Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard said he did not want to comment on the current police chief situation until he had a chance to sit down and talk to all the aldermen.

Dillard did say he believes administrative issues, like Middleton not getting the police chief applications to the board in a timely manner, have held up the chief hiring process.

He said he also believed the negotiations for the third Roth Hill casino amendment overshadowed hiring a chief.

“You don’t have the luxury of just saying, ‘I’m not going to think about that, I’m just going to think about this,’” he said.

Dillard said he is confident the board has within itself the ability to resolve its differences over hiring a police chief.

Dillard said difficult times could bring out the best and also the worst in people.

“What I am going to try to do is bring out the best in the board,” he said.

“What I’m hoping will happen is that we will get through this primary, and a lot of things will shake themselves out, and we’ll know whose where, and the board will have the opportunity to make the right decision because I know we can,” Dillard said.

Gray said he does not want the board’s differences regarding the police chief to eclipse all of the good things happening in Natchez.

“We’ve got too much positive stuff going on in this community to allow a position like this to divide the aldermen and the mayor, because I think we’ve had a pretty good four years,” he said.

Fortenbery said he would cast a vote when the board decides to vote on a chief.

He said the board may not be on the same page right now, but he said he believes the aldermen will come together and do what is best for the city.

Ultimately, Fortenbery said, that is the most important lesson in the debate over police chief.

“This town does not need this,” he said. “We have too much going for us, and we don’t need to be going backwards.”

Fields said he does believe there can be a silver lining in the all that has happened recently with hiring a chief.

“Out of all of this, I hope we can now start to really talk about race relations in our town, because it does exist here and all over,” he said. “Hopefully, there is a silver lining somewhere, and we can begin to come together as a community.”