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NATCHEZ, Miss. – City water is now safe to drink after lab tests showed Natchez’ water system has recovered from getting drained by broken pipes and leaks during last week’s ice storm.

“It’s been an overwhelming situation,” said Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson, who announced Tuesday evening that the city’s precautionary boil-water alert has been lifted. It was imposed Feb. 17, when frigid temperatures and icy precipitation crippled the city.

The city’s water crisis and power outages have been resolved, but Natchez and its residents face a massive cleanup job and costly repairs after the winter storm caused trees and water pipes to break and widespread structural damage.

The city is contracting an Arkansas-based company to help assess the ice storm’s devastation and estimate the costs of recovery — including picking up residents’ storm debris — with hopes federal funds will be forthcoming.

Last week’s ice storm caused “extensive damage to this community. This is very expensive damage,” Gibson said.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen voted Tuesday to contract ER Assist Inc. to help the city document what the winter calamity did to Natchez and help navigate the process for seeking state and federal funds to pay for cleanup and repairs. Gibson said city leaders will join with Adams County officials to assess the widespread damage so they can maximize the amount of money the community receives to help pay for the recovery expenses.

In addition to hiring special disaster-assessment personnel, Gibson said the city will contract workers to collect the piles of tree limbs and other storm debris that residents are being asked to gather from their properties and place on street curbs.

The city’s Public Works Department doesn’t have enough employees and equipment to do this job, the mayor said, but “We will get the manpower we need and we’ll get it done. The goal is it will be done quickly and it will not cost the city. Ultimately, we will be reimbursed dollar for dollar” by state and federal governments.

Adams County Emergency Management Director Brad Bradford has encouraged people with ice-storm property damage — such as from leaky roofs and broken trees – to file an online report with the county:

https://www.adamscountyms.net

Or

https://www.crisistrack.com/public/adamsMS/request.html

This will help the city and county as it seeks federal disaster-recovery funds. Even property owners covered by insurance should report their damage. The damage report form also includes information for debris removal.

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County supervisors commended the work of utility workers, law officers, firemen, emergency management officials and other essential workers responding to last week’s disastrous ice storm.

“It wasn’t easy,” said county board President Angela Hutchins.

Meeting Monday for the first time since snow and ice crippled Adams County, the Board of Supervisors ratified Hutchins’ weather-emergency declaration she signed last week. This helps pave the way for Adams County to seek state and federal funds to assist in the recovery.

Ice, rain, and fallen trees damaged structures, caused widespread power outages and blocked roadways. Broken and leaking pipes drained public water systems, rendering their output temporarily undrinkable.

While reports Monday show most Natchez and Adams County residents have had their electricity restored, Adams County Emergency Management Director Brad Bradford said some power outages remain. “Everybody has to be patient right now. There are a lot of lines down,” said Bradford, noting utility workers have been working long hours making repairs since power went out beginning Wednesday.

Bradford encouraged people with ice-storm structural damage — such as from leaky roofs and fallen trees – to file an online report with the county:

https://www.adamscountyms.net or https://www.crisistrack.com/public/adamsMS/request.html

This will help the county as it seeks federal disaster-recovery funds. Even property owners covered by insurance should report their damage. The damage-report form also includes information for debris removal.

Bradford expressed hope Monday the local boil-water precautionary measures could be lifted Tuesday when laboratory tests show water is safe to drink after running with low pressure for several days. Natchez Water Works and city officials have posted reports saying city water could be safe to drink by Wednesday.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reported Monday that the county jail’s water pipes burst during last week’s freeze, causing a flood and extensive damage to the facility and equipment.

Mayor Dan Gibson noted nearly 7,000 Entergy customers in Natchez were without electricity at the peak of the power blackout.

“This has been a tough time for everyone, especially those still out of power. But together we’ve made it through the worst. A better week awaits. And Spring is right around the corner,” Gibson said Sunday in a post he put on Facebook.

Adams County Road Manager Robbie Dollar said county crews have been laboring to clear roads and pick up storm debris with hopes the federal government will reimburse the county for the costs. He also expressed hopes city crews will do the same for trees and limbs within Natchez.

NATCHEZ, Miss. — The Natchez Preservation Commission has approved conceptual plans for an outdoor amphitheater by the old train depot on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River.

