Wayne Mansfield, who has been Warren County Port Director and the county’s economic development director for the past nine years, is leaving Vicksburg to head an economic development agency in Longview, Texas.

Warren County Port Commission chairman Margaret Gilmer said Mansfield submitted his resignation to the commissioners Tuesday. His last day is July 29. He will take over as president and chief executive officer of the Longview Economic Development Corp. Aug. 1, said Peggy Vaughn, chairman of the LEDC board of directors.

Attempts to contact Mansfield about the position were unsuccessful.

“We wish him very well,” Gilmer said. “Wayne not only was a business associate but a friend. He worked during some very trying economic times with the economy, and always represented Vicksburg well in his travels to (Washington) D.C. He was the one who generally, along with the chamber (of commerce) director, coordinated those trips and set up those appointments. He was well-received in those meetings.”

She said the five-member port commission, which meets Monday, will discuss the next port director’s job description, adding, “(There are) a lot of decisions to be made.”

“Wayne wore several hats as port director and economic development person,” she said. “We’re going to start looking (immediately). We will either do the search ourselves or hire a search firm to find a replacement.”

“I congratulate him on his new job; when I was in the Legislature and here, he was always good to work with,” Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said.

“I think Wayne served Vicksburg very well. Working in state that is 50th in a lot of categories brings a lot of challenges,” said port commissioner Austin Golding. “I think that in the world of economic development, being able to add different communities to your resume is something in my experience I’ve found, is something that’s kind of status quo.”

Golding said he wants to see the port director’s job description more focused and the responsibilities expanded.

“We have more economic impact to offer than just one port and an industrial park,” he said. “We have office space here, we have a work force to develop. We need someone who heads up our economic development in this community to have a touchdown on many different corners of our strategic approach to that.

“I think you can see the search that goes into the person who replaces Wayne, at least in my eyes, will take some of those qualities into effect, and I think there are some structural things around our economic development that need to be modernized. I don’t think we’ve had any bylaws changed since 1955. Business is done differently than it was in 1955; we’d better evolve.”

Vaughn, chairman of the 10-member Longview Economic Development Corp. board, said Mansfield was selected from the 28 other applicants for the job for several reasons.

Longview, she said, has 84,000 people. The LEDC board has five voting members and five non-voting, all appointed by the mayor and city council. She declined to give his salary pending his signing a contract. She said he will be in Longview later this week to meet city, county and business and industry officials.

“His experience in recruiting companies, development, marketing and location of companies to industrial parks was very important,” she said.

“I think also in addition, his broad experience he has in planning and development experience.”

She said Mansfield’s position as a member of the Mississippi Foreign trade Zone Board will benefit the region’s Gregg County Airport, which is a foreign trade zone area, and has a business park around it, “So he can help them develop their economic development strategy.”

Vaughn also listed Mansfield’s knowledge of rail and involvement with multimodal industrial parks and his ability to work with and coordinate and cooperate with groups from various organizations like city government and school districts.

“We got very positive comments from references about his ability to manage different situations or complicated situations.”

Vaughn said Mansfield’s duties will include recruiting businesses and developing relationships with site selection companies, working to retain and expand existing businesses. He will have overall management of the corporation and the city’s 1,200-acre industrial park, and work with area schools on developing education programs to develop the skills for industries seeking to locate in Longview.

“He will also work with the city to develop initiatives to attract industry, set up a small area plan for downtown Longview and make plans for the city’s I-20 corridor,” she said.

Mansfield, who was the city planner for Vicksburg, was hired as port director in September 2007 to succeed Jim Pilgrim, who retired.

He was selected by the port commission from five applicants and later approved by the Board of Supervisors. He has a degree in history from Ole Miss and a master’s in planning and economic development from the University of Memphis. Before serving as Vicksburg city planner, he was a city planner in Tupelo.