NATCHEZ — After 32 years of service, David Gardner stepped down from his city engineer post on Wednesday.

And while Gardner said he is confident the city will fill the position soon — or seek assistance from outside consultants — he did say a long list of projects need to be addressed immediately.

“My main concern is I don’t want to see these projects stalled in any way,” said Gardner, who will still serve as superintendent of Natchez Water Works until May 1.

Projects Gardner cited as needing immediate attention include drainage repair in North Natchez, overlay and micro-seal surfacing of city streets, Bridge of Sighs construction and the St. Catherine Street trails project.

For some projects, Gardner gave suggestions for specific city officials who he believes would be best fit to lead.

“As far as I can remember, we’ve always had a city engineer,” Gardner said. “Now that I’m retiring, all those projects will be transferred back to the city.”

Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said the board of aldermen has already allocated a few projects to city officials and outside consulting firms.

Currently, Mathis said the board is most concerned with street overlay and micro-seal projects because these are weather sensitive, and can only be carried out in the spring and summer months.

“Most of the other projects are already in the hands of contractors,” Mathis said. “Basically, what we’re looking for now are area supervisors to oversee the projects that are left.”

Mathis said the board plans to discuss Tuesday whether the city should hire a new city engineer, or completely do away with the position and depend on outside consulting firms.

“There are several plans on the table,” Mathis said. “One is to look for a firm that would basically perform what our engineering department was doing. But, we’ve also received several applications for city engineers, so we could go that route. We haven’t made any kind of definitive decision yet.”

Ideally, Mathis said she would like to see the board come to a solid consensus on the matter by the end of the year.

“We’ll probably have something more permanent in place, whether that’s a city engineer or a firm, by the next budget year,” Mathis said.

As for Gardner’s post-retirement plans, the longtime city engineer said he intends to catch up on some overdue relaxation.

“First thing I want to do is go fishing,” Gardner said. “I have a trip planned in South Louisiana, then I’m taking vacations in Alaska and Colorado.”