Every trip needs a plan, and every ship needs a captain to execute that plan.

The City of Natchez will have a new captain and a new direction on Monday. The captain’s face is familiar, and he should be quite familiar with maneuvering his way around the ship.

Natchez’s new mayor, Larry L. “Butch” Brown, may be many things, but perhaps first and foremost he’s a leader, a driven, focused, determined leader.

But perhaps Brown’s most important characteristic is in his heart. Few people would argue that Brown doesn’t love Natchez to his core.

That love combined with Brown’s seemingly uncanny ability to get things moving, even when the odds are stacked against him, will take him far in the next four years as he assumes the office of mayor again.

Brown gave us a bit of a preview of some his plans for the city — shared today in a news story published in this edition — and all of them seem like great things on which to focus.

Perhaps the two issues Brown suggests he’ll tackle that show the most promise are his plans to clean up the city — literally — and streamline some of its rules.

Among the rule changes Brown has mentioned, the most important is the desire to change the way in which the city handles appeals of decisions from the city’s volunteer-boards, such as the preservation and planning commission.

Years ago, the board of aldermen chose to politicize the issue by deciding to be the judge in such cases. Brown has suggested the city would be better off if those appeals went back to the court system. We agree.

If the next four years are anything like Brown’s previous two terms as mayor, the captain is about to issue the “full steam ahead” command.

It should be a fun, fruitful voyage. We’re ready to cast off the lines and get under weigh.