When the dust settles after next month’s municipal elections, we hope one of the first orders of business is for the new administration to begin dotting Is and crossing Ts throughout the city’s operations.

The City of Natchez and its various volunteer boards have continued to stub their collective toes with nearly each step of their business.

Much of the problems tend to be caused by a lack of communication and agreement on how the city’s own rules should be enforced — and by whom.

Last week’s Natchez Planning Commission yielded one of the latest such incidents regarding a matter that should be fairly cut and dried.

Commissioners ultimately delayed action until next month on a topic that should not be confusing — whether or not an oil company needs planning commission approvals before drilling for oil near historic Arlington.

The oil exploration company appeared before the commission this week to obtain the permission, but only after it had already drilled another hole on the site after withdrawing its last application. The move prompted commissioners to question why they were seeking the new permission, when it appeared they planned to do what they wanted to do anyway.

Once questioned, confusion ensued.

The city planner, the developer and members of the Natchez Planning Commission all seem on different pages regarding whether or not the proper procedures were followed or not.

We have — or had — a good system for handling such, but even the best systems are only as good as those enforcing and interpreting it. Clearly, Natchez needs to get back to the basics — the blocking and tackling of government.