NATCHEZ — CableOne is raising its rates in June, and the average customer is expected to see a 4.8 percent increase.

Alderman Ernest “Tony” Fields, who chairs utilities, made the announcement Tuesday at the regularly scheduled Natchez Board of Aldermen meeting.

Fields said all CableOne customers will receive a notice with their bill for the month of May.

CableOne Manager Bobby McCool could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

In other business at the board meeting, residents from Buckner’s Alley and Wall Street shared stories of drainage issues and asked the board of aldermen to finish a project that was brought to the city’s attention nine years ago.

At a recent board of aldermen work session, City Engineer David Gardner said there was not enough money to complete the North Natchez Drainage Project at its highest point — Buckner’s Alley and Wall Street.

The project is an overhaul of the drainage system on the north end of town, and it began at the water’s collection point — Canal Street.

Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, who represents the area, said residents of these two streets and surrounding areas have experienced high waters during heavy rains.

Jim Battieste, a Buckner’s Alley resident, said it was time for the talking to stop and the action begin.

“We talk and talk, and it goes on deaf ears,” he said. “We can’t keep begging and begging and nothing happens. My house is 150 years old — it’s not an antebellum (mansion) — but I love it.”

Other residents mentioned how flooding has caused soil erosion, flooded cars and flooded yards.

“When it rains it’s like a river,” Buckner’s Alley resident Audrey Jenkins said. “We really need help down there.”

And when the rain stops, the water pools in yards and streets, creating a mosquito hotbed, which is a health hazard, Buckner’s Alley resident Florene Evans said.

“There was one case of West Nile Virus reported in Adams County last year,” she said. “That was my son.

“Just give us some relief if you can.”

Mayor Jake Middleton pledged that he does, and will do, everything in his power to find the $3.5 million in funding needed to complete the project.

“Every time I get an opportunity, I speak on your behalf,” he said.

Mathis, who spoke of her frustration in trying to get the drainage overhauled, said she was ready to take drastic measures.

She made a motion that if the funding is not found within a year, the city borrow the money through a bond.

Middleton, along with aldermen Bob Pollard and Mark Fortenbery, said they were hesitant to accept that motion, since the board had not previously even considered a bond.

All the aldermen said they weren’t against Mathis’ idea but needed more time for consideration.

Alderman James “Ricky” Gray admitted that usually the city takes more time to deliberate, but something needs to be done soon.

“These are real people with real problems that need help,” he said.

Gray made the motion — which passed with only one dissenting vote from Mathis — to table the bond issue discussion until the board’s next meeting at 11 a.m. May 12.

Mathis invited all affected by the project to once more attend the next meeting.

“I’ve done all I can do tonight,” she said.

In other business:

4 Alfred Hunter, president of the Natchez branch of the NAACP, and other members read a statement about their “growing concern for the way elected officials have been treated.”

He said earlier this year, when several city officials — all white — traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby for money, the NAACP took offense to that.

Middleton said he did not mean to offend anyone by having only a white delegation travel to Washington, D.C.

4 City Engineer David Gardner requested the board voice approval for the $662,000 in stimulus funds from the Mississippi Department of Transportation for the overlay of the central downtown business district.

The motion also carried that the board acknowledges the project will only cost $661,250, and if the bids are over that cost the city will pay 100 percent of the overage, or it can reject the project altogether. The motion was made and passed.

4 Natchez Convention Center Director Walter Tipton said the 10 events this month at the convention center has made it “the busiest month we’ve had since the facility was built.”