NATCHEZ — The field has narrowed to two, and both men vying for the title of Natchez mayor are beginning to think beyond June 5.

Larry L. “Butch” Brown and Bill Furlow said they have goals in mind for their first term in office and a list of things they want to see change in town.

Considering their goals, both men said, should help voters make the right decision.

Larry L. “Butch” Brown

Brown, a Democrat, said he believes one of the biggest issues in the city is cleaning up the streets, whether it is litter, drainage or potholes.

“That’s not Republican or Democratic politics, that’s just good sense,” Brown said.

But cleaning up the streets does not mean just working on the appearance of the city, it also means addressing Natchez’s crime problem, Brown said.

“In any community anywhere, the first priority is people always want to feel safe,” Brown said.

Brown said he wants to get the Natchez Police Department back in the shape it was in 2000 and make sure officers are well-trained, talking to people on the streets and have a strong presence downtown.

“Not that the officers are not well-trained now, but I just want to make sure that they are well-trained,” he said. “I want tourists to feel comfortable moving off of Main and Franklin (streets) and going anywhere in town.”

Brown said he also wants to put laptops back in patrol cars, as he did when he was previously mayor.

One of the most important things Brown said he would do is bring efficient government operations back to the city.

“We want good accounting and data and easy delivery of that data,” Brown said. “When people ask a question, we want to be able to give them an answer.”

A city government that is operating efficiently, Brown said, means that the city will be able to negotiate the best deals for city purchases, goods and services.

“We want to make the taxpayer’s dollar go further,” Brown said.

Making the taxpayers’ dollars go further, Brown said, will allow the city to maintain the assets it owns, such as infrastructure and city facilities like the Natchez City Council Chambers.

“The chambers is a testament to neglect,” he said. “It is a well-used building in the city inventory, and it can’t continue to be neglected. We will be active and strong again in the aspect of the city, and it will be one of the strongest suits of my administration.”

One of the key things that Brown said he would bring to the table if elected mayor is the relationships he has developed with people at all levels of government.

“We will utilize those partnerships and relationships and go back to those people for help and seek grants and whatever kind of funding is available for a town the size of Natchez,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll continue to use other people’s money.”

Brown, who served as mayor of Natchez from 1992-2000, said he never thought he would run for mayor again, but he said the divisiveness and lack of decorum in City Hall brought him back into politics.

Unifying the community is the first step Brown said he wants to take if he becomes mayor.

“The biggest thing is unity,” he said. “That will take care of all the subparts like safe streets, quality of like issues, education. When you meld them together, that’s when you get unity, and unity is what it will take to take care of all these things.”

Bill Furlow

Furlow, an independent, said if he is elected, his greatest measure of success in four years will be whether he has brought Natchez together as a unified community.

“There are specific issues that a great many people care about and that I care about,” Furlow said. “Permeating all those issues for me is a desire to unify our community, starting with building trust among our elected city officials.”

Trust is something that is in short supply today, Furlow said.

“I believe that I am the candidate who has the best opportunity to bring people together so we are all working for the overall good of Natchez,” he said, referring to his background as a communications consultant.

Some of the issues that Furlow said are at the forefront in Natchez and the forefront in his mind are crime, economic development, education, a street overlay program and ensuring funds from the new casino are utilized in the best possible way.

It is vital, Furlow said, for the city to continue to work to eliminate a growing crime issue.

Furlow said continuing to work to keep the economic development momentum going in the community to bring new industry into the area is also crucial.

A passion of Furlow’s, he said, is helping to better the school district so more children stay in schools, and those who graduate are well-prepared to either go to college or into the workforce.

“I believe there are significant things that the mayor, as the elected political leader of the community, can do to bring the residents of the entire community together to support and help support the schools,” he said.

Furlow said he does not want to in any way infringe on the responsibilities of the school board or the superintendent, only help them accomplish their goals. He said he believes the newly hired superintendent, Frederick Hill, will create excitement for the future of the education of Natchez children.

“The new superintendent, I believe, is going to take office the same day as the new mayor,” Furlow said. “If that new mayor is me, I will do everything I can to introduce him to the community and use the excitement that I think is going to be generated by this young man coming here to encourage the whole community to feel a sense of ownership and responsibility to our ability to educate our children.

“It is essential we do that, because it is not only our responsibility to our kids, it is an economic development issue as well,” Furlow said.

How the city spends the new casino revenue, Furlow said, will be a key issue through the next four years too.

“If we do begin to get significant new revenue through the new casino, we need to spend that money for things that will make a difference in people’s lives and things that we will get a significant return on our investment, like increasing the pay for our public safety officers and others,” he said.

Furlow said he believes there are intangible and tangible ways voters will measure the success and satisfaction of the next mayor and also choose whether the next mayor will warrant re-election for another four years.

The intangible, Furlow said, will be whether people feel the community is more unified or less unified.

“Do we have a higher level of trust inside our city government and outside of city government?” Furlow said. “If I were mayor, and the answer to that in four years was no, I would be very disappointed, and I would expect voters to be disappointed too.”

More tangible changes Furlow wants to see include a reduction in violent crime, a greater sense of ownership for the public school district and continued growth in the industrial sector.

