi Department of Archives and History may comment by letter, telephone, e-mail or in person through designated staff. The boundary of a historic district or landmark or landmark site may follow the formal legal description of a tax parcel or parcels or, because of historical justification or topographical conditions, may deviate from such formal legal descriptions. When a boundary deviates from formal legal descriptions, there must be written justification for such a deviation in any local designating ordinance.
When a municipality or county has already created by ordinance a local historic preservation commission, that commission shall jointly notify both the governing authority of the municipality or county and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History that a historic district is being proposed and recommended and shall provide to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History the dates of the next two (2) public meetings of the governing authority at which action on the designation of such a district might be taken so that the Mississippi Department of Archives and History may comment in a timely manner. Failure of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to comment by the date of the second such meeting shall relieve the municipality or county of any responsibility for awaiting and responding to such analysis, and the body may at any time thereafter take any necessary action to create the proposed historic district.
When a municipality or county has not previously created by ordinance a local historic preservation commission and the governing authority proposes to create such a commission, the governing authority must give the Mississippi Department of Archives and History an opportunity to comment on the proposed provisions for such an ordinance, unless such ordinance is substantially identical to any model local historic preservation ordinance which has been recommended and promulgated by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Whenever the Mississippi Department of Archives and History is invited to comment on the terms of a proposed local historic preservation ordinance, failure of the department to comment within forty-five (45) days after a written request for comments has been received shall relieve the governing authority of any responsibility to wait further for such comments.