The commission also voted Wednesday to permit the placement of a historical marker on Silver Street by the river commemorating Revolutionary War hero Lafayette’s visit to Natchez in 1825.

Changes made to structures and landscapes in Natchez’ historic district must be reviewed by the commission to ensure they’re appropriate.

The proposed amphitheater is part of the restaurant and entertainment venue that movie producers Tate Taylor and John Norris are planning at the former train station on Broadway Street. They’re close to finalizing the lease for the city-owned property with hopes to have the restaurant open this summer.

The city’s nine-member Preservation Commission OKed the amphitheater’s concept, which must also be reviewed by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History before final approval. Architect John Weaver said the sloping, semicircular seating area will be at the south section of the depot property and be terraced up toward the public walking trail and river bluff’s edge. It’ll be designed to accommodate outdoor dining, with about 15 tables, and musical performances. Weaver noted a patio will also be built on the river side of the depot.

With the outdoor property being owned by the city, commission member Liz Dantone expressed hopes it won’t be “privatized” to allow just restaurant patrons and deny access for the general public.

A state-designated Mississippi Landmark, the former passenger train station was built around 1910-1915. Its exterior was renovated in 2016 by the city, but the building has remained an empty shell as the Natchez Board of Aldermen held up plans for completing the interior’s restoration. The board in December 2019 selected Norris and Taylor to pursue their plans for the depot. Lease negotiations have been underway since then.

The Preservation Commission’s approval of the historic marker commemorating Marquis de Lafayette’s visit to Natchez came at the request of the Historic Natchez Foundation. HNF executive director Carter Burns said this is in partnership with The Lafayette Trail, a national project to document, map and mark the French hero’s farewell tour of the United States in 1824-25.

The commission agreed to let the historic marker by placed next to the Silver Street gift shop. The panel had objected to the HNF’s original plan to erect it across the street at Bailey Park. Commission members expressed concerns about the posted plaque blocking the view of the river.

Hailed for his leadership and contributions in helping the country gain independence from Great Britain 1777-1781, Lafayette was considered a celebrity unlike anyone of that time.  He traveled on the steamboat Natchez for his “Triumphal Tour”and stopped in Natchez April 1825 as he made his way up the Mississippi River visiting various cities, according to historical accounts.

NATCHEZ, Miss. –  Mayor Dan Gibson said he’s traveling to Atlanta to meet today with “international investors” interested in “technology” and “a large investment that could be related to industry” in Natchez.

Meeting Tuesday with Natchez aldermen, the mayor didn’t go into details about the business prospects. He did say the trip will also take him to Savannah to meet with local officials there, including at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Attracting and accommodating new businesses is among the top priorities of Natchez-Adams County officials as they try to bring more people, jobs and revenues to the economically struggling community. One business expansion the city gained late last year is Loss Prevention Services. The company located its corporate headquarters in the former Regions bank building at Franklin and Pearl streets with plans to eventually employ about 300 people.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen on Tuesday approved the hiring of a contractor to rebuild and landscape the old A&P parking lot, which will be used by LPS employees. As an inducement to get LPS to expand in Natchez, the state, county and city joined in putting up funds, equipment and labor for redoing the old A&P property, which included city-county crews demolishing the grocery store once there.

Stubbs NK Contractors of Natchez was the winning bidder among 10 companies seeking the parking-lot job, which calls for repaving the parking area to fit about 90 vehicles. The plans also involve installing lamps and landscaping the lot on Franklin and Wall streets. Stubbs’ $322,600 proposal was the lowest of the bids. The state is providing about $260,000 for this from the Mississippi Development Authority. LPS is putting up $88,000.

LPS is an information-technology company that helps banks and other lenders find and repossess automobiles from delinquent-paying borrowers throughout the country.

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Aldermen heard a request from Main Street restaurant owner Fred Kent to allow The Kitchen Bistro to build an outdoor dining venue at the front of  the building. While it would not block pedestrians from the Main Street sidewalk, the restaurant’s storefront expansion would take up a couple of street parking spaces, Kent said. City officials expressed support for Kent’s plans but said further review is required before giving permission.

Noting how the COVID pandemic has hurt restaurants, Kent said outdoor-dining accommodations are essential to help them survive and to encourage more people to dine out. “We’re trying to get something stirred up downtown,” he said.

