Mayor George Flaggs Jr. has released a proposed 10-year plan based in part on Vicksburg’s comprehensive plan, outlining a master plan for street and utility improvements, enhancing tourism, better managing of public assets and recommending public/private partnerships for funding and implementing the plan.

He said copies of the proposed plan have been sent to Aldermen Michael Mayfield and Willis Thompson, Public Works Director Garnet Van Norman, City Attorney Nancy Thomas and City clerk Walter Osborne.

Flaggs said a consultant will be hired to develop the strategy for implementing the plan, which will address transportation, utilities, tourism and economic development.

“This is a pathway to the future for rebuilding Vicksburg from the infrastructure to tourism to economic development,” he said. “I just think it’s so important that we start planning out the needs and challenges of the city beyond a four-year plan.

“The reason why we’re in this bad position with aging infrastructure and not meeting the needs of the city is because there’s been no advanced planning, there’s always been election of administrations,” he said. “They come in and meet the needs for four years and that’s it. I think the future of Vicksburg is too important to just be bottled up in four years of planning.”

Mayfield and Thompson said they were still reviewing the plan and it was too early to comment on its details.

“As a whole, from what I’ve seen to this point, it’s a pretty good plan; I have no problem with it at all,” Mayfield said, adding he would like to discuss it further with Flaggs. “I think it’s something that’s much needed and should have been done years ago to give you some future direction. I feel good about it and would like to sit down with it and go line by line.”

“What I’m looking at is what’s addressed and the way he (Flaggs) would like to go,” Thompson said. “I’m open to it. It’s always good to plan. I just want to see what we’re going to do, how he’s going to go about it and how much it’s going to cost.”

“A lot of this has come out of the comprehensive plan we’ve already adopted,” he said. “This allows us to not only plan but to prioritize the challenges and needs of the city going forward.”

Approved in 2015, the city’s comprehensive plan offers recommendations for city streets and neighborhoods designed to make the city more attractive for business and industry, more accessible for residents and enhancing the quality of life in the city.

Flaggs’ plan is based on a five-point strategy that addresses:

•Improving the city’s road system, including the Interstate 20/U.S. 80 interchange, better access to the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, and better access to the Port.

•Port dredging and better city utility systems; enhancing tourism.

•Better management of public works equipment and infrastructure.

•A 10-year plan to fund and implement improvements.

Flaggs said the plan allows the city to include it’s historic buildings in its economic development.

“We’ve got too many historic buildings that if we don’t do something quick, or have some plan of action for them, they’re going to become blighted, just like Kuhn (Hospital) did,” he said. “We need to look at how we can utilize those structures to fit into the economic development future of this city.”

Flaggs said the board won’t be able to “bind” successive city boards to the plan, “but it will give the public something to hold them accountable for.”