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NATCHEZ, Miss. – The Natchez Visitor Center is expected to reopen in late 2026 after the National Park Service completes refurbishing it.

Now part of the Natchez National Historical Park, the formerly city-owned facility closed in 2023 for extensive renovations. At a cost of more than $6 million, the ongoing project includes about $4.5 million for installing a new air-conditioning unit, $500,000 for new roofing and more than $1 million redoing the interior, said NNHP Superintendent Kathleen Bond.

Meeting Tuesday with Natchez aldermen and Mayor Dan Gibson, Bond said interior remodeling will include new reception counters, new exhibits, a Natchez film for tourists to view and relocating the gift shop/bookstore closer to the building’s front.

“They’re not big changes because you can’t do big changes for the amount of money we’ve got,” Bond said.

She noted the visitor center’s glass-walled skywalk overlooking the bayou and Mississippi River might have to be removed because of ground erosion problems. 

The Natchez Visitor Center’s planned reopening next year is to coincide with the United States Semiquincentennial, which marks the 250th anniversary of the country’s independence.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen in 2020 donated the 1998-built structure to the National Park Service to relieve the city from the financial burdens of maintaining the facility by the Mississippi River bridges.

NATCHEZ, Miss. – City aldermen have appointed Natchez attorney Terrence Hunter to be interim municipal judge when incumbent Christina Daugherty leaves office April 30 to become an assistant district attorney.

Hunter will be city judge while Natchez prepares for a special election expected this summer for voters to pick someone to serve the remaining three years of the term.

Hunter was appointed Tuesday by aldermen after they also considered two other lawyers applying for the job: Tim Blalock and Pierce Beach.

Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson praised the aldermen’s selection and described Hunter as someone who will be a “fair” and “compassionate” but “strong” judge.

The municipal court’s jurisdiction includes minor criminal offenses, such as shoplifting and disorderly conduct, and unkempt properties deemed by the city as public nuisances.

As he presides over such court cases, Hunter will “help us make Natchez a safer place and a more beautiful place,” Gibson said. “We have a lot of dilapidated-property issues, and it will be good to have a judge who will help us in that regard.”

Hunter – a Natchez native – began practicing law in 2021.  He’s a solo practitioner. He’s the least experienced of the three candidates considered by aldermen to be judge. Blalock has been an attorney in private practice since 2006. Beach began his law career in 2013. He’s a law clerk for the Natchez-based 6th Circuit Court District.

Daugherty is resigning as city judge less than a year after she was elected in June 2024 without opposition. She was previously appointed to the post by aldermen and took office in January 2024 to replace Lisa Jordan Dale, who also resigned the city judgeship to become an assistant district attorney in the 6th Circuit Court District.

NATCHEZ, Miss. – The city has been awarded $300,000 in federal funds for Natchez’ workforce development program that trains people for jobs provided by area employers.

While the federal government has been imposing spending cuts since President Trump took office in January, Natchez is lucky to receive such a grant, said Mayor Dan Gibson.

“This is exciting news when everybody thought that funds are starting to slow down – and they are – from our federal government,” Gibson said. “For the city of Natchez to receive … (this) workforce development award through the Delta Regional Authority – it’s quite significant, and we are so grateful.”

The DRA is an agency of federal and state governments that fosters economic and community development in Mississippi, Louisiana and six other states.

The $300,000 awarded to Natchez last week is geared for training dislocated workers, military veterans and former inmates recently freed from prison, said Natchez Workforce Development Director Tuwanna Williams.

At training sessions held at Copiah-Lincoln Community College’s Natchez campus, students are taught various skills to be carpenters, plumbers, electricians and other lines of work. Scholarships or stipends are offered to those enrolled in the courses.

The $300,000 federal grant is similar to the $443,600 awarded to Natchez in 2023 to train people for in-demand jobs offered by local businesses. Those funds were programmed to train 125 people a year during a three-year period for working in manufacturing, health care and other employment sectors.

Meeting with Gibson and the Natchez Board of Aldermen on Tuesday, Williams noted her program needs more instructors and space for the growing number of students and courses being offered at the Co-Lin campus. 

For example, an electrical training class recently began there with 27 students. “Given the growing demand for skilled trade professionals, we’re proud to launch an initiative that not only provides training but also uplifts our community,” Williams said last month in announcing the class. “This marks just the beginning. We’re eager to soon expand into plumbing, construction, and masonry.”

Willliams was hired in 2021 to manage the newly created Natchez workforce development program, which is largely funded by state and federal funds. 

For more information about the program, go to its website: natchezworkforce.com 

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Work is expected to begin soon to correct the flawed resurfacing of Homochitto and Canal streets. 