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Aldermen reaffirmed their plans to lease the old Broadway Street train depot to movie producers Tate Taylor and John Norris. With plans for redeveloping the city-owned building into a restaurant having been stalled since 2016 by various complications, aldermen were asked Tuesday to vote for a “letter of intent” with the developers showing the project is still moving forward.

Doing business as Church Hill Variety, Norris said a final lease with the city board is “so close” to being finalized. He told aldermen he’s “very encouraged and enthusiastic ”about renovating and reopening the long-vacant building as a restaurant this summer. His attorney, Scott Slover, noted the plans Taylor and Norris have for the depot – along with their other nearby properties — should make the city’s north river bluff area “a really happening place.”  They have two other eateries and bars – Smoot’s Grocery and The Little Easy – and their Crooked Letter movie studio on High Street.

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Mayor Dan Gibson said the city’s new “Shift South” program has brought “phenomenal” results in getting Natchez “world-wide attention” as it tries to lure new residents by giving them money to move here.

Just one new resident so far has been lured to Natchez – a New Orleans attorney who bought a Linton Avenue house – but the initiative has gained the attention of thousands, Gibson said. They’ve read or heard about it via such news outlets as CNN, Forbes, BBC and even a TV channel in Spain, Gibson said.

Speaking Tuesday at the Natchez Board of Aldermen meeting, Gibson said 10 applications were being reviewed from people wanting to take advantage of the $6,000 grant the city will give those who qualify. They must buy a Natchez house valued at least $150,000 and commit to living in the city. The program is aimed at attracting people tired of living in big cities and can work remotely from home in “a charming, historic community” with a low cost of living

The inducement grants are to be paid in increments: $2,500 up front and $300 monthly for a year. Property and sales taxes a “Shift South” resident would pay is expected to exceed the $6,000 local government provides.

The city board in October agreed to provide the money and placed a $180,000-a-year cap on the total that can be allocated to all beneficiaries.

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Natchez aldermen on Tuesday agreed to provide $60,000 to help Adams County supervisors fix the erosion problems that threaten the Department of Human Services building. Water-drainage issues are eating away the ground underneath the county-owned structure, located on East Franklin Street by the intersection of Quitman and Melrose avenues.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors has allocated $250,000 and asked the city to chip in $60,000. The erosion is largely caused by a flawed drainage pipe maintained by the city, said municipal Public Works Supervisor Justin Dollar.

While the DHS building is owned by the county, Gibson said the city should help in responding to “a scary situation” that could have the building collapsing in a landslide.

Federal funds have also been applied toward the erosion-control project.

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The mayor reported riverboats plan to return to Natchez next month after a year-long pause caused by the coronavirus. The American Queen Steamboat Co.’s American Duchess will dock here March 18. American Cruise Lines will also return in March. Meanwhile, Gibson said, he continues discussions with the two companies and Viking Cruises about building river-docking facilities on Silver Street. Viking plans to begin Mississippi River cruises next year.

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The mayor expressed concerns Tuesday about former Natchez mayor Butch Brown, who Gibson said is in the hospital seriously ill. Brown served as mayor from 2012 to 2016 and previously from 1992 to 2000.

Gibson and aldermen also memorialized former Adams County supervisor Sammy Cauthen, who died Sunday. He served on the Adams County Board of Supervisors for 32 years through 2007. He was 80.

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City officials Tuesday accepted $16,000 from Waste Management as payment for its 2020 franchise tax, which is assessed for the right to do business in Natchez. WM collects garbage for private customers and maintains a garbage landfill in south Adams County. It’s not the waste hauler contracted by the city to collect residential trash.

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County supervisors are deciding whether to give pay raises to county road department employees that are quitting “left and right” because of low salaries, depleting the county’s ability to maintain roads and provide other essential services.

“If we get much smaller, you are all going to be hollering,” Supervisor Kevin Wilson told his colleagues Monday. “If we don’t have a road department, we’re not going to have any roads.”

Board President Angela Hutchins said calculations will be made on how much the pay raises will cost the county so supervisors can make a decision later this month.

Adams County Road Manager Robbie Dollar has been pleading with county supervisors for months to increase his workers’ wages — which he says are much lower than what’s paid in other counties — while several are quitting for higher pay elsewhere. He expressed frustrations Monday that supervisors have not acted. “I’m tired of fighting this battle,” he said. “I’m tired of beating this horse.”

