NATCHEZ — The Natchez Board of Aldermen voted Tuesday to increase the city’s public works budget by $56,515 and hire two new employees to focus primarily on cutting grass on abandoned lots.

“This board is getting more demanding about cleaning up these lots, and the load is getting larger,” Natchez Mayor Butch Brown said of overgrown grass.

The total approved at Tuesday’s regular board meeting, covers salaries plus $1,200 for new weed trimmers, $400 for a chainsaw and $6,000 for fuel, among other miscellaneous items.

The money will be added to an existing $31,000 already in the grass-cutting budget.

The motion to increase the budget passed 4-1; Ward 3 Alderwoman Sarah Carter Smith voted against the motion. Ward 4 Alderman Tony Fields was not present at the meeting.

Smith said she wanted to look more closely at the city’s budget before voting to expand it.

In other business, Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis requested an update on the North Natchez drainage project, a decade-old effort to correct drainage problems in parts of Ward 1.

Mathis and Ward 2 Alderman Ricky Gray expressed concern over the project’s timeline for completion. The work was originally planned for completion in 2014, but the city is still working — with a private company — to acquire the necessary easements to move the project forward.

Of 44 easements needed, four cases are closed, and 11 are currently in negotiation.

The company that is managing the project estimates another three to four months is needed to acquire those easements, Community Development Director James Johnston told the board Tuesday.

Mathis and Gray offered to help obtain the necessary permissions by going door-to-door to talk to residents. They joined Brown in asking Johnston to push the project along more quickly.

In other business:

– An initial 3-2 vote against approving the city’s docket of claims momentarily left city employees without an upcoming pay check — but a re-do vote changed that. A check is on the way.

A vote to approve the docket means the city agrees to pay all bills owed to vendors and meets payroll. But upon City Clerk Donnie Holloway’s initial request for approval, the motion failed with “no” votes from Mathis, Gray and Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard.

Within a few minutes, Gray made a second motion to extract the payroll from the docket and approve its funding.

Alderman Mark Fortenbery and Smith balked.

“Now if we vote ‘nay’ they are turning it back on us,” Fortenbery said. “They are redoing the vote how they want to do it. Now they are going to make a vote to pay employees and not vendors.”

But Mathis said the matter was more complicated than that, saying she had unanswered questions about the city’s expenses.

“I want the public to understand, we are putting ourselves on the line to support a docket we don’t understand,” she said.

The aldermen were asking questions, she said, but no one was providing answers about the budget.

Some questions voiced by the aldermen related to loans made from one city fund — such as community development — to another fund, like payroll. Holloway said several loans in question had been paid back.

Before voting on Gray’s motion, Dillard re-addressed the original motion.

“I think I can bring that issue back up,” he said, making a motion to approve the whole docket. Mathis seconded the motion, and it passed 4-1, with Gray voting no.

“We don’t have another meeting this month, and I don’t want to see the vendors go without their money.”

– Smith reported that a consultant hired by the city to audit the city’s Cable One contract discovered approximately $17,000 in funds owed to the city. In addition, the city is reportedly owed an additional $8,000 annually going forward.

– In a discussion that started nearly 20 minutes before it ended, the board voted 3-2 to reappoint Kenny Jackson to the Natchez Water Works board.

Smith made the motion, but met objection from Mathis who sought to accept applications first.

Smith argued that since it was simply a re-appointment of a good board member, there was no need to accept applications.

Mathis requested a roll-call vote on the matter, only to discover Gray had left the room.

Attorney Hyde Carby advised the board that it wasn’t necessary to wait on Gray’s return to vote, since a quorum of members was present.

Mathis first threatened — and then followed through — to “go for a walk,” which meant there would be no quorum and no vote.

Approximately 10 minutes passed while Mathis “walked.” Once she and Gray returned, the vote to appoint Jackson passed with “yes” votes from Smith, Fortenbery and Dillard.

– The city voted to fund $9,900 in repairs on 22 windows at the Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center.

Work was recently completed on 48 other windows at the city-owned building; that work was funded through a Mississippi Department of Archives and History grant.

But grant funds ran out before all windows were completed.

The center currently houses the Natchez Festival of Music, Natchez Ballet Academy and the Natchez Gymnastics Association.

– The board voted to install two credit card machines at City Hall — one in the planning department and another in the city clerk’s office — to assist residents seeking to make payments.