NATCHEZ, Miss. – Aldermen have set a May 5 filing deadline for candidates wanting to run in the May 25 election to fill the seat formerly held by Alderman Dan Dillard, who died two weeks ago.
Candidates must be residents of Ward 6, the south-central Natchez area Dillard represented since 2008. They can file with the city clerk their required petitions with at least 50 signatures of qualified Ward 6 voters.
Meeting Tuesday, the Natchez Board of Aldermen and mayor paid tribute to Dillard, whose board chair and desk was graced with a black wreath and bow.
Dillard, 67, was a “true public servant,” but he didn’t seek public praise, said Ward 1 Alderman Valencia Hall. “He was not here for the accolades.”
He died unexpectedly March 29, just hours after attending his final Board of Aldermen meeting.
The city has been in a formal period of mourning, with flags at half-staff, that now officially ends. However, “the sadness will remain,” said Mayor Dan Gibson, who noted “we will always be grateful” for Dillard’s dedication to Natchez and keen attention to city finances in his nearly 15 years in office. He was the longest-serving alderman on the six-member board.
As a candidate seeking his second term in the 2012 election, Dillard said he strove “to see problems from a different perspective” with “the determination to dig in and understand the issues.”
He defeated challengers Dianne Brown and Forrest Foster in that election, fended off opponents Agnes Holloway and Burnley Cook in 2016 and ran unopposed in the 2020 election.
The winner of next month’s special Ward 6 election will serve the remaining year left in the current term. The city’s regular elections for mayor and aldermen take place in spring 2024.
Ward 6’s neighborhoods include those along and around Duncan Park, Winchester Road, Melrose Avenue, Roselawn Drive, Melrose-Montebello Parkway as well as Homochitto Street extending into Orleans and South Commerce streets downtown. The voting precinct for the Thursday, May 25, election will be the old Duncan Park canteen building, as it’s been in past years.
A map of the existing Ward 6 area can be viewed at: www.natchez.ms.us/DocumentCenter/View/321/Natchez-Ward-Map?bidId=
The Board of Aldermen in December approved new ward lines for the 2024 elections, but they must be reviewed by the Mississippi governor and attorney general before they take effect.
The board on Tuesday tapped Ward 3 Alderman Sarah Carter Smith to be Natchez mayor pro tempore, the position Dillard held as the alderman presiding over board meetings and performing other duties when the mayor is away. Smith is now the city’s longest-serving alderman, having been on the board since 2012.
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