Warren County Port Commission executive director Jim Pilgrim is leaving the post effective Sept. 30, the longtime energy executive and industry recruiter said Tuesday.

Pilgrim, 71, had worked for the county’s economic development arm since 2000 after retiring from Entergy Corporation’s Arkansas operation after 42 years.

&#8220We were able to accomplish the goals we’ve set,” Pilgrim said. &#8220I just probably need to kick back and relax.”

Port Commission chairman Johnny Moss said the search for a successor has already begun in small steps, with a decision to come before Pilgrim’s final day in the office.

&#8220We will discuss it at the next meeting,” in August, Moss said, adding he was &#8220extremely pleased” with the direction Pilgrim has taken the county’s economic development since taking over the position in 2005 following Jimmy Heidel’s six-month stint in the job after retiring briefly.

Age might also be a factor in determining the next director of the authority of oversight for the Port of Vicksburg and Ceres Research and Industrial Interplex.

&#8220We want someone multitalented but someone younger than what we’ve had,” Moss said.

Among successes Pilgrim counted to his credit was helping secure final funding of the project to widen the Yazoo Diversion Canal, an effort which stayed in the concept phase for about a decade before federal funding came through earlier this year and work started this month.

Other accomplishments include pushing for the county’s membership in the Greater Jackson Alliance regional economic development group to help advertise its viability as a site for major industry and having Ceres certified as an industrial park.

Pilgrim also worked to secure grants from federal and state sources on a number of projects, none of them more vigorously than on a new crane at the Port of Vicksburg.

About $800,000 in grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mississippi Department of Transportation and Delta Regional Authority were sought and locked up, only to work feverishly to have them shifted to a multimillion-dollar replacement of the T-dock itself.

Port board members awarded a $3.4 million bid to Riverside Construction in June to begin the work, a job that will more than double the commission’s budget to $6.4 million for 2007-08.

In the past year, the issue of which entities should be involved in economic development has come up – particularly attracting new businesses to the area.

In October, the port board pulled out of the Vicksburg Warren Community Alliance’s industry council, citing increasing confusion among other entities such as the Mississippi Development Authority over who was the point of contact locally for bringing new businesses to Warren County.

In March, the self-formed Alliance hired financial adviser Marion Roberson to serve as its board chairman. Its paid directorship position remains open.

Its previous director, Scott Martinez, served in the position 11 months before taking a position with MDA. Both Martinez and Pilgrim worked simultaneously to land a heavy manufacturing plant in northern Warren County, an effort named &#8220Project Tiger” which proved unsuccessful by differing accounts.

Pilgrim, who lobbied county supervisors for an array of tax breaks the unnamed company sought, said not enough land desired by the company could be secured by the county. Martinez said at the time bringing up the tax breaks at public county board meetings doomed the deal.

The nature of the port commission’s leadership position has changed over time. In Heidel’s first stay in Warren County, he led the port, the Warren County Economic Development Foundation and served as executive vice president of the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce.

Now, Christi Kilroy heads up the Chamber and the first two are combined and pays $84,000 out of a pooled salary fund.