NATCHEZ &045; Chairwomen of two of the city’s planning-related commissions told aldermen Tuesday a highly qualified person must be found as quickly as possible to fill the city planner’s position.

Former City Planner Bob Jackson resigned last month, after a little more than one year on the job, to return to Arizona, where he had formerly served as a planner for Native American tribes.

Planning Commission Chairwoman Deborah Martin said meetings have been rescheduled because the group didn’t have a planner’s advice to rely on. Other city employees have had to step in to help guide their decisions.

There is no planner to advise commissions or to explain the city’s planning rules to the public, said Marty Seibert, who chairs the Historic Preservation Commission. As a result, she said, the bodies have had to deal with &uot;problems, procrastinations and unhappy citizens.&uot;

During the Board of Aldermen’s Tuesday meeting, City Attorney Walter Brown suggested advertising the post on the National Trust and American Planning Association Web sites. He said if April 30 was set as the application deadline, the position could be filled by the last week of May.

Aldermen didn’t finalize a plan of action or hiring timeline Tuesday, with Mayor Phillip West saying Brown’s comments were the first he had heard of the proposed timeline.

But Mayor West did say the city’s previous plan &045; announcing in a recent meeting the city was accepting applications &045; hadn’t worked and that something else would have to be done.

Seibert agreed, saying that simply announcing the open position in a public meeting won’t work because &uot;I doubt there’s a person in Natchez with these qualifications.&uot;

Brown mentioned a master’s degree and historic preservation experience as two qualifications the city might request in its ad, and Seibert said her commission believes an educational background in historic preservation is a must.

In addition to a myriad of other duties, the city planner meets frequently with the public to explain the city’s planning, zoning and preservation ordinances, rules and regulations.

He also reviews applications for zoning variances, planning and historic preservation requests and the like and presents them, in the form of

staff reports

, to boards that decide the issues.

Martin told the aldermen that, among other concerns:

4The Planning Commission’s Feb. 17 meeting had to be rescheduled because a proposed rezoning had not been advertised for two weeks in the newspaper as required.

Once the meeting was held a few days later, it took two hours because the commission had to staff report to aid in its decision.

&uot;On February 22, other members of the commission and I met with the mayor, and he assured us (hiring a planner) was a top priority,&uot; Martin said.

4On March 17, City Engineer David Gardner had to attend the commission’s meeting to help advise it because a planner wasn’t yet hired. With all his other duties, &uot;I don’t feel David Gardner has enough time Š to handle this, too,&uot; Martin said.

4A citizen came to the Planning Department’s office this week for advice on building according to the city’s planning rules, but no one was there.

&uot;Finally, someone directed him to (Planning Commission Vice-Chairwoman) Karen Stubbs,&uot; Martin said. &uot;This could have been a major project that wanted to come to Natchez.&uot;

Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said aldermen have had to work on filling the positions of personnel director and public works director first, since they were vacated first.

A personnel director was just hired earlier this month. Alderman David Massey said Tuesday aldermen are still working to hire a public works director, although they’ve narrowed applications down to two and should hire someone &uot;in the next couple of weeks.&uot;

In addition, Arceneaux-Mathis said the city has also recently hired a grants coordinator, adding another hire to its plate.

&uot;Then, too, we wanted to be sure we filled that (planning) position with the right person,&uot; she said. &uot;We really want to match the person to Š the city and the job.&uot;

&uot;It’s also important to get someone with a vision of this city we haven’t had before,&uot; Alderman Theodore &uot;Bubber&uot; West said. &uot;We want to make sure we get someone who can accept the fact that we’re a diverse city.&uot;

Alderman West, who served on the Planning Commission 16 years, said city officials haven’t been procrastinating about filling the position.

&uot;Two weeks ago, the mayor announced (the position) in a meeting and we’ve only gotten one application since then,&uot; he said.

&uot;We won’t rush into (hiring someone), but we do understand the importance of it.&uot;

Martin said she understands that the city has had high turnover in the position in recent years and that the city’s limited budget makes it difficult to keep someone in the position, as Alderman Ricky Gray pointed out.

&uot;But as soon as someone moves out,&uot; Martin said, &uot;we need to be about the process of finding another person for that position.&uot;