Natchez and Adams County residents saw six good examples of what’s wrong with local government last week when two boards failed to meet and work the people’s business because board members did not bother to show up.

Disappointment in the leadership of local government has become almost expected, sadly.

Many people are not surprised when city and county elected officials make poor decisions that seem less about the community and more about their own whims.

We’re accustomed almost to decisions based on longtime allegiances rather than logic, sometimes on race rather than reason.

Last year when the City of Natchez was on the brink of having piles of trash around the city after it flubbed the garbage collection decision, few were truly surprised. We were disappointed, but not surprised.

Half doing the job at hand is not out of character. But last week our community saw two great examples of apathetic elected officials.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors could not meet on its normal day last week — or several days after — because three supervisors Calvin Butler, Ricky Gray and Angel Hutchins chose to attend a meeting in Washington, D.C., instead of ensuring the county’s routine business continued as needed.

Then, days later, the Natchez Board of Aldermen also failed to meet after three aldermen — Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, Billie Joe Frazier and Felicia Irving — also apparently headed out of town and couldn’t be bothered with doing their jobs.

All of this travel, mind you, is going to be paid for by taxpayer funds.

What’s worse about the city’s apathetic display is that apparently the mayor had already rescheduled the meeting to be at an earlier time to accommodate the trio’s travel plans.

Apparently they either slept late or decided packing their suitcases and driving to the airport on taxpayer gas was simply more important than their pesky city responsibilities — like working on getting the city’s trash collection issues resolved or declaring an emergency for the pending river flood.

A number of local residents who spoke to me last week say they are simply fed up.

“I am simply tired of this mess,” one longtime Natchez resident wrote to me last week. “It is our fault. We allow it.”

The woman is correct.

Natchez continues to simply tolerate utter incompetence and apathy from some elected officials. Although in this case all of the six travelers are black, the matter is not one of race, but one of heart and a sense of responsibility.

The travel matter also isn’t simply a case of trying to be a penny-pincher. Heading to Jackson or to Washington, D.C., to work directly with other leaders on issues that affect our community is certainly justifiable.

But in each case, city and county leaders chose to go to conferences presumably to make them better leaders, but did so while shirking the most basic responsibilities — showing up.

Alderman Frazier publicly said a little more than a year ago that he planned to go on every trip he could.

His reasoning was simple, but selfish, “I am the lowest paid alderman here.”

Frazier failed to point out at the time that his aldermen salary is reduced by his own choice, presumably to avoid affecting the retirement pay he receives after a career as a Natchez police officer.

Natchez desperately needs leaders who do not share the sense of entitlement that seems to permeate government now.

As the lady who spoke out last week to me said, “This is utter nonsense. … Enough is enough.”

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.