It’s hard not to notice how much Mayor Larry L. &uot;Butch&uot; Brown loves Natchez.

&uot;Natchez has been very good to me as a hometown,&uot; Brown said. &uot;I have a lot of good friends and mentors.&uot;

The man who in high school sold shoes at the old downtown Burns Shoe Store now wears a &uot;Natchez&uot; lapel pin each day to work at city hall.

In his bid for re-election to a third term, he faces John &uot;Pulleybone&uot; Pullen and F.L. &uot;Hank&uot; Smith in the May 2 Democratic primary. The winner of that race faces Robert F. Costa and Phillip &uot;Bucket&uot; West in the June 6 general election.

Aside from his days at the University of Southern Mississippi, Brown has lived in Natchez all his life. And his favorite thing about the city, he says, is its people.

&uot;People in Natchez are truly unique people; they’re very cosmopolitan,&uot; Brown said. &uot;We have great scholars, great writers, great musicians, great businessmen. The people of Natchez are, I think, its greatest asset.&uot;

And what many of those people tell Brown — and other candidates in this election — is that they want are better-paying jobs in Natchez.

Brown said his administration has worked to attract industries and to retain the jobs that are already here.

&uot;Job retention is just as important,&uot; he said, listing reversals of layoffs and downsizing at companies like International Paper, Mississippi River Corp. and Ethyl Corp.

&uot;When I took office unemployment was almost 14 percent,&uot; Brown said. &uot;Now it’s in the low 6s and 7s.&uot;

For the past two years, Brown said his administration has been working to bring Spanish aircraft manufacturer CASA to Natchez.

&uot;We’re working on the aircraft deal,&uot; Brown said. &uot;We’re now trying to get units of government issue what they call a requirement (for the CASA planes that would be built in Natchez).&uot;

&uot;You can’t make these things happen overnight,&uot; Brown said.

Brown knows there are critics of some projects toward which his administration has worked.

He defends the Natchez Visitor Reception Center as &uot;the only project in the history of the city that was bought and paid for the day it opened.&uot;

He also defends the city against those who say water bills are too high. Natchez Water Works customers are charged the same amount for water and sewage.

Brown said the city was forced by federal mandate to improve its water plant and chose a $10 million revenue bond issue to fund the work.

Brown said the city cannot reduce water rates because the bond issue doesn’t allow it. Instead, he said, for the past three years, the city has given Water Works customers a rebate on their December water bills.

&uot;We got creative,&uot; he said. &uot;We’re not going to charge any less, we’re just not going to charge for this particular month. We did it when we could. We’ll do it again when we can.&uot;

In four years, Brown said he would like to see the city growing — which could be accomplished in part by annexation, which Brown supports.

The board of aldermen has discussed the issue has never made any formal actions toward annexation.

&uot;The people that don’t want us to grow are against annexation,&uot; Brown said. &uot;But I’ve always said, as long as we’re under 20,000 people we’re going to use that toward our advantage.&uot;

The city’s under-20,000 population can sometimes qualify it for grants and other government projects.

But Brown said Natchez often thinks bigger than its 20,000 people.

&uot;All over the world people know about Natchez,&uot; he said. &uot;We’re a small town, but we compete globally with all of the bigger cities in things like education and tourism.

&uot;We have brought the city from a position of complacency and doubt to one of vibrancy and accomplishment,&uot; Brown said.&uot;All you have to do is take a drive — the city is cleaner; it’s nicer; it’s never been busier; it’s safer.&uot;