City of Natchez — beware.

As a downtown resident and supporter of all that is beneficial to Natchez, I am very concerned by the most recent series of events surrounding the Roth Hill casino.

Natchez Enterprises, LLC claims to be the city’s “partner.” At the same time, they have confected the first version of amendment three, which if passed, would have drastically altered the lease agreement in their favor. Thankfully, our board of aldermen recognized the amendment for what is was and unanimously voted not to approve it.

Within days after the rejection of this version of the amendment, yet another version has been drafted and presented to the city. The same admonition of “Let’s get this done quick” has been used, and the mayor has called another special meeting this Friday afternoon to have the new version reviewed and presumably accepted.

In many respects, this new version is no better than the first. It is totally one-sided and again gives significant additional benefit to Natchez Enterprises, LLC with no corresponding reciprocal benefit to the City of Natchez or its citizens.

The $50,000 per month prepayments are not additional compensation to the city since Natchez Enterprises will be making those payments with the city’s own money, just like what was done in a previous amendment.

These persistent attempts by Natchez Enterprises, LLC and the mayor’s office are hopefully raising red flags to both the citizens of Natchez and the board of aldermen. Good business deals are made in which both parties benefit. The third amendment (both versions) asks the City of Natchez to make undesirable concessions to the casino with no corresponding concessions for the City.

My question to all the citizens of Natchez is, why would we do that?

Natchez has only one Roth Hill ,and the real estate and location that make up this valuable asset of the city and community are irreplaceable. To the board of aldermen, please do not sell the city short.

 

Michael Blattner

Natchez resident