Natchez-Adams County pool management flap being hashed out

NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County supervisors plan to meet with Natchez leaders to discuss their proposal to dissolve the public pool commission and get the city’s recreation director to run the aquatic center.

Alleging commission dysfunction in overseeing the swimming pool, the Natchez Board of Aldermen voted last week to disband the pool board appointed by city aldermen and county supervisors.

Meeting Monday with the county Board of Supervisors, pool commission chairman Jimmy Ware said he’s done much to ensure the pool operates well. He said city officials have “run off” commission members and alleged they’ve done little else for the pool’s maintenance.

County board President Warren Gaines said the five supervisors will meet with Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson and the five city aldermen soon “to get it hashed out with everybody at the table.”

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 opening in 2018.

While the county board on Monday didn’t vote to concur with the city board’s proposed management changes, Supervisor Kevin Wilson said “they seem to have a pretty good plan in place for running the pool,” with city Parks & Recreation Director Sonora Cole in charge of its operations and staff.

“They certainly seem more capable in running the pool,” said Wilson, who joined Gaines in discussing the pool with the mayor last week.

However, Ware said he and fellow pool commissioners “have done everything we’ve done to make things better,” despite not having enough members to officially meet and conduct business in recent months.

Pool commission members have resigned and failed to meet after a dispute erupted in 2022, 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.

“Basically, they’ve run people off so that we couldn’t get a quorum,” Ware said.

The pool management flap is the latest stumble in Natchez-Adams County’s failed effort to jointly run a recreation program.

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, 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 their separate initiatives to enhance local parks and sports venues.

With the summer swimming season about to begin, Gaines said, the controversy needs to be promptly resolved for overseeing the daily operations of the pool, which he noted is “an asset for the city and county, and we need to keep it operating.”