Appeal is costly way to save face

Published 12:01 am Thursday, April 11, 2019

In yet another baffling move, the City of Natchez — or at least four aldermen — voted Tuesday to appeal a judge’s decision that the city had erred.

The issue at hand was the city’s decision last September to hand over the former Natchez General Hospital building to a would-be developer despite the developer’s failure to follow the city’s initial guidelines.

It seems the city laid out a set of rules to go by, but then ignored those rules when the preferred developer failed to deliver.

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Earlier this year a judge ruled the city had acted inappropriately and that it needed to follow state law and the guidelines it sets out in a public request for proposal.

Effectively the judge said the city had to take back the ownership of the building.

City leaders could re-issue a request for proposal and make the requirements far less strict so their preferred developer could follow it.

But that would be too easy and would require acknowledgment that they were wrong.

Instead, like hardheaded 3-year-olds who do not like to be told, “No,” city leaders are now going to spend more taxpayer money to try and prove they are right.

They’ve vowed to appeal the case to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Their blind arrogance is unfathomable. They seem oblivious to the fact that they are not above the law.

Pride is a dangerous thing for any of us, but pride in positions of power is a costly combination.

We urge aldermen to reconsider litigating what’s a clear and simple error.