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Community members listen and write down notes before the open discussion portion of an open meeting on Forms and functions of Municipal Government Tuesday at The Natchez Convention Center. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)

Professor and department head of Political Science and Public Administration, Dr. P. Edward French speaks to the crowd during an open meeting on Forms and functions of Municipal Government Tuesday at The Natchez Convention Center. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)

Dr. P. Edward French, Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell and Dr. Joseph "Dallas" Breen answer questions during an open meeting on Forms and functions of Municipal Government Tuesday at The Natchez Convention Center. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)

Chesney Doyle asks a question during an open meeting on Forms and Functions of Municipal Government Tuesday at The Natchez Convention Center. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)

Community members take down notes as Dr. P. Edward French speaks to the crowd during an open meeting on Forms and functions of Municipal Government Tuesday at The Natchez Convention Center. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)

Professor and department head of Political Science and Public Administration, Dr. P. Edward French gives a presentation during an open meeting on Forms and functions of Municipal Government Tuesday at The Natchez Convention Center. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)

Executive Director, Dr. Joseph "Dallas" Breen, speaks to the crowd during an open meeting on Forms and functions of Municipal Government Tuesday at The Natchez Convention Center. (Nicole Hester | The Natchez Democrat)

NATCHEZ — Approximately 200 people turned out at the Natchez Convention Center on Tuesday night for the first of two forums focusing on Efficiency in Government hosted by the City of Natchez and featuring government experts from the Stennis Center for Government at Mississippi State University.

Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell introduced Professor Joseph “Dallas” Breen, Ph.D., executive director of the Stennis Institute of Government, who told the audience the Stennis Institute agreed to host a series of forums as a public service and will not make any money off of the events.

Breen said the Stennis Institute decided to hold the forums after receiving several telephone calls from the Natchez area seeking information on how to consolidate city and county government operations.

The starting point, Breen said, was to hold the first session on the forms of municipal government available under state law so people would have a good understanding of the basic process of government.

The best thing municipalities can do to make decisions about changing the form of government they have, Breen said, is to take a step back and obtain a better understanding of their government options.

“For many folks, if something doesn’t go right, there is only one person to blame,” Breen said. “There’s usually one person that is a point person. However, in Mississippi that point person may not have the ability to influence or make change.”

Breen said the institute is not participating in conducting the forums to advocate any form of government over another or to take sides in any debates but rather to present information so people would know the options available under state law.

“We are here to help you all,” Breen said. “We’re not here to push an agenda and we’re not telling you the way you should think or act. We’re simply here to hopefully give you the knowledge that our core staff and experts have to you all so you can go out and make better and more informed decisions.”

Natchez, specifically, works differently than many other municipal governments throughout the state, Breen said, because the city is older than the state constitution and has its own special charter, or set of rules by which the city operates — which fewer than 20 of nearly 300 municipalities in the state have.

To better explain the differences, Breen introduced a former executive director of the Stennis Institute and professor at MSU, P. Edward French, Ph.D., to present the program on the forms of government available in Mississippi.

Of the three more common forms of government, Natchez is closest compared to a code charter, or “weak mayor” form, meaning that the mayor’s powers are limited to what can be approved by the Board of Aldermen, French said.

Some larger cities, such as Jackson, have a mayor-council form of government, or “strong mayor” system in which the mayor has the authority to make executive decisions such as hiring and firing department heads and enforcing laws, French said.

The council-manager form — which is very common in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida — attempts to separate politics from administration by hiring a city manager to make executive decisions whose pay is controlled by the mayor and city council, French said.

Grennell said Natchez’s governing system lies somewhere between the code charter and mayor-council forms.

Tuesday’s forum, Grennell said, opens the door for people to make informed decisions when it comes to changing the way Natchez is governed.

“A lot of people don’t understand the current power of the mayor and board of aldermen and how we operate,” Grennell said. “This opens up the door for people to say, ‘Do we want to change city government here and how it operates?’ They’re educating the public so they can be better informed and make good decisions.”

When the forum opened up for questions and comments, Alderwoman Sarah Carter-Smith suggested posting the differences between Natchez’s special charter and the code charter on the city’s website so the public could see the difference.

“If we could clarify the difference between the code charter and our special charter, it would be helpful for people to understand it better because there are a few differences,” Carter-Smith said.

Smith said the next forum, which starts at 5 p.m. on May 21 at the Convention Center, would discuss consolidated governments.

“We encourage everyone to come to the next forum,” Carter-Smith said, “which is going to be even bigger because there is a lot of interest in the topic of consolidation.”

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