VIDALIA — For members of the Vidalia Board of Aldermen, 2016 was about learning the ropes of government — because many were elected for the first time — while getting the town’s back into compliance with its own codes and cutting spending by more than $1 million.

Mayor Buz Craft said he is proud of the first six months he, the aldermen and the town’s staff have been working together. He’s looking to continue the work in 2017 to make sure Vidalia follows state statute, is transparent with the public and gets the spending under control.

“I have people ask me, ‘Do you regret running? Is it everything you thought it would be?’” Craft said. “My answer to that, knowing what I know now, is I am thankful I ran, plus it has been a very enjoyable experience for me.”

Alderman Jon Betts said the biggest news for Vidalia in 2016 was the choice of the voters of Craft over Hyram Copeland, who had been mayor since 1992, along with voting out two multi-term aldermen.

“I feel blessed to be a part of that,” Betts said. “I look forward to continuing the change that was started in 2016 into 2017.”

Robert Gardner was elected in District 2, replacing Vernon Stevens who had served six terms.

Newcomers Tommy Probst and Sabrina Doré joined Betts in District 3. Incumbent Ricky Knapp was not reelected and incumbent Mo Saunders was not on the ballot after being disqualified.

Probst could not be reached for comment.

In District 1, Tron McCoy was elected without opposition as his challenger, Bobo McCoy, was disqualified prior to the election.

Vidalia elected a new police chief, as veteran and former Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agent Joey Merrill ousted two-term chief Arthur Lewis.

A 2016 election also brought a new town attorney, as former municipal judge George Murray will replace Scott McLemore, who is replacing Murray on the bench.

“I’ve known (George) ever since I came to Vidalia,” Betts said. “I think he is a good fit. He has been a part of the community for a long time and has Vidalia’s best interests in heart.”

One of the first actions taken by Craft was cutting the budget. Between initial cuts in July and through attrition as employees have left for various reasons and the town has not rehired for the positions, Vidalia has saved more than $900,000 in payroll and benefits.

The savings are conclusive of adding some positions back the previous administration did not utilize, including Town Manager Bill Murray and Assistant Town Clerk Jay Lasyone. Vidalia was still down 16 employees from June to November.

Town officials have also cut the marketing department’s advertising budget by more than $250,000, bringing the total savings to more than $1.1 million.

More savings are possible, town officials say, as the final draft of the 2016-17 budget is being revised with hopes to of approval in early 2017.

“It was unfortunate, when we got in, we had to make some tough decisions and lay people off,” Craft said. “That was one of the things that was not enjoyable, but it was necessary.”

Bad economic news impacting the Miss-Lou did not spare Vidalia in 2016. Martin Mills Inc. announced in May the Fruit of the Loom distribution center would close by the end of 2016, which would impact 167 jobs.

While the company has announced plans to remain until March 2017  — including paying a $40,000 per month lease — town officials are also confident the facility will not sit vacant long after Fruit of the Loom’s departure.

“I feel like we will very quickly have that building operational,” Doré said. “I feel like it will be a smooth transition into something else.”

“During the first quarter or early second quarter of 2017, we hope to have some wonderful news for our area,” Craft said. “We’ve been working hard with Natchez Inc. Chandler Russ and Heather Malone have done a good job.”

Russ is the director of Natchez Inc. and Malone is the Concordia Economic Industrial Development District director.

Craft said other bad news coming from the business world is not as likely to end positively.

In September, the town sued Louisiana Elastomer for $700,000 in an attempt to recoup grant funds Vidalia was forced to repay to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality after LAEL failed twice to meet requirements of the grant. The town partnered with LAEL to receive the grant to pay for construction of the plant, which opened in 2009.

“In my opinion, we are going to lose that money,” Craft said. “This is one of the biggest disappointments. It never, ever, got even close to what the people were told it was going to be.”

The town has also worked and continues to get its ordinances in compliance with state and town laws, including bringing back volunteer commissions to assist in town government, building back up reserve funds and setting a utility code that spells out specifics on charges.

“The utility rate was one of my biggest issues,” Gardner said. “They have been lowered a little. I don’t know if they will stay that way, but we will continue to work to keep costs down.”

In District 1 and 2, blighted properties are a concern in residences that have been abandoned. In some cases, the grass has grown to the point at which snakes and vermin are a problem, and in others, the structures themselves are dangerous. McCoy could not be reached for comment, but he has spearheaded a push to get the blighted properties under control.

Gardner said beautification of the district is another of his big concerns, and he would like to see the city go in and fix the problem.

“There are a lot of abandoned homes in Districts 1 and 2,” Gardner said. “I have noticed two buildings already torn down by the owners without us having to come in and tell them. I guess they got wind of the new administration in town.”

Gardner said beautification in District 2 has clear lines — racial lines — and he aims to bring everyone together to fix the issue.

“I want all parts of District 2 to be equally beautiful,” Gardner said. “I just want it to be uniform for everyone.

“I want us to live together as a whole.”

Districts 1 and 2 also need help with the roads.

“I want to make sure all roads throughout the city are taken care of,” Doré said. “Districts 1 and 2, they kind of have it the worst right now. I would like to see us create a schedule for the roads that need repair. I would not leave District 3 off or anything, but we need to take care of the areas in the most need first.”

Doré said her priorities for 2017 are working on creating community events to help bring the community together, help the Vidalia Women’s Club save the Jim Bowie Festival and continued retail and residential development.

Doré said she would like to see the amphitheater on the riverfront utilized more. During the holidays, she said the town could host free concerts with the area’s talented Christmas choirs and other music.

Most importantly, Doré said she wants to get the 2016-17 revised budget passed.

“Once the budget is complete, we can all get to work on the things we wanted to do when we were running,” Doré said. “Of course, we have to take a hard look at what we can actually afford to do.”

Once the budget is complete, Craft said some of his goals are to have town hall meetings, bring in early warning sirens for tornadoes and on the north end of town, clean out the slough area, which stays flooded thanks to relief wells emptying into the area.

Craft said the town has already been active in cleaning, particularly in the riverfront area. One of the positions Craft hired was Mike Graves, who works on beautification matters.“He has spearheaded cleaning up around town — the trees are cleared, the fire hydrants are getting painted,” Craft said. “There are a lot of things you might not notice, like adding color around the bedding at the convention center. But I urge residents to drive through and see the vast gains we have gotten during his time.”

In 2017, one building project — the Jack McLemore IT Center — should be completed, and the town hopes to make progress on the Vidalia Port, which will have to be rebid.

The IT Center was named after McLemore, a longtime town attorney who died in April. The center will house infrastructure in the Vidalia broadband initiative and serve as a business incubator for tech-based businesses.

Craft said the IT center would not feature any new employees, but rather he would shuffle people to staff the facility.

Craft said he was looking forward to 2017.

“When I was running, people said it would take two years to see visible change and get things right,” Craft said. “I am a lot more ambitious than that.”

“We will continue to work very hard to make things better.”