NATCHEZ, Miss. – The Natchez-Adams County swimming pool is to open this weekend even though city and county officials are divided over who should manage it.
Meeting Monday in a joint session with Mayor Dan Gibson, a majority of the Natchez Board of Aldermen and Adams County Board of Supervisors voted to temporarily suspend pool commissioner Jimmy Ware and get city/county officials and employees to manage it.
The city and county board each voted 3-2 vote for the plan pushed by Gibson after closing the public out of their discussions about pool personnel for nearly an hour.
Ware is the only pool commission member left on the six-member panel riddled with resignations in recent months to oversee the aquatic center. Adding to the personnel flux, Natchez Parks and Recreation Director Sanora Cole is resigning.
Board members favoring Gibson’s proposal voted to suspend Ware and leave the other pool commission seats unfilled for the summer season. The pool’s current paid employees and lifeguards will be retained. A city recreation official will function as a liaison between city and county officials dealing with the pool’s personnel and financial matters.
Gibson pointed to the urgency of resolving the management void to ensure the city/county-owned pool can open on time this weekend and be competently managed.
Board members against this plan argued that Ware has been doing a good job in his oversight role as an appointed pool commissioner and should be retained. They said city officials have been trying to “micromanage” the public pool’s operations.
The Natchez Board of Aldermen voted in April to permanently disband the pool board appointed by city aldermen and county supervisors and have Cole manage the pool. With her resignation effective next week, Gibson said aldermen today will discuss who takes her place. Cole, who was appointed as Natchez Rec director in 2021, is taking a job in her hometown of Baton Rouge
Ware – who’s been involved with the pool’s operations since it opened 2018 – abruptly walked out of the boards’ joint meeting Monday after they voted to suspend the pool commission.
While he was told he could continue to help at the pool, Ware said he’s done.
“When I leave (the pool) for the day, the keys will be left there,” Ware said as he walked away while a county clerk was calling for his return to do paperwork. “When I left there, I was through.”
While the six-member pool commission has been rendered dysfunctional by resignations in recent months, the city and county boards have not attempted to select replacements to fill the vacancies. In a compact the two boards agreed to a couple of years ago, the commission is charged with hiring pool personnel, overseeing operations and setting a budget for the two boards’ approval.
Natchez aldermen voting to suspend the commission for the summer season and have the boards and employees running the pool: Valencia Hall, Sarah Carter Smith and Ben Davis. Voting against: Billie Joe Frazier and Felicia Irving.
Adams County supervisors voting for the city-initiated pool management plan: Wes Middleton, Kevin Wilson and Ricky Gray. Voting against: Warren Gaines and Angela Hutchins.
The two boards will have to decide later whether to permanently disband the appointed pool commission.
The community’s only public swimming pool is jointly owned and funded by the city and county. The Liberty Park facility has been plagued by management instability since it opened five years ago.
The city and county boards in 2015 agreed to combine funds for a consolidated community recreation program, including a new pool, run by the Jackson-based YMCA. However, the YMCA pulled out in 2019 just one year after the pool’s opening – leaving the city-county recreation program in disarray and not living up to expectations for enhancing recreational offerings.
Pool commission members resigned and failed to meet in recent months after a dispute erupted a year ago, when the city and county boards vetoed commission members’ plans to allow alcoholic beverages to be consumed at the swimming pool during private after-hours parties. Aldermen said they would oust pool commission members who defied the directive against booze.
The pool-management flap is the latest stumble in Natchez-Adams County’s failed effort to jointly run a recreation program.
After Gibson became mayor in 2020, the two boards ended their joint recreation program – except for the pool – to embark on their separate initiatives to enhance local parks and sports venues.
Nice piece, and another example of why a consolidated government is needed here. The YMCA in Baton Rouge does an excellent job managing pools and swimming programs. Give it a call.