NATCHEZ &8212; Sinking sections of Marblestone Street have reached emergency status, Natchez Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux Mathis said at the Tuesday meeting of the city board.

&8220;I want us to declare it an emergency,&8221; she said. &8220;We have a situation there that can cause danger to residents. The street in one place has dropped one foot.&8221;

Alderman Rickey Gray agreed. &8220;I go to church at Marblestone Baptist Church, and I can tell you it is serious,&8221; he said.

A few more inches of sinking, and people on one side of the street won&8217;t be able to get to the other side,&8221; he said.

Gray said pictures passed among the aldermen did not show how bad the problem had become. &8220;The pictures really don&8217;t show how bad it is.&8221;

The board asked staff from public works and engineering to go to the site to make an assessment.

In other business at the meeting:

4The board awarded the contract for removing asbestos from the two brick buildings on the site where New Orleans developer Tom Bauer plans to build a convention center hotel in the square bordered by Main, Canal, Franklin and Broadway streets. The contract went to Gulf Servicing Contracting Corp. for $15, 937 for both buildings.

4Brett Brineger reported that the city&8217;s grants-writing department had received superior approval in a recent audit by HUD.

4Brinegar also reported that the department had received four proposals for feasibility studies on the management and boundary program for Forks of the Road. She will form a committee to study the proposals and make a recommendation to the board.

4The board approved Brinegar&8217;s request that they declare an emergency for eligibility of up to $75,000 in community development block grants to repair water and sewer infrastructure in two places &8212; one in an area behind Elms Court and the other behind Roy Carter & Son off John R. Junkin Drive.

&8220;This system goes from the north of the city to the south and affects about a third of the city&8217;s residents and all wards,&8221; she said.

4The board approved the reappointment of James West to the Natchez-Adams County Economic Development Authority.

4The board approved the reappointment of the Smith Turner Reeves CPA firm as auditors.

4The board approved the appointment of Emma Rose Jackson to the Natchez Metropolitan Planning Commission.

4Aldermen Jake Middleton said swimming lessons will be offered at the Senior Center June 12 to 15 and June 19 to 22 at $20 per week per child, two classes a day and a limit of 20 per class.

4Board attorney Walter Brown said condo developers Edward Worley and Larry Brown had notified the city that they would go forward with purchase of the former Natchez Pecan Shelling Co. on Broadway and suggested May 30 at 4 p.m. as a date and time to consummate the project.

4Brown said he hoped the hotel project with developer Bauer would be finalized next week.

4Mayor Phillip West announced a called meeting of the board at 4 p.m. May 30 to interview applicants for city attorney, to address a request by the director of tourism and to discuss budget items.