Mathis said she has several concerns about the proposed third amendment and said she also wants to keep the lease as it is now.

Middleton said he believes it is not in the best interest of the city to keep the original lease. He said, for example, the original lease states that the money for a recreation complex would not be paid until the recreation project was ready to begin, which he said could be a number of years.

“Why would you want to stick with that lease?” Middleton said.

The third lease amendment was originally proposed to the aldermen last month. After the aldermen and several residents voiced concerns about the amendment, casino developers presented a second draft of the amendment.

The provisions in the second draft include:

• A modified description of the casino site that moves the casino, on-site parking and parking garage further north.

• Monthly payments of $50,000 beginning March 1 credited toward the first $1 million rent payment due by the opening of the casino, which is tentatively scheduled for December.

• An 8-percent cap on the future adjustment of the casino’s rent payment based on the Consumer Price Index.

• An annual payment of $225,000 to a community development fund beginning one year after the casino opens.

• Annual payments of $250,000 for four years beginning one year after the casino opens for the $1 million contribution for a recreation complex, YMCA or Civil Rights museum.

• $300,000 to develop an area near the casino for a public park and no more than 50 parking spaces.

• The additional 100 parking spaces to be provided for the casino by the city designated by May 31.

• $300,000 for the Natchez Trails Project paid on the second anniversary of the casino’s opening.

• No mention of Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, one of the casino’s investors, as a third-party beneficiary that was in the first draft of the amendment. However, the original lease allows for the company, as a Natchez Enterprises’ investor, to be a leasehold mortgagee.

• The city’s acknowledgement that Natchez Enterprises will merge into Natchez Casino OpCo, a company owned by Premier Gaming Group President Kevin Preston, George Lane of Lane Company and Robert Lubin, an attorney from Virginia.

Natchez Gaming Enterprises must submit finalized funding documents to the Mississippi Gaming Commission by Feb. 24 or casino construction must stop.

The aldermen will meet in the Natchez City Council Chambers, with the discussion of the amendment beginning at 9 a.m. and the regular meeting at 11 a.m.