Commission cracks down on monthly meeting attendance

By Mary Hood (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Thursday, July 9, 2009

NATCHEZ — After upsetting a local developer and wasting his money by not having a quorum, the Natchez Preservation Commission is ready to make some changes.

In April, a developer paid $1,000 for his architect to fly in from Tennessee to answer any questions asked by the commission.

But without a quorum, the meeting could not take place.

Preservation commission Chair Marty Seibert used this story to introduce why, from now on, commissioner attendance will be thoroughly documented.

If a commissioner misses three consecutive meetings, the board can decide whether to replace that commissioner, Seibert said.

Another genesis for the attendance documentation presented itself in the case of former commissioner Fred Middleton.

Middleton resigned from the board in February, but the commission members didn’t catch on until June.

Lately, the commission has been scrounging to form a quorum at each meeting.

At the start of several recent meetings, commissioners have had to call their absent counterparts to attend before the meeting could start.

Commissioner Shirley Petkovsek suggested that if any commissioner cannot attend a meeting, they should inform the planning department ahead of time.

Seibert agreed that would be common courtesy.

The nine-member board has been reduced to only seven members after Middleton resigned and Sara Garcia moved out of town.

Seibert said she has requested to Mayor Jake Middleton that he and the board replace the two members. She has not yet heard back from the mayor.

In other news, the commission gave Betty Shannon approval to demolish the dilapidated front façade of a house at 109 St. Charles Ave.

Shannon plans to board up the front of the home with similar material to the rest of the home and use it for storage.

The commission said since the house will not have a door or windows, tall foliage should be planted in front of the house to camouflage its appearance.