NATCHEZ — City leaders will again attempt to make progress toward approving a new waste and recycling collection service and refinancing of millions of dollars owed on the Natchez Convention Center when Natchez aldermen meet at 11 a.m. today.

Natchez aldermen will consider approving a document that will allow waste companies to submit bids for their services.

If all goes smoothly, Natchez City Planner Riccardo Giani said, the city could then schedule a meeting with potential bidders to answer any questions that companies might have.

“The plan is to publish the (request for proposals today) with a scheduled work session at the end of this month with all the waste companies that want to bid,” Giani said. “Like a pre-bid meeting, basically.”

As for the convention center, officials will discuss how to move forward with what would be the city’s second refinancing of the bond since its issue in 1999.

The refinancing, the city’s financial adviser has said, could save the city money but no one has offered significant details on associated fees or interest rates.

Officials were slated to handle that business last Friday at a specially called meeting, but only two of the four aldermen necessary to hold the meeting showed up. Three aldermen — Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, Billie Joe Frazier and Felicia Irving — did not attend because of travel arrangements scheduled that afternoon to the Congressional City Conference in Washington, D.C. Alderman Dan Dillard also did not attend of a conflict with his full-time job.

Though the three traveling aldermen remain out of the state, Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell said he is confident the meeting will take place with their participation via telephone.

“I’m planning on all three (aldermen) to call in,” Grennell said. “We need to get our dockets approved, and we need to get this RFP out for the garbage (contract).”

The aldermen are also set to discuss:

• The extension of the city’s emergency contract with Waste Pro
• The proclamation of a local emergency due to the rising Mississippi River
• The handling of the city’s upcoming audit
• The declaration of weapons seized by police as surplus property and the potential sale of forfeited weapons.