City officials have been haggling since December with the street contractor for the million-dollar job that proved to be deficient. However, steps to rectify the flawed work are set to take place later this month or early May, said Natchez Public Works Supervisor Justin Dollar.

Meeting Tuesday with Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson and city aldermen, Dollar said an agreement between him, engineers and the street-paving contractors has been reached on what needs to be done to fix the defects that have been reported.

“They are working to get some things in order. … The last week of April or the first week of May is when they intend to move back in to mill or overlay the deficient areas that have been outlined in the report,” he said.

While pavement was placed in March on severely rough sections left bare by the contractor in December on Homochitto Street, more work is to be done on it and Canal Street that will involve removing and reapplying asphalt.

“It’s not everyday that the city gets to do such a major job, and (it’s good) to know that job is going to be done correctly,” Gibson said.

“I want to underscore that this is at no additional cost to the city.” 

The mayor acknowledged Theobald’s cooperation for getting the project finished and commended another paving company – APAC – that “stepped in” to help. The company supplied the asphalt and repaired Homochitto Street’s pavement-stripped sections in March where it intersects with Martin Luther King Street at The Malt Shop and also by the Adams County Family Health Center at Duncan Avenue. 

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County supervisors plan to interview applicants for the county administrator job that was vacated when Stephanie Washington resigned last month to become Indianola’s city clerk.

About 20 people have applied for the job that offers an annual salary of $100,000 to be Adams County’s chief operating officer. The Board of Supervisors is to winnow the list to three people to interview. The board is scheduled to meet Thursday.

Washington resigned after just 14 months as Adams County’s administrator, a revolving-door job that’s had five occupants since 2020.

Washington was appointed by supervisors in January 2024 to coordinate and direct county government’s day-to-day operations and manage the budget. She filled a position that had been held on an interim basis for a year by Adams County Chancery Clerk Brandi Lewis, who took over the administrator’s job after the board ousted Angie King in January 2022. King was appointed in 2020, when Joe Murray retired after 10 years as county administrator.

Supervisors on Monday voted to appoint board attorney Scott Slover as interim county administrator for what board President Kevin Wilson said could just be two or three weeks before the board agrees on who to pick as a permanent administrator. Slover is to be paid an extra $800 a week in addition to what he earns as board attorney. Wilson wanted to appoint Lewis as interim administrator, but the board deadlocked on that motion. 

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County supervisors talked Monday about completely emptying the dilapidated county jail of the few inmates it holds and moving them to the Concordia Parish prison, where most county inmates are already. 

As the Board of Supervisors continues struggling to find ways to build a new jail, the existing 50-year-old facility has worsened to the point it should be shuttered, said board President Kevin Wilson. 

The county jail holds a daily average of about 20 inmates while about 70 Adams County prisoners are detained daily in Concordia Parish, according to numbers provided by Sheriff Travis Patten.

Adams County pays neighboring Concordia Parish to detain long-term inmates, but some are considered by the Louisiana jailers too dangerous or difficult to take, Wilson said. However, he said discussions with Concordia Parish Sheriff David Hedrick will take place about his facility accepting all Adams County inmates.

The Concordia Parish Correctional Facility – located on state Highway 15 near Ferriday about 15 miles from Natchez – also incarcerates inmates arrested by the Natchez Police Department.

The Adams County Jail, built in 1975, has been deemed unsustainable, unsafe and largely uninhabitable as it has endured various structural and mechanical problems over the years. It’s become a major liability the county must rid itself of, Wilson said. “We can’t keep putting it off,” he said.

County supervisors have had several studies, plans and cost estimates presented to them in recent years for a new jail, with the most recent being a proposition using recycled modular structures from the private prison located near Natchez. The head of a Texas-based prison construction company told supervisors in March he’ll draw up specific plans and cost estimates for what he said is a less-expensive, cost-efficient alternative for building a new jail. 

A report prepared by jail experts in January for county supervisors and Patten detailed the need for a new jail with various projections and alternatives on how many inmates it should be built for. A “best-case scenario” has a jail built to hold 99 inmates. A “worst-case scenario” has 188 inmates. Capacity is driven largely by inmates’ average length of stays, which has increased in recent years to 30 days but could be reduced by taking various steps, according to the report prepared by the consultants at Justice Planners and Detention Operations.

Supervisors on Monday closed the public out of part of their discussions with Patten about closing the old jail, but – after they reopened the meeting – the sheriff did express concerns about how this would impact his staff. “I can’t afford to lose more personnel,” said Patten, who noted he has four jailers with two per shift.

Even if the jail is vacated of inmates, sheriff’s deputies will still be needed to securely transport inmates to Concordia Parish.

“I know it’s going to be a logistical nightmare,” Wilson said.