The City of Natchez has found pay dirt — literally. Last week, City Engineer David Gardner announced that by using their heads as well as their shovels, the folks working on the site work at the new convention center found a way to solve a nagging problem at the site.

And in the process they may have saved the city up to $350,000.

The problem is simple.

After decades of building and demolition on the two downtown blocks where the building is to be constructed, the site is filled with debris and other &uot;bad soil.&uot;

The soil is simply unsuitable to serve as the foundation of the new building.

Something had to be done, but buying suitable, &uot;good dirt,&uot; may have cost the city thousands of dollars.

Fortunately someone was using their head and realized there was an excess of &uot;good dirt&uot; and it was only a few blocks away.

The ongoing stabilization work on the crumbling Mississippi River bluffs has created all of the &uot;good soil&uot; the convention center site needs.

We’re fortunate that folks like Gardner and the others in the city’s engineering department are thinking ahead and have realized how to squeeze the most value from the taxpayers’ dollars.

It’s hard for most folks to get excited about dirt — even if it is &uot;good dirt.&uot; But this latest effort proves that even soil can have a silver lining, if you dig deep enough.