In one of their final meetings as a board, the Warren County Board of Supervisors Monday changed the make-up of the Warren County Port Commission.

Supervisors voted unanimously to appoint Maurice Winston and Louis Lambiotte to 4-year terms on the commission, replacing Margaret Gilmer and Brent Cappaert. The terms for Winston and Lambiotte begin in January.

The Board of Supervisors have two appointed positions on the Port Commission, with the city of Vicksburg having two appointments to the five-member board. The fifth appointment is made by the governor.

The current appointees from the city of Vicksburg are Don Brown and Austin Golding. Mike Roach was appointed to the commission by Gov. Phil Bryant.

“I don’t see any reason at this time to change who we have appointed to the Port Commission,” said Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr.  “We will obviously make any appointments or reappointments by the end of the year.”

The appointment from incoming Gov. Tate Reeves will be made in January. Flaggs, who serves on Reeves’ transition team, said he plans to discuss the governor’s appointment in the coming weeks.

As part of its mission, the Warren County Port Commission manages the Port of Vicksburg and the Ceres Industrial Park, as well as the county-owned assets in those facilities. It is also one part of the overall economic development team in Vicksburg and Warren County along with the Vicksburg Warren Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Foundation.

All three make up the Vicksburg Warren Economic Development Partnership under the direction of executive director Pablo Diaz.

“I am looking forward to working with the two new commissioners to continue to accomplish the mission of the Port Commission,” Diaz said in a statement Monday. “Mr. Lambiotte and Mr. Winston are joining the Commission at a crucial time for our community and they should be commended for agreeing to volunteer their talents and time serving in this capacity. As per the two commissioners leaving, there are not enough good things I can say about their tenure on the Commission.

“In my professional opinion, they served our community with a level of commitment, honesty, and integrity, that if fully understood, it would be the envy of most other public entities.”

Golding said working with Gilmer and Cappaert was a great experience.

“They both displayed great leadership, vision and a true passion for bettering our port and local economy,” Golding said. “I hope to work with both of them again in other capacities for the betterment of Vicksburg. Their passion for the job made working with them a joy.

Gilmer was recently elected to the Economic Development Foundation Board of Directors.

Appointments to the Port Commission are made every four years in December with terms beginning in January. The current slate of supervisors is tasked with making the appointments to the Port Commission despite four of the five current supervisors losing their seats in the November election.

The final meeting for the current Board of Supervisors is slated for Monday, Dec. 16. The new Warren County Board of Supervisors are scheduled to be sworn in later in the month, but will not hold their first official meeting until Monday, Jan. 5.

At that time, the new board will make a number of appointments or reappointments of their own including county administrator, county attorney and county engineer.