NATCHEZ — Natchez is officially seeking a resurgence of a downtown association to improve the heart of Natchez economically.

FOR Natchez President Chesney Doyle, whose group pioneered Natchez’s recently approved master plan for downtown, said her group is ready to begin forming such a group.

“This is the organization that basically would implement the plan and work every day to make downtown Natchez a vibrant, economically viable district,” Doyle said. “That’s what we’re all shooting for.”

This association, Doyle said, would be akin to the former Natchez Downtown Development Association, which has been defunct for the past several years because of a lack of funding.

FOR Natchez will now form an implementation group that will handle the formation of a downtown association no later than Oct. 1, Doyle said. Going hand-in-hand with that objective is hiring a downtown development director of sorts to oversee this association and guide downtown Natchez in the right direction.

Before posting a job description for a director, Doyle said the city must first approve a letter of intent to form a downtown association.

“That’s why I’m here this morning, is to … ask you to bless this letter of intent, and let’s move forward to get our downtown organization going,” Doyle said.

In support of the initiative, Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard agreed with comments Mayor Darryl Grennell previously made about treating downtown as an industry.

“What we need is someone to organize and look at it as a business model,” Dillard said. “How do we run there, where we can run the downtown so that it is profitable, and it is sustainable to all of the merchants and the citizens of Natchez as one?”

Dillard said he believes the city and surrounding entities will be able to find funding for the director position.

Concerning a downtown agency, a return to form has been a goal for the city over the last two or three administrations, Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said. The city should look at what other comparable cities pay their downtown development directors, she said, and ensure that Adams County, Natchez Inc. and the Natchez Convention Promotion Commission are all involved in the future of downtown moving forward.

After everyone had spoken, the board unanimously voted to approve the letter of intent Doyle had presented.