Mathis, Ward 2 Alderman James “Rickey” Gray, Ward 3 Alderman Bob Pollard, Ward 4 Alderman Ernest “Tony” Fields and Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard all said they believed they adequately understood the most recent transaction before voting on it.

The aldermen cited Malachi’s past success with generating money for the city through the swap with why they voted to continue the swap with the company.

Malachi fees and review

Holloway and Dillard both said their main concern with the latest modification to the swap is the approximately $80,000 in transaction and legal fees the city will pay if the swap performs.

“I am mostly concerned about the fees because I feel they’re a little too much,” Holloway said.

Dillard said he questioned whether the fees were consistent with industry standards for this type of financial transaction.

Bingham said the approximately $80,000 fees for the swap modification is much less than the approximately $230,000 in fees the city paid for the 2006 transaction. Bingham said because of the addition of the swap collar, the city is actually getting two transactions with the modification.

“It’s a fraction of the cost (of the first transaction),” Bingham said. “And because the city is getting two transactions, if you split the fees, that’s only $40,000 per transaction.”

Gray said he did not understand why Malachi was the only financial firm that has worked with the city whose practices are being questioned.

“We have had other financial transactions, and nobody questioned (the other firms), and then we get an African-American group, and everybody has got to start asking all these questions,” he said.

Mathis said the city could not expect a financial company to come in and help the city generate money and not expect to be paid a fair price.

“These are difficult times for investments, and if you are dealing with somebody who has a proven track record of not letting you lose money and keeping your investment safe, that’s who you stick with,” she said. “That’s who you stick with.”

Fields said he believed any money Natchez could generate to get the city out of debt was a good thing. Fields said, however, he did believe the city needed to implement some sort of formal system to monitor the swap to ensure the city’s best interests are protected.

“What I would like to see is this process monitored closely,” Fields said. “I don’t believe we have in the past, and I think we should have some sort of time line of when things are checked so they are checked at equal intervals. We have begun to look at our finances more deeply than I think we ever have, and this is just one more thing for us to look at more deeply.”