The Vicksburg Convention Center Advisory Board is short two of its prescribed 11 members and the terms of all of the current members have expired, convention center executive director Troy Thorn said Monday.

“We’re supposed to have 11 members on the board and we’ve got nine,” Thorn told board members at a special meeting Monday. “We’ve got to fill those vacancies.”

His comments came after a 35-minute executive session in which members said they discussed personal matters concerning the board’s future and its composition.

“We had some housekeeping issues that we felt we needed to keep confidential,” board president Cliff Whitney III said.

The advisory board’s bylaws allow it to hold a closed session to discuss a personal issue they believe should be confidential.

Thorn said after the meeting that part of the closed session involved whether any of the members had personal concerns about remaining on the board.

“Troy was trying to gauge whether we wanted to continue to serve,” board member Derek Adams said. “He wants the board to be more active.” Adams said he is willing to serve another term.

According to its bylaws, the board is to have 11 voting members and two non-voting members appointed by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen.

Thorn, 41, succeeded Larry Gawronski as the convention center’s executive director on Jan. 1. Gawronski left Vicksburg in December to manage VenuWorks’ Bridge View Center in Ottumwa, Iowa. VenuWorks of Ames, Iowa, is contracted by the City of Vicksburg to operate the convention center and Vicksburg Auditorium.

Gawronski, the convention center’s first general manager, left Vicksburg in 1997, but returned in 2001 tuntil he took the position in Ottumwa.

VenuWorks signed a new five-year contract with the city on Oct. 25.

The terms of the voting members are staggered, with three members serving three-year terms, four serving two years and four, one year.

If board members are not reappointed or replaced at the end of their terms, they remain in office until the Board of Mayor and Aldermen acts.

Whitney’s term and the terms of members Bobby Bailess, Brenda Love and Benny Terrell expired in July. Alice Hebler’s term and the terms of the vacant seats expired in July 2010, and the terms of members Gwen Edris, Skipper Guizerix, Tom Pharr and Adams expired in July 2009.

Mayor Paul Winfield said he was unaware that the board members’ terms had expired and would meet with Aldermen Sid Beauman and Michael Mayfield about reappointing them.

Like Adams, most said they were willing to serve another term. Terrell was out of town and unavailable for comment.

Bailess, an attorney, said he recommended the board consider appointing “someone who makes their living from tourism. That’s not saying I don’t want to serve, but I thought they might want to consider someone who’s a little more in tune” with the tourism industry.

“I didn’t have any problems serving on the board,” said Whitney, another attorney, who was re-elected board president. “I’m happy to serve.”

“I’m excited,” said Guizerix, a banker who was on the first board. “I was a good friend of Larry Gawronski, but I believe Troy has a good relationship with the administration, and I feel we’re going to be seeing some great things happening.”

Thorn said after the meeting that the vacancies on the board occurred within the past three months. He said one board member left in October and the other left this month. He expects the City Board to approve two appointments to the advisory board on Monday.

The advisory board’s special meeting was called after the board failed to have a quorum for its quarterly meeting on Wednesday. It was the second time in three weeks that a city-appointed board failed to reach a quorum.

The city’s Board of Zoning Appeals failed to have a quorum for a high profile Jan. 10 hearing for a special exception to the zoning regulations. The seven-member zoning board had been short two members since 2010. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Wednesday approved the appointment of Steven J. Jones, 26, to fill one of the vacancies.

Winfield said he expects to make two convention center board appointments on Monday, adding, “I’m going to make several appointments in that first meeting in February.”