NATCHEZ — The face of the Natchez bluff will soon be changing — not only for aesthetic reasons but also to ensure the structural stability of the steep wall holding its shape.

The Natchez Mayor and Board of Aldermen unanimously approved the Bluff Vegetation Project during the board’s regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday with Aldermen Billie Frazier absent.

The project, aldermen said, includes clearing out the drainage system and vegetation blocking workers from inspecting parts of the bluff stabilization wall from Clifton Avenue to Silver Street.

Before the end of 2018, the city advertised for bids on the project, the lowest of which would cost $3,045 per day, said public works supervisor, Justin Dollar, adding that the project could take between 20 to 25 days to complete.

“We’re not here talking about aesthetics or visibility of the river from the bluff,” Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell said. “Yes, that will happen as a result of this, but our mission is to maintain the integrity of the bluff stabilization.”

Grennell said local, state and federal government funds have been invested in the stabilization wall — which began construction in 1994 — with the understanding that the city would pay for regular maintenance work.

Since then, plants and trees have sprouted between the wooden beams holding parts of the structure together, which could lead to erosion, Dollar said.

In order to clear away the plants that may be compromising the wall itself, more vegetation would have to be cut in order to give workers a way of accessing it, Dollar said.

Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said she would approve of the project under the condition that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who help construct the wall, document their approval of the scope of work needed first.

“I want to know that what we’re doing is what they feel would be necessary to keep the integrity of the wall rather than us making that determination,” Arceneaux-Mathis said, “I don’t want us doing anything to that area that shouldn’t be done and then re-create a problem.”

In other matters during Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting of the Natchez Mayor and Board of Aldermen, the board:

4Unanimously approved to award a contract to Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. and WFT Architects for a report on improvements that could be made to the city-owned historic antebellum house Auburn that would cost a total of $27,000. The city would pay approximately $8,000 of the cost and the rest would be paid by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

• Unanimously approved reimbursement of $199,362 from the city for improvements to the 60-mile stretch of railroad line between Natchez and Brookhaven, which is part of a $14.3 million project funded mostly through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s TIGER Discretionary Grant program. Officials acknowledged that a federal grant payment of $598,088 toward the project could be delayed due to the partial government shutdown.
• Unanimously approved a rezoning request from Butch Johnson at a property near the Hotel Vue, where he intends to construct a personal care home for senior citizens and invest more than $1 million into the facility.
• Unanimously agreed to sign a proclamation in recognition of Jacqueline Williams, who recently retired from the city planning commission after 15 years of service.
• Unanimously allocated $1,000 for marketing and advertisement of the train depot on Broadway Street to potential restaurant owners. Grennell requested that the board allocate $500 for marketing. However, Alderman Dan Dillard moved to allocate $1,000 instead.
• Unanimously approved termination and hire reports for November and December of 2018.