“Those things are fairly easy to measure,” Furlow said. “People are going to know whether they feel the mayor has succeeded or not on those kinds of things.”

The general election is June 5. Republican Bob Buie withdrew from the race Friday, but Buie’s name will still appear on the ballot because absentee ballots have already been printed.

Brown and Furlow answered the following questions when asked by The Democrat:

What are your plans for the public works department? It is currently under Natchez Water Works, do you think that is a good thing?

Brown: I am going to take a deep breath and get all the facts before I say what I am going to do. A well-informed person can make a better decision. I need to sit down and take a look at the public works department and make inquiries and work on that. That goes for not only public works but for every city department.

Furlow: I don’t know whether it is ultimately a good thing, it seems to be working. I doubt it is a situation that I would go in and expect to change in any way immediately.

What are your thoughts on how the city can, or whether it should, make a road maintenance plan a priority?

Brown: We have to get an inventory of the streets, first assessing the problem. The assessment and the inventory leads to a good plan. Then, of course, you have to put it to the dollar test. When you’ve got the plan, then you start the process of figuring out where the money is going to come from.

Furlow: The most likely answer would be to dedicate money coming from the new casino.

Even if there were no casino revenue, we would still need to find the money to begin a street overlay program on some level. Figuring out the money is the first step to getting some kind of program in place.

If I were elected, I would want to meet with the aldermen and decide how they’re going to address the new revenue and what the priorities are that they want to set and see where streets fit in there. But I believe from what I have seen and heard that the strong majority, if not the consensus, of the board would put streets pretty high up on that priority list.

Are there instances in which you can see why the city would need to raise taxes? If so, what would they be?

Brown: Philosophically, I am against raising taxes. I am for raising user fees for golf or anything to do with recreation that residents both inside and outside the city limits use. User fees I don’t consider a tax.

Furlow: No.

Do you think the addition of the television cameras to the Natchez Board of Aldermen meetings has changed the nature of the meetings?

Brown: We never had cameras while I was in office, and we had much more civil and less animated meetings. We had meetings that started on time and ended in a reasonable time.

Furlow: Perhaps, but I think (the cameras) are essential. I would not be for pulling them out of the meetings. The public has the right to see its local government in action, and many people watch those meetings.

The problem is not the TV cameras; the problem is the way the meetings are run.

I think it is incumbent upon the mayor to make sure the meetings are run in an orderly fashion, a respectful, business-like manner and in a way that people will no longer consider them an embarrassment.

Whose responsibility is it to manage the city’s “look”? In other words, who should be responsible for maintaining public areas and such?

Brown: That is a tricky one. When I was at MDOT, we made funds available to the city to take care of the presentation of the city.

The city, in my opinion, has a commitment to downtown Natchez and coronary arteries in and out of the city. Fortunately, now we have a good and well-organized Master Gardeners group. One of the ideas I have and want to promote is to put the Master Gardeners into a management supervisory position for the appearance of the city. I would like to have them wherever city crews are doing that kind of work and have them come out and make sure it is done properly and routinely.

Furlow: The public areas belong to the city, and the city cannot shirk its obligation to maintain areas such as the bluff.

The bluff often looks awful, and we have tourists that come, and we send them to the bluff and they see fast food wrappers, Styrofoam cups and cigarette packages blowing all over the bluff.

I walk on the bluff daily, and daily I pick up trash, and other walkers do too. I believe it is the city’s responsibility, but I believe it is also a community responsibility for things like litter.

I am very concerned about the presentation this city makes to visitors, and I hear it time and time again. Some of what visitors see are the bigger issues like derelict housing, and those issues are harder to address. But some of what visitors see is the kind of neglect that makes you question whether this city has pride in itself. I am proud of this city, and I want our city to always present its best face.

How is your health?

Brown: My health is excellent. I am cancer-free. I never really had any problems until I was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

But now I am cancer-free, and I feel good. I still have my garden; I am active. I do woodwork; I very much enjoy historic restoration.

Furlow: My health is excellent. I have not had a serious health issue in my entire life. I exercise daily; I am vibrant. I sleep well at night. I believe I am as healthy as any 63-year-old person can be.

Mr. Brown, you received campaign contributions from Isle of Capri Casinos in Natchez, Biloxi, Lula, Vicksburg and St. Louis, for a total of $5,000. Why did they support you and what does that mean for the ongoing second casino deal?

Brown: The Isle of Capri and myself go back a long way. They have always supported me and have always been good corporate partners, from their support of the fireworks, their balloon race activities and other things. They’re good friends and colleagues.

These people that are here now (for the second casino) have been rather distant to me and haven’t given me any contributions or help largely because I think they felt they had to support (Jake Middleton).

Mr. Furlow, you received a $10,000 campaign contribution from Diane T. Scruggs, the wife of famed Mississippi attorney Dickie Scruggs, who is currently serving jail time on bribery charges. What is your connection to Dickie Scruggs?

Furlow: He is my first cousin, so (Diane) is family. For her, it was a question of having confidence in me as someone she knows and loves.

I don’t believe I have a single contribution of any amount, certainly not more than $1,000, from any person or entity that would have a special interest in anything that goes on in the City of Natchez.