NATCHEZ — When the Natchez Board of Aldermen meets this afternoon, the ad hoc committee to investigate changes to the ordinance regarding appeals of planning and preservation commission decisions will come with a recommendation that the city essentially revert to its pre-2005 practice.

Appeals to decisions of the planning commission have never gone to circuit court, always to the aldermen. Preservation commission appeals, however, historically went to circuit court prior to September 2005 when the aldermen unanimously voted to reroute the appeals.

The committee was formed at the first meeting of the new city administration at the request of Alderwoman Sarah Smith, and consists of Smith, Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis and Alderman Rickey Gray. Board Attorney Hyde Carby served the committee in an advisory capacity.

“I researched the issue, and the circuit and chancery courts have limited jurisdiction, so you have got to find a specific statute that grants them the ability to hear decisions decided elsewhere,” Carby said. “In the enabling legislation that gives municipalities the ability to create historic districts, there is a statute that allows you to have an appeal to the board of aldermen or directly to the court.”

Arceneaux-Mathis said that the recommendation to revert the appeals process would be taken before the board, but she looked forward to the discussion of the issue.

“My only concern is that I don’t want to see anything that hinders someone who has a situation and has to go to court but does not have the financial means to go to court,” she said.

The board will also discuss the engineering contract the city has with Natchez Water Works. Mayor Butch Brown said he believes the aldermen will come to a decision at the meeting. The contract, which was extended through the end of July in June, is set to expire.

Natchez Water Works currently contracts with the city for engineering services, making Waterworks Director David Gardner the de facto city engineer. Gardner has previously said Waterworks has established that it wants the contract renewed but it will be up to the board to take the initiative.

Brown said he wanted to hear the board’s discussion about the issue, and Mathis said she would like to see engineering services returned to a direct city department. Gardner could not be reached Monday.

The mayor also said the board would likely discuss legal strategy regarding the settlement of the lawsuit between would-be condo developers Worley Brown and the city. The aldermen voted in June to buy back the site of the former pecan factory on which the developers would have built condos had the Mississippi Department of Archives and History issued them permits, which it instead declined to do.

Carby said the discussion would be in executive session because the settlement wasn’t final yet.

“The big picture terms of the settlement have been decided, but the details as to how to get it done in such a way that it will end the litigation has not quite been hashed out, and we have got to do it properly so we don’t find ourselves dealing with it down the road,” Carby said.

The board will also appoint a member for the Natchez-Adams County School District board of trustees. The meeting agenda lists current member Thelma Newsome or Tammy Williams as possible appointees

The term for the seat occupied by school board member Newsome expired last year, but the appointment was delayed until after elections, Mathis said.