NATCHEZ &045; Two buildings which burned last year at historic Natchez College are one step closer to being restored.

Aldermen voted Monday to allow City Planner Andrew Smith to apply to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for a Community Heritage Preservation Grant that could provide up to $500,000 to help renovate the buildings. Smith found out about the grant and sought approval to apply.

If the city receives the grant, the General Missionary Baptist State Convention, which owns the property on North Union Street, would provide a 20 percent match for the grant.

The convention hopes to use the property as a site for such things as ministerial retreats and youth programs. But the first priority will be to &uot;mothball&uot; the buildings, fixing their roofs and windows to weathertight them under further renovations can be made.

The historically black two-year college was open for more than 100 years until it closed in the 1990s.

Later in the meeting, aldermen voted to renew the city’s annual interlocal agreement with Adams County to provide fire protection outside the city limits. The amount of the agreement, with a consumer price index increase, totals $484,000.

Aldermen also renewed for another three years an agreement under which the city provides accounting services for the Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau. The cost of the three-year contract will continue to be $441,000, City Attorney Walter Brown said.

Also Tuesday, the board:

4Recognized the Dixie Youth 11-year-old state championship team.

4Recognized the 1400 block of George F. West Boulevard as the city’s Block of Distinction for this month.

4Voted to direct Public Works to clean three overgrown properties: two on St. Catherine Street and one on North Circle.