After contentious discussion, city fills planning commission vacancy

NATCHEZ — Two members of the city’s Board of Aldermen said they were caught off guard by a motion to appoint a new planning commission member at its meeting on Tuesday evening.

Ward 4 Alderwoman Felicia Bridgewater-Irving said the issue should have been an agenda item rather than a seemingly impromptu motion by Ward 1 Alderwoman Valencia Hall.

Ward 2 Alderman Billie Joe Frazier accused the mayor and other aldermen of getting together on the unexpected motion and said the process was a “sham.”

At the “other city business” portion of Tuesday’s meeting, Hall said all board members had received letters of interest from people interested in filling the vacancy on the city’s planning commission.

“Everybody received them a week ago,” she said, then motioned to appoint Denise Sebastian to fill the vacancy left in February when Deborah Martin resigned her seat on the commission.

Ward 6 Alderman Curtis Moroney seconded Hall’s motion.

“I have an issue with this,” Bridgewater-Irving said. “When these were delivered, I did ask the question on when we would have a discussion on all of the applications. And I have looked at all of them and read all of them. I have no problem with that. But I think if we were informed that we would make a decision today on choosing that individual … This should have been on this agenda, not in other city business. That’s now where that goes. We can be more specific than that. (The issue) was on the last agenda. Why couldn’t it have been on this agenda? This is what brings opposition. The more informed you are … We have better ways to make a decision.”

Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson responded to Bridgewater-Irving, saying, “I have no control over when an alderperson makes a motion.”

Frazier said he had received each of the 10 letters of interest submitted from those interested in the planning commission position, but he had expected the board to discuss them together and choose a candidate.

“For one individual to make a motion … that’s just disrespectful,” he said.

Ward 3 Alderwoman Sarah Carter Smith said, “There were a lot of good applications, and I want to thank those people who were interested. I reviewed them. I don’t wait for anyone to tell me to do it … I think having an attorney on there would be great.”

Moroney said he reviewed the letters of interest and chose the same candidate as Hall as the best qualified.

“We have had these applications for a week now. I had the same idea that this particular person (Denise Sebastian) was the best-qualified candidate. Having an experienced attorney would be a tremendous asset to that commission and could really be beneficial,” Moroney said.

Gibson recited some of Sebastian’s qualifications. He said she and her husband retired to Natchez when they retired and that she has legal experience going back more than 40 years. Gibson said Sebastian is the sister of Diane Bunch, who is a member of the Natchez-Adams School District.

“We have other applicants on here who are qualified,” such as Herman Ransom, a Natchez contractor, Frazier said. “I understand that y’all got together. I don’t think that y’all really looked at these 10 applications. Y’all got together. It’s just a sham. It’s a sham.”

“This is not communicating, board,” Irving said. “We can do better than this. We are better than this.”

“It’s going to be the same old thing,” Frazier said.

Gibson called for the vote on the motion, and Sebastian’s appointment passed in a voice vote. Frazier was the only person to vote nay on the motion.

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