NATCHEZ — A Mississippi mayoral think tank will storm Natchez, using the city as a model to brainstorm on their own city projects.

Mayor Jake Middleton will host the first Preserve America Mayors Conference on Heritage Tourism Aug. 21-23.

The conference, which will bring between eight and 10 mayors from across the state, is hosted by the Tulane Regional Urban Design Center, the Historic Natchez Foundation and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

And it will be funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Grover Mouton, director of the urban design center, said Natchez is the perfect setting to discuss development and tourism.

“We’re using Natchez as the example of how cultural tourism is the base of economic development,” he said.

One mayor may want to discuss the possibility of building a visitors center whereas another may want to talk about building an interpretive center. All ideas are welcomed at the conference.

“Each mayor comes alone and each comes with his project,” Mouton said.

Essentially, putting all these minds together will help put these projects on the fast track.

Middleton said being able to meet with other mayors is a good opportunity, something the City of Natchez has capitalized on before.

He said in 1993, he and other city officials traveled to Charleston, S.C., to see how the visitors center there was built to get ideas for one in Natchez.

Mouton said there will also be several people attending the event who can help with these projects to be.

“We’re having the super dog people,” he said.

This includes Lynn Scarlett, the deputy secretary from the Department of the Interior, John Nau, the chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and Bob Young, the assistant deputy secretary for the field of police of management of HUD.

Also in attendance will be Ken P’Pool, the director of historic preservation division for the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Janet Matthews with the National Park Service and Kenneth Schwartz, the dean of the Tulane School of Architecture.

Mouton said as each mayor discusses what they want to accomplish, “we’ll pick out special people to help them.”

Middleton said the project he’ll be discussing is recreation.

Mouton said this is a great chance for Middleton to bring up this project.

“This is a serious initiative,” he said. “Basically we will help him put a program together, we’ll show him his options.”

Mouton said this will be Middleton’s show.

“This is his institute,” he said. “It’s mayor to mayor.”

Since this is the first of its kind, being a part of Preserve America and funded through HUD, it is a pilot program and Mouton said he hopes it will be a prototype for the rest of the country.