NATCHEZ &8212; Aldermen met Wednesday for more than 90 minutes in a closed-door session dominated by personnel issues.

Among them: The possibility of giving step raises to Natchez Fire Department personnel. Depending on figures the City Clerk&8217;s Office is crunching, including revenue projections for the next year, &8220;we&8217;re seeing what we can allow,&8221; Alderman and Mayor Pro Tem David Massey said.

Police already have step raises, and more than 30 other city employees, some of whom had not gotten raises in six years, were given a $100-a-month raise starting this month.

Massey said the issue will be discussed further in a work session aldermen already had scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday, also at City Hall.

In addition, city officials will discuss in further detail other items they may be able to add to city departments&8217; budgets for this fiscal year, such as additional equipment, depending on revenue projections.

Also in Wednesday&8217;s meeting, aldermen gave Police Chief Mike Mullins the go-ahead to hire four officers, who Mullins hopes to have patrolling the street within the next two weeks.

Filling those now-vacant positions will bring the department up to 48 patrol officers.

Although public bodies must start their meetings in open session under state law, they can go into an executive, or closed-door, session to discuss personnel, economic development, real estate, litigation and several other issues.