NATCHEZ — For Miss-Lou residents, 2016 was a year of abrupt change.

Some changes were self directed, including three multi-term mayors being voted out, a shake up at the Natchez tourism office and the ouster of the school district’s superintendent.

Other changes were largely created from outside forces, including long-time businesses announcing closures including Kmart and the Vidalia Fruit of the Loom plant, along with the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States.

The Miss-Lou also featured some welcome news including a year long celebration of the city’s 300th birthday, along with the YMCA and an Applebee’s restaurant coming to town.

Here’s a look at the year’s top stories, as selected by The Natchez Democrat staff:

Elections

Then Natchez Mayor Butch Brown, who was struggling with health problems, began the year intending to run against several challengers. By March, however, Brown announced he would not run for re-election.

After defeating former Ward 4 alderman and Natchez High School Principal Tony Fields in the primary, former Adams County supervisor Darryl Grennell defeated former city IT director Eric Junkin in a landslide on June 8. Grennell received more than 91 percent of the vote.

Grennell ran on a platform of change and said when he was elected he was ready to meet the challenges the city faced including the struggling school system and the financial chaos at city hall.

Earlier in the year on March 5, Vidalia voters had already gone to the ballot box for change and elected businessman and former banker Buz Craft over Hyram Copeland, who had been mayor since 1992.

Craft ran on tighter control of city spending and against the Square on Carter project, a legally questionable proposal for the city to borrow up to $7 million to purchase and improve 65 acres of land near the western end of town in an effort to woo developers.

In the Louisiana run-off election in April, Sherrie Jacobs defeated Gene Allen, who had been mayor twice in split terms. Jacobs received 702 votes compared to Allen’s 604. Jacobs and Allen had previously been placed into a runoff on March 5, after defeating Justin Conner and Ruth Gray.

Jacobs ran on cleaning up — the streets, sidewalks, abandoned buildings and the police department — along with providing the youth with more activity options.

Ouster of Superintendent

During his first Natchez-Adams School Board meeting in March, former Natchez mayor Phillip West called for the firing of then superintendent Frederick Hill.

At the meeting, West said he could not think of another job in which an employee was found liable by a federal jury for creating a hostile work environment — including racial discrimination — would still have a job.

Hill, then deputy superintendent Tanisha Smith and the school district were found liable by a federal jury in September for violating the rights of former district principal Cindy Idom. Idom received a $668,000 judgment from the jury, but the district later settled with Idom in April for $625,000.

In March, West did not receive a second to his motion to oust Hill. But in April, with two trustees — Benny Wright and Thelma Newsome — who had argued for Hill absent, the board voted 3-0 in a simple quorum to remove Hill. Smith later turned in her resignation letter.

The district named Fred Butcher, who was a former principal of Natchez High School, to be interim superintendent.

The district removed the interim label from Butcher’s title in September, when he became superintendent with a contract extending to at least 2018.

Trump

Billionaire businessman and Republican Donald Trump ended eight years of Democratic White House control in November when he defeated Hillary Clinton.

Approximately 57 percent of Adams County voters cast a ballot to send Hillary Clinton to the White House. Trump took 42 percent of the vote in the county.

In Concordia Parish, Trump garnered 58 percent of the vote, while Clinton received 38 percent.

Like most of the nation, Miss-Lou residents were transfixed during a campaign that seemed to have a new storyline each day.

Natchez tourism

In April, the Natchez Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to ask for the resignations of all six Natchez Convention and Promotion commissioners and Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Kevin Kirby.

Kirby, a Virginia native, was fired in April following ongoing personnel issues at the Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Jennifer Ogden-Combs was named interim Tourism Director.

Since that time the city has been re-evaluating the management of its tourism operations and has sought to rebuild its leadership.

The board made the decision to hire the tourism director and interviewed two candidates in December. The selected candidate declined the offer.

Natchez Tricentennial

Natchez hosted a yearlong tricentennial party this year with many events to celebrate its 300th birthday.

Events included a historical themed Christmas parade, the Blue Angels flying overhead, a Natchez History Minute for each day of the year and many Legends and Lore lectures throughout the year.

