Future programs to beautify Vicksburg will be handled through a nine-member committee under a resolution passed Monday by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

The board voted 3-0 to establish the Vicksburg Beautification Committee, consisting of three members each from the North and South Wards, Community Development Director Victor Gray-Lewis, community service department director Robert Hubbard and city landscape architect Jeff Richardson. Gray-Lewis will serve as the committee chairman under the resolution.

Representatives from the city’s two aldermanic wards will serve staggered terms, with two appointees from each ward serving two years, two serving three years, and another two for four years. Aldermen Michael Mayfield and Willis Thompson said they expect to make their appointments by the first part of July.

Thompson, who represents the South Ward, called the committee “a great idea to maintain the focus on beautification in our city.”

“We’ve been talking about how important it is to work on Vicksburg, and how beautification helps to promote economic development (and) industrial development in our community,” Gray-Lewis said. “In the past, we had an affiliation with Keep America Beautiful. This resolution is to re-establish that affiliation with Keep America Beautiful and put a committee in place for the sole purpose to monthly, annually, look at our city and find ways to beautify our city.”

A beautification committee was one of the items discussed by the board and other city officials at a March meeting on bringing the city’s litter and trash problem under control. One of Mayor George Flaggs Jr.’s goals is to renew Vicksburg’s association with Keep America Beautiful, a national organization that promotes environmental awareness and city beautification programs. The city also began a citywide cleanup day in April with another set for sometime in the fall as one way of reducing trash in the city.