NATCHEZ, Miss. – A divided Board of Aldermen has voted to dissolve the commission that oversees the Natchez-Adams County pool and assign city Parks & Recreation Director Sonora Cole to operate it.
Mayor Dan Gibson said the commission appointed to operate the aquatic center has become dysfunctional as members have resigned and failed to meet after a dispute erupted in 2022. City and county leaders last year 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 continued to allow booze at the pool.
The board voted 3-2 Tuesday to reorganize the pool’s management. The plan now goes to the Adams County Board of Supervisors for it to decide whether to concur.
The community’s only public pool is jointly owned and funded by the city and county at Liberty Park. It’s been plagued by management instability since opening in 2018.
Natchez aldermen Valencia Hall, Sarah Carter Smith and Ben Davis back Gibson’s plan to rid the commission and get Cole to oversee the pool. They cited commissioners’ ineptitude and the need for a professional like Cole to run it.
However, aldermen Billie Joe Frazier and Felicia Irving disagree. Irving said she doesn’t want to “overload” the city’s parks & recreation director with more duties. Frazier said the appointed commission had been doing “a good job” operating the pool, and he expressed concerns about elected officials trying to “micromanage” the pool’s operations.
The city and county boards in 2015 agreed to combine funds to jointly operate a community recreation program, including a new pool, run by the Jackson-based YMCA. However, the YMCA pulled out in 2019, leaving the city-county recreation program in disarray and not living up to expectations for enhancing recreational offerings.
After Gibson became mayor in 2020, the two boards ended their joint recreation program – except for the pool – to embark on separate initiatives to enhance local parks and sports venues.
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