NATCHEZ — The city is making progress on plans to renovate the downtown railroad depot, but not everyone is on board with the plans.

Owners of Old South Trading Post and Cock of the Walk, which are currently housed in the depot, say they are not happy that renovating the depot will force them to relocate or possibly close their businesses.

The city is working to relocate the Natchez Farmers Market, operated by Alcorn State University’s Extension Program, to the bluff. Plans include constructing an open-air building to house the farmers market and putting a retail shop that will sell goods made from farmers market products in the depot.

Additions would be made to the depot, and demonstration gardens and a playground put on the bluff in the area spanning from the former pecan factory site to the depot.

One of the main reasons with relocating the farmers market to the depot, Mayor Butch Brown, is obtaining funding to renovate the depot, which he said needs extensive repairs.

The city was previously denied a federal grant for renovation because the depot currently houses for-profit businesses.

Old South Trading Post has been housed in the depot for nine years and the Cock of the Walk restaurant for 20 years.

The city owns the building and collects rent from the tenants, but no significant renovations have been done in years.

The total rent for the depot is $1,047 a month, $400 of which the Trading Post pays, and the rest is paid by Cock of the Walk.

Cock of the Walk owner Patricia Clark said rent has always been approximately $1,000 for the building. The total rent that the city should have collected in those 20 years totals approximately $240,000.

The rent money collected by the city goes into the public properties fund, which is used to maintain city-owned facilities.

But Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard, who took over as chair of public properties in July, said he does not recall any alderman making a request that those funds be used to repair the depot.

Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, in whose ward the depot is, said she believes repairs were made sometime during Brown’s first two terms as mayor.

Resident Sharon Goodrich, who previously partnered with Clark for Lunch on the Southside, said she wants to know why the rent money was not used for upkeep of the depot.

Mathis and Dillard said there is no clear answer for that. A lack of reliable accounting, the aldermen said, has made it difficult to track all of the funds spent in all of the various accounts.

Another problem, Dillard said, may have been the mindset that instead of using rent monies to repair the depot, the city would eventually just get a grant to repair the depot, a plan with which Dillard says he does not agree.

“I am going to try to bring a much more responsible approach to city-owned property maintenance,” Dillard said. “I don’t think trying to get a grant for everything is the answer. The city should use the collected money for its intended purpose, and that is the maintenance and upkeep of city property.”

Repairing the depot is a complicated problem for which no one has previously sat down and mapped out a plan, Dillard and Mathis said. That is probably partly because, Dillard said, no one really wanted to know how much it would cost to repair the depot.

“That clay tile roof is not like a regular roof,” he said. “The honest answer is I think everyone looked at it and was afraid of what it was going to cost.”

Goodrich also said, she wants to know why the city is trying an idea that failed years ago. Goodrich said the Natchez Farmers Market relocated to what is now the St. Mary Basilica Family Life Center in the early 2000s under the same premise being used now.

A grant was used to renovate the building to open the market, Goodrich said.

The market, Goodrich said, failed “abysmally” at the location.

“My point is why would anybody think of shutting down two businesses that are good for the city to do something that has already failed?” Goodrich said.

Brown said he thinks the new location of the farmers market and the revamp of the bluff will be a success.

Brown met with representatives from Alcorn and Historic Natchez Foundation Executive Director Mimi Miller Friday to discuss plans for the depot.

At the meeting, the group laid out a timeline for the project.

Brown said Alcorn will be providing funding to get a site plan for the project in place, which he said should be completed by February.

The deadline to complete the entire project, which Brown estimates at costing approximately $2 million, is Jan. 1, 2016.

So far, Brown said, the city has approximately $750,000 for the project. The money, he said, includes state and federal funding, as well as private donations.

The depot and the bluff revitalization is one of Brown’s “legacy projects” to be completed by the city’s tricentennial.

Miller is providing input on the design and renovation of the depot, which is a landmark. Miller said she supports the project and believes it will be good use of the bluff.

The Trading Post and Cock of the Walk must relocate, as they cannot be housed in the depot while the roof is being replaced, Brown said.

The businesses, Brown said, will be given at least 60-90 days notice, and he said the city will assist in whatever way possible helping the businesses find a new location.

Clark said she does not have a plan for relocation yet.

“I don’t want to leave,” she said. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I have to, I just don’t know.”

Old South Trading Post owner Jonathan Wood said the businesses contribution goes beyond simply the rent and tax money it pays to the city.

Wood said the Trading Post spends approximately $7,800 each month in rent, billboards, magazine and direct mail advertisements and other promotions that drive tourists to Natchez.

“I understand there are other factors, but I also understand having somebody that’s trying to be the corporate citizen we’re trying to be in today’s economy,” Wood said.

Mathis said she can attest to the Trading Post’s good corporate citizenship.

“They may look small, but Old South is a big company, they go nationwide,” she said. “We don’t want them to leave the vicinity.”

Mathis said she has previously suggested alternative locations for the Trading Post, such as the basement of the NAPAC Museum.

NAPAC also needs a gift shop, and Mathis said she thinks Old South Trading Post would be good use of the space.

Mathis said she certainly does not want to see two businesses in her ward shut down.

“Old South Trading Post and Cock of the Walk are two well-known places, and we don’t want to lose them,” Mathis said. “And we also want the managers and owners to be able to keep making their money.”

Mathis said the plans for the bluff are moving quickly, and she said she has suggested the city give the businesses plenty of time to find a new location.

“I’ve suggested that we sit down with the renters and vendors (at the depot) and make sure that they were aware (they have to relocate) at least a year out,” she said.