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NATCHEZ — The Natchez Mayor and Board of Aldermen on Tuesday night donated two portions of city property to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for use in improvements by the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians.

In April 2022, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History announced it had received $8 million from the Mississippi Legislature to fund improvements at Historic Jefferson College and the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians.

At the Grand Village, plans are under way to build a new interpretive center and a new pavilion as well as new interpretation area outside.

In order to make way for those improvements, Lance Harris, director at the Grand Village, asked aldermen to declare two pieces of city property as excess and donate them to the MDAH.

Those two pieces of property include city-owned right-of-way along a former railroad track that served the former Johns Manville property, as well as a portion of Jeff Davis Boulevard from Mansfield to the entrance to the Grand Village.

Harris said an area off Jeff Davis Boulevard would likely be used as additional parking for the Grand Village.

In other business, aldermen heard from Mayor Dan Gibson that:

• City officials have been meeting with the board of the Natchez-Adams County Humane Society, which has purchased a building next to its current facility, which would be renovated and used for the housing of pets picked up by the city’s animal control officer.

He said city officials would tour that building on Wednesday and create a punch list of items that need to be completed for the building to serve the city and perhaps the county, should they choose to join in the effort.

Gibson also said the city as budgeted for a second animal control officer and will begin work to advertising for that position soon.

• The city’s new code enforcement officer, J. Baldwin, has recently completed training in Jackson. In addition, the city’s website will soon contain a portal that aldermen and citizens can use to report code enforcement violations.