No one will hold the title &#8220executive director” if the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau moves forward as expected tonight and contracts out its tourism-development role.

Compass of Vicksburg, a division of Iowa-based Compass Facility Management, has been selected in a series of narrow VCVB board votes to perform the work formerly assigned to a person.

Tim Darden, VCVB board president, said the position of executive director will remain vacant for the duration of a two-year deal with Compass, which already promotes and manages the Vicksburg Convention Center and Vicksburg Auditorium under a contract with the City of Vicksburg.

Board members Darden, Lamar Roberts, Patty Cappaert and David Maggio met as the transition committee Monday to finalize the contract to be presented to the full board today at a 5 p.m. regular meeting.

The wording says Compass will use its best efforts to accomplish the mission of the VCVB, including but not limited to, marketing, sales and event production and promotion.

The VCVB is an independent city-county agency created by the Legislature in 1972 and given a separate funding source – the 1 percent local tourism tax – to guide tourism industry growth.

It previously had an executive director, hired by the 11-member appointed board. But Mayor Laurence Leyens and others suggested last fall it would be smart to put all tourism development efforts under one umbrella. Compass is in the last year of a five-year contract regarding the city’s two venues and offered to accept the role.

Close votes and rancor followed. In December the board voted 6-4 to hire Compass, but opposing board members Bobbie Morrow, Jessica Williams, Omar Nelson and Bobby Doyle asked board members to reconsider.

Also, state Rep. George Flaggs requested an attorney general’s opinion affirming that state law assumed a director to be &#8220a natural person” rather than a corporation or other entity. Board members have not responded to that opinion, and have moved forward in seeking the comprehensive proposal Compass is expected to present tonight.

Compass is paid about $10,800 per month under a contract entered in April 2001 with the city to manage the Vicksburg Convention Center and Auditorium. The company nets other income and fees and is also eligible for incentive payments up to $30,000 per year. According to the proposed contract, Compass would operate the VCVB for no charge outside its current contract with the city, which expires in September.

Larry Gawronski, Compass employee and executive director of the Convention Center, said at the transition committee meeting that Compass currently is working with the city to renew its contract early.

&#8220We’re in negotiations to renew the contract until 2007 so it removes any question of why is the VCVB entering into a contract with an entity that may or may not be around,” Gawronski said.

The VCVB is funded by a 1 percent sales tax on motel rooms, restaurant and bar bills and its budget has grown from as little as $40,000 per year to $1 million or more.