Almost a year will pass before Kenya Burks’ sexual harassment lawsuit against Vicksburg and Mayor Paul Winfield goes to trial.

A trial date of Aug. 5, 2013, was set this week in U.S. District Court in Jackson. Proceedings will take place in federal court in Natchez before U.S. District Judge David Bramlette, according to an order signed by Magistrate John Roper.

Burks is suing the city and Winfield for more than $1.5 million in the suit, active in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. It asks for a jury trial.

In court filings, Burks, the mayor’s former chief of staff, claims she was subjected to a hostile work environment and retaliation after what she says was a consensual affair soured. Winfield has denied claims of sexual relations. Burks held her job title from July 2009 to April 2011.

Part of Burks’ case has been tied to obtaining Winfield’s cellphone records. The federal bench has said Winfield must produce about 21½ months of call and text data, from the time Winfield took office to when Burks’ job was eliminated by the city board.

Burks is represented by Nick Norris and Louis H. Watson Jr. of Jackson. Winfield is represented by attorneys Robert Gibbs and Vikki J. Taylor, and the city is represented by attorney Gary Friedman, all of Jackson. The first-term mayor has said the city’s defense costs will be reflected in premiums paid to its insurance carrier and that no city funds will pay Friedman directly.