Traina said she thinks recapturing the jobs lost in Natchez over the last 10 years is essential to funding downtown development. She said she would also like to see city regulations changed so it is easier for people to open businesses inside the city limits.

Ward 2

Ward 2 Alderman candidates James “Rickey” Gray and Billie Joe Frazier, both Democrats, were asked how they felt about the length of time it has taken to appoint a new police chief and what policies they would put in place for a more efficient hiring procedure.

Gray, incumbent and chairman of the police committee, said he believed the necessary procedure is in place, but he said he does not believe it was effectively followed during the city’s recent hiring process for a new chief.

Gray said Mayor Jake Middleton was charged with getting the applications he received from the Civil Service Commission to the aldermen in a timely manner. Gray said, however, he had to ask Middleton for the applications.

“We had a couple of more big things come up, and we put aside the police chief aside,” he said. “I’ve felt (the police chief) is one of the most important positions in the city, and we should not have put it aside.”

Frazier said the city drug its feet on the matter of hiring a police chief. He said he believed the city should take input from residents about who to hire as chief or allow the residents to elect a chief.

“It was an insult to the people who work in that department to put them under that kind of stress,” Frazier said.

Ward 3

Ward 3 candidates Gwen Ball, a Democrat; Bob Pollard, the Republican incumbent; and Sarah Carter Smith, a Democrat, were asked what the pros and cons were on the Magnolia Bluffs Casino on Roth Hill Road and how the city performed its job moving the project forward.

Ball, who recently filed a lawsuit against the city to obtain casino public records she says were not provided, said she believes the city should have tried to get more for the public in its latest dealings with the casino. She also said she thinks the public should have been more involved and informed in the process.

“You take away the ability to negotiate when you’re not open with the public,” she said.

Pollard said he believed the city did a wonderful job in getting a great deal for the city with casino developers.

“You’re always going to have your naysayers,” he said. “We’ve done a good job at making it the best we could make it.”