Mayor George Flaggs Jr. will release a strategic plan for Vicksburg’s future in April.

“April 5, in this room, we’re going to have mandatory board meeting at 5:30 (p.m.), and we have every intention of laying out a 10-year plan for the city,” he said at the start of Tuesday’s meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen at the City Hall Annex.

Flaggs said after the meeting the proposal will outline plans for capital improvements, “Everything; pedestrian walkways, how we’re going to beautify the city, everything.”

He declined to discuss the cost of the plan, saying he did not want to cause confusion with the Vicksburg Warren School District’s $83 million bond referendum for a capital project to renovate and expand the district’s existing buildings. The referendum is March 27.

“That’s why I set our meeting for April 5, so it would not conflict with the school district’s election,” Flaggs said.

The mayor would not discuss specifics of the plan he will present in April.

He first hinted at a 10-year plan in 2016, when he discussed a proposal 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 this new proposal is based on recommendations from the city’s division and department heads.

“We asked them to tell us what was needed and they brought us a list of what they need and what they believe needs to be done in the city,” he said. “We’re going to take that list and (South Ward Alderman Alex) Monsour and (North Ward Alderman Michael) Mayfield will look at it. We’re going to trim it down and find a way to pay for it.”

In other action:

• The board authorized Flaggs to sign a new lease agreement with the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. Under the agreement, the city will lease the bottom part of the convention and visitors bureau’s building on Walnut Street, which houses classrooms for the police department.

The VCVB in 2016 moved into the top floor of 1619 Walnut St., located across from the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library and leased that area from former Mayor Laurence Leyens. It bought the building from Leyens in early February for $320,000, VCVB executive director Bill Seratt said.

• Flaggs said two landscape department workers who were fired after a hearing Tuesday in an executive session will be replaced by temporary employees, adding a third worker who was suspended will be able to return to work after five days.

He said he will begin looking at job openings as workers retire or leave the city for other jobs, and determine whether to replace the workers with temporary workers or consolidate jobs as a way to reduce costs.

“We are not going to layoff or furlough employees, but as people leave, we are going to look at their jobs and determine whether we need that position or consolidate it,” Flaggs said.