NATCHEZ — The Natchez Board of Aldermen is scheduled to interview five city attorney candidates today.

Mayor Darryl Grennell said local attorneys Everett Sanders, Robert “Bob” Latham, Christina Daughtery, Lisa Chandler and Jeremy Diamond have expressed interest in the position.

Grennell said he hopes that following the interviews, the aldermen can make a decision on an attorney today.

Grennell broke a 3-3 tie vote at Tuesday’s board of aldermen meeting to rescind the board’s previous appointment of Sanders as city attorney.

The motion to rescind Sanders’ appointment was made by Ward 3 Alderwoman Sarah Smith, who said at the time she believed the city should interview potential candidates. Sanders was appointed without an interview with the entire board.

The vote came after the board met in executive session for approximately an hour with Sanders, who prior to the rescission acted as legal counsel during the board’s Tuesday finance meeting before its regular meeting.

Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, Ward 2 Alderman Billie Joe Frazier and Ward 4 Alderwoman Felicia Irving voted against the motion. Those same aldermen voted for Sanders’ appointment July 1.

Smith, Ward 5 Alderman Benjamin Davis and Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard voted for the motion, and Grennell broke the tie. Smith and Dillard voted against Sanders’ appointment with votes for former Adams County Board of Supervisors attorney Robert “Bob” Latham, who was nominated by Smith.

Davis abstained from the July 1 vote, saying at the time he felt he lacked enough information about Sanders or Latham to make a sound decision.

Sanders was nominated, appointed and sworn in July 1, just a few hours after Mayor Darryl Grennell and the aldermen were sworn into office.

Grennell had publicly tapped Latham as his choice for city attorney, and Grennell has said Sanders’ appointment blindsided him.

Sanders’ appointment has been a point of contention for the board of aldermen since it was made and has been a cause of public outcry from members of the public on both sides of the issue.

Much of the criticism of Sanders’ appointment has been directed at the fact that Sanders was city attorney when the city lost a judgment after failing to respond to an ongoing lawsuit by the court-appointed deadline.

In the lawsuit, Roundstone Development seeks $1.8 million in damages after the city denied its zoning application to allow construction of a housing development stretching from Old Washington Road to Oriole Terrace.

In 2011, Circuit Court Judge Forrest “Al” Johnson ruled in a default judgment against the city for breach of contract and misrepresentation. Resident Gail Guido filed an appeal of Sanders’ appointment as city attorney in Adams County Circuit Court on July 11, the day before the board of aldermen met in executive session for nearly two hours on the matter and delayed the start of its meeting before a standing-room only crowd.

The board voted at that meeting to seek an attorney general’s opinion on the matter. The attorney general’s office, however, cannot issue an opinion on an issue if there is pending litigation regarding it.

The interviews are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. in the conference room at City Hall.