A community group decided Thursday to continue to pressure Vicksburg and Warren County so that people &#8220passionate” about Vicksburg are placed or remain on the 11-member board that oversees tourism.

&#8220The criteria should be based on if we feel they have supported the industry,” said Ann Jones, who chairs the Vicksburg-Warren Community Alliance’s Tourism Council.

The Alliance was self-formed about five years ago as an umbrella organization to coordinate the efforts of community agencies and organizations to help avoid duplication of efforts. It has a 25-member board of trustees that represents 14 community member organizations.

Thursday, the group spent its first 20 minutes discussing a list of names it developed to fill vacancies on the board of the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The list was drawn up several months ago to nudge the city’s Mayor and Board of Alderman and Warren County Board of Supervisors to appoint key players in the city’s tourism industry. The council said it will continue to submit the list to fill vacancies and reappointments when board terms are met.

VCVB members up for reappointment this summer are Bobbie Morrow, Patty Cappaert and Bobby Bailess.

Alliance director Scott Martinez resubmitted the list of nine names to supervisors in an e-mail Monday, encouraging supervisors to revisit the list in order to fill the unexpired term of Jessica Hayes Williams, who resigned from her county-appointed post a week ago.

The list was first submitted to both city and county officials during the month-long search to fill the city-county board appointment, once filled by Jo Wilson, owner of Wilsonwood Lodge. Nelda Sampey was appointed from the list in May.

The nine people the council included in the list were Elmeree Bradley, Ann Jones, Lynn Foley, Marty Crevitt, Charlotte Koestler, Joyce May, Charles Borello, Carolyn Stephenson and Renee Jenkins. Foley, who attended Thursday’s meeting representing the Vicksburg chapter of the Mississippi Hotel and Lodging Association, said she has asked that her name be removed.

The tourism council of the Alliance was also supportive of the much-debated decision earlier this year to contract out day-to-day management of VCVB operations instead of hiring an individual executive director.

Larry Gawronski, vice president of Compass, the management company that now directs marketing for the VCVB in addition to its separate contracts with the city for convention center and auditorium management, said it is important that the board comprises not only people in the tourism industry but also those in the private sector.

&#8220We need people who are versed in law, finance and human resources,” he said.

Separately, Norman Ford, Compass director of business operations, told the council that the VCVB has no discretionary money remaining in its budget.

&#8220It’s already been spent or spoken for – irreversibly,” he said. The VCVB was created by state statute as a city-county venture in 1972 and is funded by a 1 percent tourism tax collected on room rentals, restaurant meals and bar tabs.

Gawronski said the bureau will apply for a matching grant specifically for tourism entities. The grant application is offered by the Mississippi Development Authority.

Jones suggested that the Alliance and VCVB continue to brainstorm about ideas in the meantime.

Martinez, who was selected in January to head the Alliance, will soon step down from his additional duties as interim director of the Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce, a post he has held since April 1.

Chamber president Diane Gawronski said Christi Kilroy accepted an offer to become chamber executive, starting June 26.

Kilroy now works as city projects manager. The chamber post has been open since December 2005 when former director Peggy Martin retired.

&#8220We are very encouraged that with Christi’s leadership, the chamber will continue to move forward by providing programs and services to our members,” Gawronski said.