The largest celebration was on Natchez’s actual birthday, Aug. 3.

The day started celebrating with the first people to settle the area, the Natchez Indians, at the Grand Village. Principal Chief and Great Sun of the Natchez nation Hutke Fields and former Grand Village director and historian Jim Barnett each ha presentations.

To celebrate the city’s colonial French history, authors Emily Clark and Erin Greenwald had presentations at the Natchez Visitor Reception Center.

Natchez National Historical Park had a dedication that afternoon at Fort Rosalie — the third Natchez National Park Service site as well as the original structure from which Natchez’s birth is recorded in 1716.

The celebration concluded with an opportunity for the entire community to come together with a tricentennial street festival on Broadway Street featuring cupcakes, fireworks inflatable games, food trucks and other vendors.

City attorney

In June, then Mayor-elect Darryl Grennell said he had chosen Robert “Bob” Latham, who had been the attorney for the Adams County Board of Supervisors, as his preferred candidate for city attorney.

However, in a 3-2 vote with Ward 5 Alderman Benjamin Davis abstaining on July 1, the board voted to appoint and swore in former city attorney Everett Sanders.

Later in July, the board voted to rescind Sanders’ appointment after the legality of the vote came into question.

On Aug. 9, Grennell broke a 3-3 tie to appoint Latham as the city attorney.

In the executive session of that meeting, Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, Ward 2 Alderman Billie Joe Frazier and Ward 4 Alderwoman Felicia Irving voted for Sanders.

Ward 3 Alderwoman Sarah Smith, Davis and Ward 6 Alderwoman Dan Dillard voted for Latham.

The vote to officially hire Latham during the meeting fell along those lines as well with Grennell breaking the tie.

Business changes

After doing business in Vidalia for more than 20 years, Martin Mills Inc. announced in May it would permanently close its Fruit of the Loom distribution center at the end of 2016. The closure would cost the community 167 jobs.

However, by September, the company announced intentions to lease the building through the end of March 2017. Officials announced in September business was going strong and Fruit of the Loom wanted to continue to operate the facility temporarily.

Vidalia leaders announced in December Fruit of the Loom would lease the facility for $40,000 per month. The company has also agreed to pay taxes on the town-owned property through March.

On the Mississippi side of the river, the economy had ups and downs with the addition of Applebee’s Bar & Grill in August, and the loss of Kmart in mid-December.

Applebee’s is located next to the Natchez Mall and was projected to bring  jobs to the area.

Kmart had been open in Natchez since 1987, and employed 30 people — 10 of them full time.

YMCA

After many starts and stops through the years the city, county, school board, and recreation commission’s plan for a multi-purpose and pool facility came to fruition in 2016.

The fields were completed in 2016, and are expected to host youth soccer leagues in the near future. The Olympic sized pool is expected to be ready this year by summer and will have opportunities for both recreation, as well as hosting swim teams.

The Liberty Road location near the Community Safe Room will also feature two full basketball courts in the style of former NBA superstar Dominique Wilkins, who played for the Atlanta Hawks and was named to the NBA Hall of Fame.

The Metropolitan YMCAs of Mississippi were brought on to manage recreation in the county.

A director — Alice Agner — for the Natchez YMCA was hired in November.

The group has also sought to create after-school programs with the Natchez-Adams School District.

Vidalia Cuts

Between initial cuts when Vidalia Mayor Buz Craft and the new administration began in July and through not hiring some positions back as employees left for other jobs, the town has saved more than $900,000 in payroll and benefits.

In June, the city had 186 employees, and by November, only 170.

Craft has said the savings are inclusive of adding some positions back the previous administration did not utilize, including Town Manager Bill Murray and assistant city clerk Jay Lasyone.

Town officials have also cut the marketing department’s advertising budget by more than $250,000.

Over the past several weeks of 2016, the board had been meeting with departments to work on cuts as officials work to amend the 2016-17 budget passed by the previous administration.

Craft has said more cuts are possible but until a final draft of the budget is complete he could not provide specific examples.

Craft has said he anticipates the board will look to approve the amended budget in its Jan. 10 meeting.