NATCHEZ &045; As sales manager for Big M Supply for the last eight years, mayoral candidate Fred Middleton thinks he knows a thing or two about selling a product.

And he thinks that isn’t being &uot;sold&uot; effectively enough to prospective industries.

&uot;We have a great opportunity with the river, two forms of health care, two forms of higher education and a great quality of life &045; we have something to sell,&uot; he said. &uot;But it’s going to take somebody with energy and willingness to go out and sell the community.&uot;

That being said, Middleton said he doesn’t believe government should run economic development &045; just help fund it.

&uot;The private sector should drive economic development. Government doesn’t have that responsibility,&uot; said Middleton.

Instead, Middleton said that if elected he would work to persuade the Board of Aldermen to place the Economic Development Authority, the Natchez-Adams Chamber of Commerce and the Port Authority under one roof with one executive director over all.

The EDA would also become a foundation, allowing it to raise private funds. The plan closely resembles the economic development structure of Vicksburg, he said.

&uot;The mayor, as a leader, needs to instill this idea to the supervisors, the chamber and the EDA, because if we can get one voice in economic development we will be better off,&uot; Middleton said.

As it now stands, city and county officials are going individually to Washington and Jackson to ask for help with economic development, &uot;and they’re not always going as one force,&uot; he said. &uot;This executive director would have the blessings of all those entities and be one voice.

Middleton did say that he believes Natchez-Adams County should focus on recruiting industries that are in need of water, with the Mississippi River so close by and with river traffic becoming the cheapest and least regulated form of transportation.

Middleton said his involvement, through his role last year as chamber president, with negotiations for an employee buyout of International Paper’s Natchez mill, while unsuccessful, showed him the value of the public and private sectors working together and sharing economic development ideas.

Middleton said that, if elected, he would also lobby the Board of Aldermen to privatize the convention center, which he said could increase revenue by 200 percent and cut operating costs by 5 percent in two to three years.

He believes such a contract, depending on the way it’s structured, could cost the city only $80,000 to $100,000 a year.

&uot;We’d also have another opportunity of marketing, because (center operators) would be reaching out to centers across America they operate,&uot; Middleton said. &uot;If they’re bringing a show through their Memphis convention center, they’ll book them right on over into Natchez.&uot;

Such a contract would also give the Convention and Visitors Bureau staff more time to market the area instead of operating the center, he said. The city also needs to market cooperatively with hunting and fishing sites such as Natchez State Park and Giles Island, he said.

In addition, Middleton said he would:

4Work with Sheriff Ronny Brown to use prison labor to clean up Natchez’s streets. He said he would seek out businesses to donate lawn and would seek grants, such as the chamber recently landed, to plant more crepe myrtles and magnolias to beautify entrances to the city.

4Support consolidating city and county government, starting with such efforts as recreation.

4Push for building a swimming pool and updating current recreational facilities &045; and seek private donations to help fund such efforts.

The proposed St. Catherine Creek Recreation Complex would cost too much to build at this time, he said.

&uot;If the economy was stronger, sure, but that’s a little bit out of our price range,&uot; Middleton said.

4Would not support switching to an elected police chief.