Weak mayor, strong board” isn’t meant to describe personalities and performance.

The term refers to a form of government in which the board of aldermen has all the voting power and the mayor must simply direct from behind the scenes.

It’s easy to look at past mayoral personalities and see some strong-willed men, for sure.

But it seems city personnel code allows the mayor’s personality to creep into his management style.

The code doesn’t offer a clear chain of command when it comes to hiring and firing city employees, saying only “the City” is in charge.

Blame our forefathers for lack of detail if you’d like, but for years mayors have been applying their own interpretations to that code.

Some mayors have governed in such a way that they handled all hiring and firing; others let the aldermen do the dirty work. But it seems the issue has merely been the mayor’s choice.

Mayor Jake Middleton has plenty of city government experience. As a long time aldermen, he’s now played on both sides of the table. He’s smart enough to know that Natchez needs a city planner and a grant writer.

And he was elected by the populace of Natchez to lead, not follow. The whole of Natchez — not just one ward — trusts him to make sure city government runs well.

Yet Middleton seems content to simply say he is part of a weak mayor, strong board setup, letting six aldermen call the shots for an entire city he represents.

It’s true that Natchez has a weak mayor, strong board setup, mayor. But the adjectives should describe the system of government not the people running it.