Warren County port commissioners are expected to begin interviewing potential candidates for port director by the end of January, commission chairman Margaret Gilmer said.

“We will be meeting Thursday with Charles Webb, our consultant from Jorgenson, to discuss their recommendations,” she said. “He is going to bring with him the names and resumes of the top people they have selected, and I believe there are six.”

After talking with Webb and reviewing the candidate’s resumes, Gilmer said, the top picks will be referred to the commission’s interview committee, which will bring the candidates in for interviews.

“The committee will start the interviews in about two weeks. I don’t know how many will be selected; it could be two or three or it could be all six,” she said.

The commissioners began their search for a new port director after Wayne Mansfield, who served as port director for the Port of Vicksburg for nine years, resigned in July to head the Longview, Texas, Economic Development Corp., which serves as that city’s economic development agency. The new director’s duties will be more focused on economic development, Gilmer said at the beginning of the search.

The commission hired Greensboro, N.C.-based Jorgenson Consulting in September under a $40,000 contract to assist in the search for a new director, and the Board of Supervisors, which is a co-signer with the commission, approved the contract in October, clearing the way for Jorgenson to start work.