NATCHEZ &8212; By a vote of the citizens present, the pre-existing Community Alliance got a new job description Thursday night.

The Natchez-Adams County group will undergo some tinkering and then take over the role of management team for the city&8217;s new master plan.

Most who attended &8212; and stayed to the end &8212; of Thursday night&8217;s town hall meeting agreed the alliance would be the right group to lead the project.

But that was about all they agreed on.

The city&8217;s designated Urban Planner Clifton James, Alcorn State Extension Administrator Dalton McAfee and Raleigh, N.C., Mayor Pro Tem James West presented the results of a November city leaders retreat to more than 150 area residents. They explained the need for a master plan &8212; a nuts- and-bolts outline &8212; for short-term and long- term change in Natchez.

Their presentation touched on, but didn&8217;t fully explain, the role of transportation and infrastructure, land use and planning and economic and community development.

Ideas included placing emphasis on the city&8217;s riverfront, sending a delegation of leaders to Washington D.C. to attract businesses, annexation and consolidation, partnering with local schools and meeting every six months with business groups and the Historic Natchez Foundation.

They listed five strategies for implementing the plan: using the Community Alliance, strengthening neighborhoods and organizations, involving churches, promoting communication and developing a marketing plan.

James said there are three phases in developing a master plan including data collection, a conceptual plan and the actual plan development. Currently the city is about 30 percent through the collection phase, he said.

&8220;We are looking for you to bring our attention to problems where they exist,&8221; he said. &8220;This is a startup meeting.

&8220;We&8217;d like to walk away from this meeting with things we can start doing tomorrow. We can&8217;t wait for a year from now when the master plan is finished.&8221;

The group then broke into breakout sessions where about 30 residents had a chance to vote on each presented strategy and share concerns.

&8220;What we have come here to do is look at the appropriateness of several recommendations,&8221; James West said.

Some groups questioned the wording of the plans and how the process was being handled.

Glenda Harrison, who has spent most of her life in Natchez, said she felt out of the loop on the city&8217;s plan and wished it had be open to the public from the beginning.

&8220;It&8217;s a big open lot, and you are asking me to bid on a piece of land I haven&8217;t even seen,&8221; she said.

&8220;We know what we want. Let everyone give their suggestions as to which way we go.&8221;

Clark Feiser, a Natchez resident since November, said he felt the same way.

&8220;Why were we handed this that was already developed?&8221; he said. &8220;The concept is great, but I&8217;m not sure they started to go about it the right way. Hopefully it does go forward.&8221;

But Mary Curtis Smith said she thought the city had no choice but to be vague at this point.

&8220;I think it&8217;s eye-opening,&8221; she said. &8220;You&8217;ve got to have something broad first and then draw something specific from it.&8221;

Dissent in some groups wasn&8217;t a discouraging thing, West told the whole group.

&8220;It shows people are hungry and concerned about their city,&8221; he said.

And Mayor Phillip West said after the meeting that specifics would come.

&8220;Normally when you have this kind of forum, you can&8217;t be as specific, as organized, as focused as you want to be,&8221; he said. &8220;You have to have input and the exchange of ideas. As long as they are involved, people tend to give support.&8221;