Category: Local News

By John Mott Coffey

NATCHEZ, Miss. – The Board of Aldermen approved funds Tuesday to hire a former city planning director to help “jumpstart” downtown Natchez’ redevelopment.

The $50,000 allocated by the city board will be used to begin implementing the downtown master plan aldermen approved in May 2018. This brings Phil Walker back to Natchez to be interim director of a newly formed Downtown Natchez Association.

Walker and other consultants formulated the master plan for the city early last year with FOR Natchez, a private group led by Chesney Doyle that hired the professional planners. After more than a year of struggles to get the initiative moving forward with sufficient public funds, Natchez aldermen heeded Doyle’s request Tuesday to appropriate the $50,000.

This, she said, will show Natchez residents that “visible progress” is being made to “jumpstart” the downtown association with “a dedicated professional” like Walker. “We must get organized,” Doyle told the board and Mayor Darryl Grennell.

Walker was Natchez’ planning director from 1991 to 1993. He began his Nashville-based urban planning firm in 2002.

The money to begin implementing the new downtown master plan is from community development funds Natchez gets from leasing city-owned land to Magnolia Bluffs Casino by the Mississippi River. The $50,000 is leftover funds in the city budget for the current fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. The board is preparing to set the budget for the next fiscal year on Thursday.

The new master plan conceived in 2018 envisioned the quick establishment of a downtown group with a full-time executive director. They’re tasked with spearheading the implementation of comprehensive strategies to revitalize buildings and businesses in the city’s core area, which spans from the river bluff area on Broadway Street on the west to the Triangle area where Martin Luther King and St. Catherine streets intersect on the east.

The master plan includes resurrecting the city-owned Broadway Street railroad depot whose restoration has been on hold since 2016 and getting the federal government to move the U.S. Post Office on Canal Street to Martin Luther King Street to bring more bustle to that area.

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Natchez aldermen are seeking state historic preservation funds to reroof the century-old City Hall at an estimated cost of more than $220,000.

The city board voted Tuesday to apply for a grant from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to help replace what’s described as an “extremely worn, patched and leaky roof.”

The state money, if granted, would be augmented with city funds totaling about $77,000, according to Natchez Community Development Director James Johnston.

A state-designated Mississippi landmark, City Hall on Pearl Street was built in 1924.

MDAH administers the Community Heritage Preservation Grant program funded by the state Legislature to help preserve or restore local courthouses, schools and other official Mississippi landmarks.

The state Department of Archives and History board will decide in December how the historic preservation funds will be divvied out.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors is also applying for MDAH preservation funds for fixing roof leaks at the county courthouse. Officially declared a Mississippi landmark, the Adams County Courthouse was built around 1820 and extensively remodeled in the 1920s, according to MDAH.

By John Mott Coffey

NATCHEZ, Miss. – City aldermen approved funding two soil erosion-control projects for Natchez in split votes Tuesday, but the mayor broke a tie and scratched out work on Learned’s Mill Road to reduce costs.

The federal government had agreed to provide $1.6 million for five Natchez projects, but this required the city to come up with about $432,000. Mayor Darryl Grennell and aldermen decided they could only afford two projects: a site on Martin Luther King Street near Robert Lewis School and land on Gloucester Court off Lower Woodville Road near Longwood antebellum mansion.

This reduced the local match to what the board was told it had available for such projects: $117,000.

The U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Emergency Watershed Protection Program distributes money to local governments for combating damage caused by eroding land that threaten homes and streets.

The Board of Aldermen initially deadlocked 3-3 on a list of that included three EWP projects: MLK Street, Gloucester Court and Learned’s Mill Road going to the Magnolia Vale estate by the Mississippi River. Grennell broke the tie to vote against funding the three. He said the city couldn’t afford it. “I don’t want to adopt an unbalanced budget,” he said.

In subsequent votes, the board went 5-1 for funding the Gloucester Court work and then 4-2 for the MLK soil-erosion project.

In the initial 3-3 vote, Aldermen Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, Billie Joe Frazier and Felicia Irving favored funding all three projects while Sarah Carter Smith, Ben Davis and Dan Dillard were against.

In a second vote — going 5-1 – all except Smith favored funding only the Gloucester Court project.

In a third vote – going 4-2 – Arceneaux-Mathis, Frazier, Irving and Davis approved adding the MLK Street EWP project while Smith and Dillard were against.

Smith pointed to how hurriedly city officials reviewed the details, which she said prevented “making informed decisions” about the EWP projects.

In other action Tuesday, the aldermen heard residents’ complaints about a Main Street-St. Charles Avenue house that’s been divided into four apartments for more than 30 years but in a neighborhood where such units aren’t normally allowed.

While 1116 Main Street had been “grandfathered” in to continue as a four-plex, neighbors complained it’s been a nuisance — mainly causing street parking congestion on Main and St. Charles. Owner Richard Wilbourn requested the city officially allow the apartment house to continue as a special exception within a neighborhood where only one- or two-family dwellings are allowed. Without this exception, he can’t sell the house for it to remain apartments as he wants, according to his attorney.

However, the Board of Aldermen affirmed a previous Natchez Planning Commission decision that denied his request.

The mayor and aldermen, as they routinely do, also on Tuesday closed the public out of discussions on issues they don’t want openly aired, such as personnel, litigation and the transfer of properties as allowed by state law. They spent more than an hour behind closed doors.

