Kingdom building can be addictive, so much so that the builders can convince themselves their plans are unquestionable.

How else can the baffling plans of Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland and the band of aldermen who seem to live in the mayor’s pocket be explained?

Through a formal public information request, citizens learned last week that the City of Vidalia seeks state permission to borrow $7 million to purchase and improve land across the highway from Walmart.

The plan would use taxpayer money — all public money is eventually taxpayer money in my mind, no matter the exact source — to create a “village center.”

While city leaders, including Copeland, apparently had hoped to skate the matter past the Louisiana Bond Commission without much public scrutiny, the proverbial cat found a hole in the bag last week.

Paperwork from the bond commission indicates some difficult-to-believe premises on a project that seems to be a dream, not a necessity.

The appraisal on one of the two large tracts of land the city wants to buy indicates the combined 64 acres would be used for a planned unit development.

The appraiser — who clearly has more knowledge of Vidalia’s plans than do most local taxpayers — suggested the development would include a “village center of retail, hotel and a possible medical center.”

Sources close to the situation have suggested Copeland had hoped to lure Riverland Medical Center in Ferriday to relocate to Vidalia. The mayor, however, denies lobbying to move the hospital to Vidalia.

The hospital engaged a consulting firm to create a feasibility study on its future last year but hasn’t released the results yet. The hospital’s administrator told The Concordia Sentinel newspaper recently that a second consulting firm was being hired to complete a more in-depth study on the possibility of moving.

Based on Vidalia’s plans and the reaction to questions asked about the plans, it would appear the second study isn’t necessary because Vidalia leaders may believe they have the answer — Yes, the hospital needs to move and, oh, by the way, we have the perfect spot.

Set aside all of the incestuousness involved in the process — the mayor once co-owned one of the properties in question, along with another town employee, who is friends with the mayor. The contracted city engineer, Bryant Hammett, still co-owns one of the properties.

Hammett may not be a direct city employee, but he’s highly embedded in the administration. For example, his name is emblazoned on another public trophy, the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center.

Set aside the substantial profit Hammett stands to earn if the city buys the property at the appraised value — which is significantly more than he paid for it a few years ago. Ignore all of the interconnections in the deal.

The real and fundamental question about the deal is: Should taxpayers fund what would appear to be something that is normally left up to the private sector?

As best anyone can tell the “village center” would appear to be a retail development — i.e., the city would purchase the land, improve it and then seek to either sell it or lease it to others.

Is creating such a development the role of government?

If the site were so ripe for development, it would seem that by now either the owners would have done the development themselves or sold it to some good old American capitalists who would do the same.

Something doesn’t smell right about this project; noses are not easily fooled.

Make no mistake; Mayor Copeland has led some great projects in his role as leader of Vidalia for more than two decades. But spending $7 million to create a would-be development seems to be an overreach at best, another jewel in a self-aggrandized crown at worst.

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.