Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NATCHEZ — Long-time Natchez Board of Aldermen member Dan Dillard has died.

Natchez Police Chief Cal Green said Dillard’s daughter went to his home at about 2:30 p.m. today and found him there.

Dillard apparently died sometime during the evening on Tuesday. He attended a relatively brief Board of Aldermen meeting earlier in Tuesday evening and appeared to be in good health there.

He was in his fourth term of representing the city’s sixth ward. He was known at the board’s watchdog over the city’s finances.

“We had such a wonderful visit last night after the meeting. We had a good talk with the fire chief, Alderman Davis and Alderman Dillard. We were discussing things we could do to better care for our firefighters and police officers. We were discussing their rate of pay, what we could do to attract more officers and firefighters.

“And we discussed the safety of Auburn and getting better smoke alarms and heat-sensing alarms for City Hall and other city property,” Gibson said. “Dan was our numbers guy and he really kept a close watch and held us to a high standard of accountability of our public funds. We are going to miss that.”

Gibson was in Rolling Fork when he learned of Dillard’s death. He along with businesswoman Darby Short delivered items collected for the devastated community. Short volunteered the use of her company’s truck to make that delivery.

“He was our mayor pro tem,” Gibson said. “We had our disagreements, but we always agreed to disagree. But when it came to what was best for Natchez, we could always agree. He was passionate about his position and he absolutely loved Natchez.”

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.