Professionals are paid for what they know and for the advice they provide. It’s rarely wise to go against the advice of your attorney or your doctor, for example, as they’re paid to look out for your best interests.

And, interestingly, we often apply credibility of professionals in direct relation to the cost they’re charging.

Free advice — even if it’s sound — often is the first to be dismissed.

A great case in point is the value that the various volunteer commissions and boards have in the City of Natchez. They work in tandem with the city’s planning department to legislate and interpret city codes regarding planning, preservation and zoning issues.

Like good attorneys or physicians, the commissions lay down advice and even rule on certain issues.

But thanks to a fundamental change in city law in 2005, commission advice doesn’t have the same meaning it once did.

Previously, such appeals went to a court of law. Logically, the judicial system is the best place to settle such disagreements. The board of aldermen is legislative branch of city government, essentially passing the laws.

But with the 2005 change, aldermen took on the form of the judiciary, too, clipping the checks and balances of the system.

In a recent board of aldermen meeting in which such an appeal was being discussed in regards to the new dowtown bed and breakfast Natchez Manor, Natchez City Planner Rusty Lewis wisely pointed out that picking and choosing which parts of which laws will be enforced and applied is a dangerous practice.

Yet, aldermen voted to ignore the advice of both their paid city planner and the volunteer board of experts. The message is clear: Aldermen know best. Just ask them.