NATCHEZ — It would only be a microcosm of a total city-county consolidation, but Natchez Mayor Jake Middleton wants to meet with the Adams County Board of Supervisors to discuss the possibility of having a single public works director for both governments.

This suggestion comes after the county hired Natchez Public Works Director Robbie Dollar to fill the open position of road manager earlier this week.

“We have so much money allotted for public works, and they have so much allotted, so the funds are in place,” Middleton said. “You could reduce the cost or expense of what you are going to pay a guy, and we could reduce the cost of what we are going to pay, and pay the guy a little more (combined).”

Middleton had previously said he would present the idea to the board of aldermen this week, but did not, even though discussion of Dollar’s leaving his city position took place during an executive session prior to the aldermen’s meeting Tuesday.

Some questions would still need to be answered and steps taken to ensure that everyone is treated equally, Middleton said.

“If you already have your crews in place, they already know what to do — you would just have one guy over them,” he said. “We are not re-inventing the wheel. If it doesn’t work out, we will go back to what we were doing and (the county) can go back to what they were doing — but let’s not say ‘no’ until we sit down at the table and talk about it.”

Supervisors President Darryl Grennell said the proposal as presented to him was not so much city-county consolidation as it was just using Dollar to manage both departments without a merger.

“It was more or less using the same individual to serve as a foreman to be in charge of both the county road department and the city public works department,” he said.

There’s something else to consider as well, Grennell said.

“First, Robbie Dollar would have to be approached with that (proposal) to determine if he wants to take that on,” Grennell said.

Nevertheless, Grennell said he will bring up the topic of a meeting to discuss the idea with city leaders at the next supervisor’s meeting.

Middleton said he wants to use the meeting as a springboard for other discussions as well.

“I told (Grennell) it is not just to talk about consolidation, but also just to sit down and talk about the issues, what we have going on, what we are doing together and what we can do together,” he said.

Dollar could not be reached for comment.