NATCHEZ, Miss. – County supervisors are seeking people to appoint to the commission that oversees the Natchez-Adams County swimming pool. The city and county boards suspended the commission last year because it was dysfunctional.
The Board of Supervisors on Monday agreed to solicit commission candidates wanting to be considered as the public pool is approaching the summer swimming season.
After pool commission members resigned last year – prompted partly by a dispute over alcoholic beverages being allowed at private pool parties – Adams County supervisors and Natchez aldermen voted last May to disband the commission and get city-county employees to manage the pool.
The six-member pool panel got depleted last year after all members resigned except chairman Jimmy Ware, who oversaw the aquatic center’s operations. This came after the city and county boards in 2022 vetoed commission members’ policy to allow alcoholic beverages being consumed at the swimming pool during private after-hours parties.
The city and county boards were each divided 3-2 last year in voting to oust Ware and leave the commission vacancies unfilled for the duration. The majority favored having paid employees manage the pool while the minority argued that Ware was doing a good job as an appointed pool commissioner. They said city officials had been trying to “micromanage” the public pool’s operations.
The community’s only public swimming pool is jointly owned and funded by the city and county. The Liberty Park facility has been plagued by management instability since it opened in 2018. The Jackson-based YMCA was initially contracted to manage it, but it pulled out in 2019. The city and county boards appointed a pool commission to manage it, but it failed to meet for many months in 2022 and 2023 after the dispute erupted over commission members’ policy for alcoholic beverages. Aldermen said they would oust pool commission members who defied the directive against booze.
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