Accentuating the positive will be the key to turning new industrial prospects into reality, Warren County Port Commission Executive Director Wayne Mansfield told commissioners Monday, as reports from recruitment efforts show promising signs.

Developments on two fronts had the board hopeful. One is a growing number of industries are interested in port facilities and in sites at Ceres Research and Industrial Interplex as a result of the county’s participation in the Greater Jackson Alliance.

Two firms, one a German-based manufacturer, have expressed “a lot of interest,” Mansfield said. While site visits don’t always lead to developments, participation in out-of-town trade shows is another advantage of the membership with the eight-county regional marketing group.

Another front is reorganizing the Warren County Economic Development Foundation, which had waned in participation in recent years.

Mansfield said the group membership is still taking shape but has re-formed as a 501(c)(6) nonprofit and has held discussions with previous member companies. Also among its ranks as of 2005 were elected officials such as the mayor and county board president.

Such a nonprofit status is typical of economic development boards, chambers of commerce, business leagues and sports leagues such as the National Football League. A revived foundation in Warren County would enable the business climate to be marketed in “a more positive manner,” Mansfield said.

Talks have centered on working with the Vicksburg Warren School District to market the labor pool.

Dropout rates in the district of about 40 percent have been a source of consternation in recruitment efforts. Overall, the district rated a Level 3 in state-set rating systems based on evaluations. Changes in the offing will become clearer in light of Friday’s decision by the state Board of Education to scrap the rating system for a year while new tests and curricula await state approval.

“That’s our future work force,” Commissioner Mike Cappaert said.

Infrastructure may receive a look-see by members of the EDF, as a critical needs study is in the offing.

One critical piece slowly coming back online is the T-dock crane support structure at the port, which reported its first tangible cargo off-loads in March after the final phases of its $3.4 million replacement caused a three-month shutdown.

Reports from operator Kinder Morgan Terminals Inc. show 5,783.5 net tons were unloaded, mainly soybeans and cottonseed unloaded from recovered barges from tows which struck the U.S. 80 bridge. The tonnage translated into $32,772.58 in port revenue.

“It is structurally functional,” Mansfield said.

Three components remain in the project, replacing and sprucing up the approach road and installing mooring rings so barges can tie up to its protective system of barge fenders.