NATCHEZ — Vidalians voted out two incumbent aldermen and chose a new police chief Saturday.

In all, the board will have three new aldermen when they take office in July.

In the police chief’s race, Iraqi war veteran and former Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agent Joey Merrill defeated two-term police chief Arthur K. Lewis by 10 percentage points, 55 percent to 45 percent.

Merrill received 1,050 votes to Lewis’ 864.

“I want to thank everybody, my friends, family and supporters,” Merrill said. “They didn’t do it for me, they did it for the City of Vidalia.”

Lewis could not be reached by phone Saturday evening. He was first appointed to a six-month term when former chief Tapper Hendricks vacated the office in 2010, and was later elected to finish out the rest of Hendricks’ term. He was re-elected in 2012.

In the Aldermens’ races:

4In District 2, the voters declined to give Vernon Stevens a seventh term on the board. His challengers, Robert Lee Gardner Jr. and Raymond Murray will face off in the general election April 9.

Murray led the race with 149 votes, or 39 percent of the district, while Gardner received 36 percent, or 140 votes.

Stevens received 97 votes, making up 25 percent of the ballots cast.

4In District 3, where voters select three at-large aldermen, two new faces will join Jon Betts at the table. Tommy Probst and Sabrina Dore were the top vote getters in the district, followed by incumbent Jon Betts.

Probst received 815 votes; Dore received 763; Betts garnered 671; and incumbent Ricky Knapp received 558 votes.

Alderwoman Mo Saunders, who represents District 3, was not on the ballot after being disqualified on a technicality earlier in the election cycle.

District 1 Alderman Tron McCoy was elected without opposition because his challenger, Bobo McCoy, was also disqualified earlier in the election.

The new officials will take office July 1.