Today, a circuit judge in Brookhaven will be asked to dismiss a lawsuit involving the rehiring of former police Officer Willie B. Jones.

Aldermen voted 4-3 in October, with Mayor Phillip West breaking the tie, to rehire Jones at his former rank of patrolman.

City Attorney Walter Brown had told the board that under state law, the authority to rehire a police officer or firefighter rests with the Civil Service Commission, not aldermen.

Natchez residents Courtney Aldridge and Kevin Colbert then filed suit against West and all six aldermen in Circuit Court to reverse to decision to rehire Jones.

Joe McCoy and Lee McCoy of Ridgeland, attorneys for city officials named in the case, filed a motion in February in Adams County Circuit Court to dismiss the case.

In that motion, they stated that the board took its vote Oct. 22 but that the plaintiffs filed their complaint Nov. 22, but that state law requires an appeal of such a vote to be filed within 10 days of such a meeting.

Adams County Circuit Court judges Forrest &uot;Al&uot; Johnson and Lillie Blackmon Sanders recused themselves from the case earlier this year, saying they could not hear the case &uot;due to parties involved in the litigation.&uot;

The Mississippi Supreme Court appointed Mike Smith, judge for the circuit court district that includes Lincoln County, to hear the case. As of Monday, a hearing was scheduled for 10 a.m. today on the motion to dismiss.

In 1997, Jones allegedly offered a fellow officer $260 not to pursue a drug charge against a relative of Jones’ then-fiance.

Jones resigned before an investigation into the matter was finished and was later arrested in the case. Jones was charged with felony obstruction of justice but pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge.

The charge was expunged, or wiped from his record, late last year.

But a person who been out of law enforcement for two years or more must be approved by the State Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Training Board to attend a refresher course prior to being re-certified.