“We’re going to put this to a vote (Feb. 16) because I’m tired of it, too,” said Hutchins, pointing to the board’s next scheduled meeting.

Road department employees patch up county-owned roads, remove fallen trees blocking the byways and tend to other public-works projects. While supervisors acknowledged they are essential but underpaid, they’re trying to determine how expensive the wage increases will cost and whether the county has the money. “My only problem is how are we going to pay for it,” said Supervisor Ricky Gray.

A rough estimate made at the board’s Monday meeting had it costing about $200,000 a year to give the road department’s 30 or so employees a $2-an-hour boost in pay.

While the board’s discussion focused mainly on the road department, supervisors are weighing whether other county employees could also get pay raises.

The county supervisors on Monday did approve a pay raise for Adams County Judge Walt Brown — from $132,000 a year to $145,000. While the new salary amount is set and partially funded by the state, the county board must give approval for the increase to go into effect.

In other action Monday, the Adams County Board of Supervisors voted to appeal a circuit court judge’s order for paying public-defense attorneys for work representing indigent clients. Supervisors questioned whether the amounts being demanded exceed what’s allowed by state law. Several local attorneys in private practice are appointed by judges to represent criminal defendants who can’t afford to hire their own.

The county budget has the public-defense attorneys being paid about $2,000 a month, but the bill submitted to the board Monday could “blow up our budget,” Wilson said.

The board last year voted to establish a county office of public defenders with five lawyers and a budget of about $320,000 a year, but that plan got stalled amid questions about whether it’s legal for Adams County Circuit Judge Lillie Blackmon Sanders’ daughter and sister to be hired as two of the attorneys. The public defenders office is intended to replace the practice of retaining nine private attorneys the court randomly calls on to represent criminal defendants.

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County supervisors Monday approved the enhancements county and city officials are planning for heating the community swimming pool and installing other accessories.

The county board was divided on whether to move forward with the project, as three members favor upgrading Natchez-Adams County’s newest recreational asset while two supervisors argued this will be at the expense of other park facilities that are further deteriorating. Supervisors Angela Hutchins, Ricky Gray and Warren Gaines voted for the pool improvements while Wes Middleton and Kevin Wilson were against.

Installing a pool heater, insulation cover, a deck, lockers and other improvements has been estimated to cost about $345,000. The state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks is paying 50 percent of the costs while the city and county boards are paying the rest. The county’s share is estimated to be about $85,000.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen last week voted 4-2 to provide the city’s share of funds after deciding last year to stall the project amid financial uncertainties during the COVID crisis.

The aquatic center at Liberty Park opened in June 2018, giving Natchez-Adams County its first public swimming pool since the one at Duncan Park closed in 2001. The city and county jointly funded the pool’s $1.3 million construction and now share the costs of operating it.

In other matters at Monday’s county board meeting, supervisors:

– Delayed a decision to help fund a shrine honoring Natchez sports teams that have won state championships in years past. A proposal has been presented to city and county officials to establish a “Championship Row”of banners at Liberty Park by Chester Willis Ballfield and the Adams County Safe Room.

– Were told health-care charges in COVID-ravaged 2020 totaled about $5.4 million for county employees, who are covered by the county-paid health insurance plan. “It’s been a very challenging year in terms of costs,” insurance agent Fred Parker told the board.

NATCHEZ, Miss. – City and county government coffers have been bolstered in recent months by state and federal funds received to help deal with the COVID crisis.

Natchez was awarded about $369,900 from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, and Adams County received nearly $386,600, according to a MEMA report issued in December.

With funds approved by the Mississippi Legislature, MEMA distributed $70 million in CARES Act money to reimburse 82 county and 270 municipal governments for COVID-19 expenses.

On top of that, the Legislature allocated $15 million from the CARES Act for tourism statewide. Visit Natchez – the city’s tourism agency – received about $500,000 to help attract visitors in a period when tourism has been curtailed by the public-health crisis.

The funds for local governments are from the $1.25 billion Mississippi received from federal CARES Act that was enacted last spring by the U.S. Congress to soften the COVID pandemic’s health and economic blows to the 50 states.

