The fate of a proposed consolidated economic development effort for Warren County rests in the hands of the Warren County Board of Supervisors.

Officials with  the city of Vicksburg, the Warren County Port Commission and the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce want to consolidate the jobs of port director and chamber director into a single post of economic development director with the goal of having a single economic development entity to serve Vicksburg and Warren County.

The port commission, chamber of commerce board of directors and the city’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen have all committed money toward the new director’s salary and benefits.

The supervisors, who will discuss the plan and decide whether they will support it Tuesday, are the remaining piece of the puzzle. And as of Friday, the board was split.

“I am 100 percent for it,” District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon said. “It’s something we should have done many years ago.”

Board president Richard George is also for the program.

“From what I understand about it thus far, I have no problem with it,” he said.

District 1 Supervisor John Arnold, who has been out of town during the week, said he could not comment on the plan until he has had a chance to look at the details. He said he would do that when he returned Sunday.

District 4 Supervisor John Carlisle said he was “still mulling it over.”

“I’ve got to look at all the particulars here and get my mind set on what I think it should be or shouldn’t be,” he said.

Repeated attempts to contact District 2 Supervisor William Banks about his stand on the new program were unsuccessful.

The selection of a new port/economic development director, coupled with the recent announcement of chamber executive director Jane Flowers’ retirement, influenced the port commission and the chamber of commerce to combine the county’s two economic development entities under one director.

“Under our existing structure, you have organizations running in many different directions, whereby having everything under one hat, it just puts it all together,” said chamber of commerce president Mark Buys.

“We have an excellent staff on board with the chamber and port commission, and by bringing that all together, it becomes a team concept; each member of the team will be able to help the other. We become more efficient. All that efficiency is optimizing your dollar, and then getting the best person that you can (to direct it).”

The move has its roots in a decision by the port commission to revamp the port director’s job to put more emphasis on economic development because of the job WATCO, which has a contract with the commission to manage the port, has done operating the port, and the need to have someone working full time to bring more business and industry to Vicksburg and Warren County.

It also has roots in the county’s previous economic development efforts, where three economic development-related organizations —the chamber, the Vicksburg Warren County Economic Development Foundation and the port commission — were placed under one director with all three organizations participated in paying the director’s salary.

“The last real economic prosperity our community had — I think the most successful era that we’ve had in recent history  — was during the (Jimmy) Heidel reign,” Buys said, referring to former county economic development director Jimmy Heidel.

“That model had proven to be very successful, and all three entities: the port commission, chamber of commerce and the economic development foundation shared in the responsibilities of the compensation package, and that’s what we’re doing (now). Actually, by doing that, you’re able to pool your resources and attract a super star (industry), and that’s what happened.”

Although they have not identified him, the port commission has offered the job to someone some local officials believe to be one of the top executive in the state to head the consolidated effort.

Selmon was one of the supervisors who met with prospective new director Thursday and said he was impressed with him.

“I talked with him and discussed several subjects. He said he knew it was going to be difficult and that’s why he took the job,” he said. “I think he’s going to bring some ability to our community; I think he’s going to be helpfu. He’s going to do some things that probably haven’t been done in a long, long time.”

George also met with the new director, adding, “I think he’s quite capable of doing the job.”

Carlisle called him “a very impressive man.”

Other people have been impressed with the new director.

“He is probably the second most respected economic developer in our state.” Buys said. “This gentleman comes to us highly regarded and respected by our congressional delegation in Washington, the Mississippi development authority, Entergy, our state Legislature.

“Everywhere we’ve gone, everywhere we’ve turned, we’ve been told, ‘This is who you have to get.’”

Col. Brian Green, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering Research and Development Center, was a member of the interview board that examined the candidates for the director’s job.

“We had a very talented pool of candidates across the board, but he clearly stood out both from a passion and enthusiasm point of view for Vicksburg and Warren County, and in particular the opportunities were there,” he said. “And he had a great level of experience with the exact type of economic development that we need to do here.

“He is a highly motivated individual with the right talents and energy level that the community is looking for to take advantage of all the opportunities that we have here.”

He said the man had assessed the area’s capabilities, needs and missed opportunities, “And already had a course of action laid out that he could propose to the community leaders that would turn us into a multi-faceted economic development base and get the road started back again.”

Green called the consolidation plan a fantastic approach.

“Its a best practice approach that I’ve seen elsewhere, and the communities that do this — where they consolidate the efforts where there’s no gaps —there’s a commonality of interests where they get to the right decision makers at the right time. By far, it is one of the best way to go about executing economic development. It really is truly a best practice, and the cities that do that tend to succeed.

“I think the community will be well-served by the new hire.”