NATCHEZ — Candidates for mayor said their goals are to bring jobs and unify the city.

Two of the three candidates — Tony Fields and Darryl Grennell — spoke about their visions for the city at a forum hosted by the Natchez Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Natchez Business and Civic League and the Natchez Chapter of the NAACP.

Candidate Eric Junkin was not present.

During the forum, the candidates were asked to frame their platforms with three questions — why are they running, what is the biggest problem facing Natchez and if they could only accomplish one thing in four years, what would they accomplish?

Grennell said he was running with the understanding that “a town is a living thing.”

“If a living organism is not growing and thriving, it is shrinking and dying,” Grennell said, telling those in attendance that Natchez needs to adapt to grow its economy in all sectors, including industry, tourism, small business and education.

“If our children can’t return home to raise their families, what do we have? Nothing,” he said.

Natchez “has been drifting off course for a long time,” Grennell said, “I want to be proud of my hometown, and part of what is holding our city back is City Hall.”

Saying that “chaos is not a governing strategy,” Grennell said, “You cannot run a city when city government is in chaos, when you don’t know what you owe to whom. In church we call that ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul.’”

City Hall has discussed too many important matters behind closed doors, he said, and “Natchez needs a mayor who has proved he can bring jobs to the city, who can get board members to work together.”

Fields said he is running because of his “sheer love for Natchez,” saying he has “dedicated my entire life to improving this community.

“I believe God put me here to be an answer to a problem.”

Fields said he would work with other officials and continue to support Natchez Inc. in the effort to bring jobs, but would push for an added focus on the retail sector.

“We have to find an anchor (store) for that mall, because otherwise we are going to lose it like so many other communities have,” he said.

The tourism sector should be better developed to include music and other heritage tourism, Fields said, and the city needs to continue supporting the recreation partnership that will bring the YMCA to the area.

“Our kids should not be looking to other communities to find better baseball, softball and football programs,” he said.

Both candidates touted development that has happened in the area in the times they served in leadership positions — Fields as an alderman in Natchez and Grennell as a member and president of the Adams County Board of Supervisors.

Fields pointed to the townhouses that have been built in Ward 4, as well as the ones currently under development along St. Catherine and Oak streets, the new sidewalks being installed, the development of Jack Waite Park, plans for the redevelopment of the former Brumfield School building as apartments and a new subdivision on Ashburn Street with 66 lots, 20 of which, he said, have been sold.

Grennell spoke of how he traveled to Washington, D.C., to work to ensure that von Drehle would locate its paper recycling and manufacturing facility in Natchez, and quoted film director Tate Taylor as saying that without him “Get On Up” would not have been filmed in Natchez.

Grennell likewise pointed to the board of supervisors’ purchase of the former International Paper property when he was president, a move that he said allowed Delta-Energy to locate there and invest $11 million.

Fields said his goal after four years would be to live out a slogan he’s been campaigning on, “to truly create one Natchez.”

“It doesn’t matter if you are black, white, young or old, we are one Natchez,” Fields said. “I believe in the great possibilities of Natchez.”

Fields he has “something precious to offer” — youth, though he was willing to surround those with wisdom around him when he doesn’t know something.

“Believe in a young man with a vision,” he said.

Grennell said his goal was simple — “creating jobs, a job for every person who wants one.”

Saying he was “not the first guy in line with a shovel at a groundbreaking” and “a work horse, not a show horse,” Grennell characterized himself as someone who was willing to work at his office late into the night to make jobs happen.

“A man with a job has pride,” he said. “A woman with a job has a sense of security.”

The election primary will be May 10, with a general election June 7.