NATCHEZ, Miss. — Early on Monday, September 16, 2019 Adams County Sheriff’s Office was notified that a 2016 Caterpillar backhoe parked next to the Dollar General in Sibley was found to be missing when the construction company came to pick up a paving machine.

The construction company’s equipment manager said the backhoe was equipped with a tracker which they had already activated. Deputies found the backhoe parked on Hutchins Landing Rd. near Applewood Rd. in Sibley.

The backhoe is owned by T. L. Wallace Construction out of Columbia, MS and is valued at approximately $150,000.

By John Mott Coffey

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Plans are underway for enhancing ballparks at Duncan and Liberty parks in Natchez.

The Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission has blueprinted various options to present in the near future, said county Supervisor Mike Lazarus. He displayed drafted depictions Monday of what could be in the offing. The Recreation Commission has what Lazarus said are “basic, silver and gold” propositions for improving the park facilities.

“They will give you a lot of options,” he told the other county supervisors at their Monday meeting.

In consolidating their recreation efforts in 2015, the county Board of Supervisors and Natchez Board of Aldermen each pledged to put up $100,000 annually for recreation construction. The most visible new recreation structure is the Natchez-Adams County pool that was built last year at Liberty Park

Adams County supervisors in recent months have expressed disappointment in the lack of progress upgrading other recreation facilities at the city-owned Duncan Park and county-owned Liberty Park. Lazarus showed drawings Monday that included layouts of a new baseball field at Duncan Park’s back side and an improved baseball venue where Natchez and Cathedral high schools play at Liberty Park. A girls softball venue is also in the redevelopment mix for Liberty Park.

The city-county governments could borrow money through a bond issue, Lazarus said, to pay for the construction and repay the money in annual installments with the funds already committed by the recreation compact formed by Natchez-Adams County officials in 2015.

In addition to the $100,000 each pledged annually for infrastructure, the county board each year is to allocate $334,000 to combine with $550,000 from the city board for the recreation commission to appropriate.

The county and city boards last week approved their budgets for operating all programs and services for Adams County and Natchez during the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. County supervisors budgeted to spend about $29.3 million, down about $384,000 from the fiscal year fiscal nearing its end Sept. 30. City aldermen budgeted to spend about $36.6 million for the coming year, a reduction from the $37.4 million in expenditures budgeted this current year.

The YMCA was being paid about $100,000 a year to manage recreation programs for Natchez and Adams County, but the city-county contract with the suburban Jackson-based organization expired in March without it being renewed. There were concerns expressed about the lack of accountability of what it was doing for recreation.

The Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission is the actual agency that operates rec programs funded by the county and city boards. However, the nine-member commission earlier this year struggled to get enough members to show up for meetings and was slow in getting bills paid, according to county officials. Commission members are appointed by Adams county supervisors and Natchez aldermen.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Republican Ralph Abraham has started pumping his own money into his campaign to be Louisiana governor, struggling to keep up with the spending pace of his competitors in his bid to unseat Democrat John Bel Edwards.

Latest finance reports in the race show the third-term congressman from rural northeast Louisiana has loaned his campaign $350,000 in the final stretch leading to the Oct. 12 election.

Abraham, a farmer and doctor who announced his campaign less than a year ago, has been unable to match the fundraising prowess of an incumbent governor who has been seeking donations across his four-year tenure.

NATCHEZ, Miss. –Oct. 21, 2019 –Merit Health Natchez is organizing a Community Health and Safety Fair at the Natchez Convention Center from 3 – 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24. The free event is designed for participants to gain useful tips and practices to be a healthier you. Hospital personnel will be on hand to offer blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, height and weight and BMI screenings. Health professionals will also assist participants with heart and stroke risk assessments, as well as depression screenings. One very exciting part of this event will be the display of the newest surgical robotic system technology available at Merit Health Natchez. Attendees will have a chance to view this equipment and technology up close and see demonstrations from healthcare professionals on how surgeons control the robot in the operating room. “This event is designed to encourage individuals to be proactive in their health. Numerous health professionals, including registered nurses, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, dietitians, social workers and imaging technician, will be available to provide valuable education and material on topics such as heart health, infection control, vaping, nutrition, pregnancy and so much more. We truly look forward to showcasing fitness, health and wellness information to the community we serve,” said Lance Boyd, CEO of Merit Health Natchez. In honor and recognition of October being National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Merit Health Natchez is promoting the third annual Paint Natchez Pink Day on Oct. 24. “Working with the Mayor, Board of Alderman, the Natchez Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Supervisors, we are proud to announce this day will be proclaimed Paint Natchez Pink Day,” said Boyd. Businesses are encouraged to decorate with pink and ask employees to wear pink on this day. Individuals can place pink ribbons on their mailboxes, and restaurants and stores are encouraged to go pink for the day with displays, lights, etc. Mayor Darryl Grennell will read the official proclamation on the bluff, across from the Natchez Convention Center and Grand Hotel, on Thursday evening at 6 p.m., and the public is invited to attend. There will be refreshments, music, an array of education and awareness displays, and photo opportunities in a giant pink chair! A beautiful release of pink luminaries will complete the event. “We want our community to see firsthand the commitment and support of not only our hospital, but also other local businesses and individuals for this unique and fun way to create awareness. Please join us in support and honor for those in our community valiantly fighting this disease and those who have conquered their fight. It will also be a time to remember those who have lost their battle,” concluded Boyd.