The 45-day exploratory deal between Compass Facility Management and the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau is on hold, Larry Gawronski, a Compass officer who is executive director of the Vicksburg Convention Center and Auditorium, said Wednesday.

The stay, he said today, came about after Compass requested information from the bureau to begin the consulting process and was denied the information by Clara Ross Stamps, the interim director of the VCVB. Stamps had applied for the position of executive director.

Gawronski said his staff asked for information from the bureau last Thursday and called Tuesday to see if the information was available.

He said Stamps sent an e-mail to Compass staff saying she communicated with members of the board concerning the temporary contract with Compass and there was no consensus among the board. Gawronski said the e-mail also stated that Stamps had sought legal advice and was informed that until there is an official VCVB meeting she should not take any action.

Gawronski said Stamps’ actions are in response to an attorney general’s opinion last week indicating the state law that created the VCVB calls for a &#8220natural person” to manage the tourism development agency, not a company.

Stamps was not available this morning.

The VCVB board is scheduled to meet today. One member said the gathering may be lengthy as the closely divided board decides what to do.

Gawronski said he announced the decision to put the temporary contract on hold because Compass has been unable to obtain the information it needs to compile the report the board asked it to create during the time of the contract.

&#8220If we’re not given the information in order to produce the report they need, we can’t help it,” he said. &#8220There’s nothing more we can do.” Gawronski said he will consult with board members at today’s meeting.

The VCVB was created in 1972 as one of the state’s first local tourism authorities. Eleven board members (five each from city and county governments and one joint) were to serve four-year appointive terms deciding how to spend a 1 percent tourism tax added to local hotel and motel bills, restaurant meals and bar tabs.

The board had been searching for a new executive director when Mayor Laurence Leyens and others suggested a deal with Compass, based in Iowa, could consolidate efforts at a lower cost.

By narrow margins in December votes, exploring a permanent contract was OK’d by VCVB board members.

However, state Rep. George Flaggs Jr., saying he has no opinion on how the VCVB should proceed, asked for the opinion letter which affirmed his belief that the founding statute requires employment of a person as opposed to a company.

Attorney Bobby Bailess, a member of both the Convention Center Commission and the VCVB board, would not comment Wednesday. VCVB board member Lamar Roberts said he is not sure why the contract was put on hold.

Opinion letters are advisory and do not carry the force of law.

In other business, Gawronski announced that the convention center received the 2006 Readers’ Choice Award from Convention South magazine for exhibiting excellence, creativity and professionalism in the meetings and convention industry. The convention center staff presented a report on the business at the convention center for the first quarter of the fiscal year that began in October.

Norman Ford, director of business and operations for the convention center and auditorium, said business was down in October because the convention center was being used as a shelter. Ford said that because the staff was unable to tell clients when the center would be available, many events were canceled.

&#8220Most of the events that were canceled have been rescheduled for the spring,” Ford said.

The convention center finished the first quarter of the fiscal year $37,000 short of its projected income.