While the economic blow has been severe, Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson has expressed optimistic about the city’s financial situation. Sales tax collections – a key economic indicator for the city – in the past six months are only slightly below what the city got in the same period in 2019: $2.56 million in 2020 versus $2.57 million in 2019, according to the state Department of Revenue. The sales tax – collected by retailers — generates about $5 million annually for the city.

Tourism tax collections have taken a more noticeable dive – an indication fewer people are eating in Natchez restaurants and staying in local hotels, where these special sales taxes are collected to fund efforts to lure more tourists and conventions to Natchez. In last year’s July-to-December period,  city tourism taxes generated $143,000 less than the same six-month period in 2019, according to the Department of Revenue. These taxes generate about $1.6 million in a normal year.

However, pointing to other revenue sources along with various savings and improved accounting practices, Gibson said Tuesday that Natchez “is doing really well.” He noted the Board of Aldermen so far has not needed to get a tax-anticipation loan, as done in years past, to help pay employees and bills when revenues ebb early each year before property taxes are due in February.

The city does have enough in its accounts to allocate more money to Armstrong Library and Natchez Inc., the city’s economic development agency. City aldermen agreed Tuesday to give the public library an extra $52,900 and Natchez Inc. an extra $12,000. The two agencies had been shortchanged by the city from tax revenues generated by a millage rate dedicated specifically for them.

Also getting more money is Natchez City Hall, for which $157,000 was allocated by the state Department of Archives and History last week. Built in 1924 and designated a Mississippi landmark, the building suffers serious leaks when it rains. It previously has been estimated to cost at least $220,000 to reroof City Hall.

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Negotiations continue for the city to lease its former railroad depot to movie producers who plan to restore it into a restaurant and entertainment venue, but  “we’re so close” to a deal being “won and done very soon,” said Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson.

He said Tuesday depot developers John Norris and Tate Taylor plan to spend almost $1 million to renovate and reopen the old Broadway Street train station. This is more than earlier envisioned.

The city has already spent about $900,000 to restore the 106-year-old structure’s exterior.

It’s been a year since the Natchez Board of Aldermen agreed to start negotiations with Norris and Taylor on finishing the city-owned depot’s restoration and bringing it back to life, but various complications – including the COVID public-health crisis – have stalled the process.

Gibson said a Feb. 4 meeting is scheduled with the developers so the lease can be finalized for aldermen to approve soon.

Along with a restaurant, the depot developers envision an amphitheater along the bluff’s edge, a brick patio and public restrooms. The redevelopment will also incorporate the existing plaza on the street side of the depot. The developers expressed hope in November the restaurant will be open this summer.

The passenger-train station was built around 1915 by the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad and later owned by Illinois Central Railroad. Passenger-rail service for Natchez ended in the 1940s after World War II. The building became a restaurant — The Sidetrack — in the 1970s.

The building has been empty since 2013, when The Cock of the Walk restaurant and The Old South Trading Post souvenir shop were evicted by the city so the building could be renovated.

Gibson said negotiations also continue for developing docking facilities for the riverboats that are scheduled to return to Natchez after the COVID crisis abates. This is in conjunction with plans to raise part of Silver Street and protect it from the Mississippi River’s high waters.

Three docks on Silver Street are being blueprinted to accommodate river cruise boats that bring passengers to tour Natchez. While Gibson has said the three cruise companies will provide funds for the wharfages and elevating Silver Street, “the devil is in the details” as city officials and company executives meet to hash them out in contract form.

Plans are being drawn for elevating the section of Silver Street past Magnolia Grill. Gibson has said the rebuilt street will be atop a levee-like formation at Silver Street’s lower section before it converges into D.A. Biglane Street leading up to Canal Street. The section would be built up enough to avert the river’s high rises to the record height it reached in 2011, Gibson said. The river has flooded more frequently in recent years to make accessibility to Under the Hill businesses and riverboats more difficult.

American Cruise Lines plans to anchor its boats at the ramp where the Isle of Capri floating casino was formerly berthed, according to Gibson. Viking Cruises plans to build a riverside dock past the end of Silver Street on city-owned property.  The American Queen Steamboat Co. plans to dock its boats by the ramp in front of The Camp and Under-the-Hill Saloon.

While cruises have been halted since March 2020 because of the COVID pandemic, ACL and AQSC plan resume their river runs this coming March, according to Gibson. Viking plans to inaugurate its Mississippi River cruises in 2022.