NATCHEZ — Confusing, complicated and complex were terms used more than once Monday at a meeting to describe the structure of the city’s tourism operations and the boards and documents that govern it.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen met with tourism officials and stakeholders to clarify the relationships and roles of the board of aldermen, the city’s office of tourism management and the Natchez Convention Promotion Commission (NCPC).

The meeting comes as the city has been without a permanent tourism director since mid-April when the aldermen fired former director Kevin Kirby after months of ongoing personnel issues at the Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau. The aldermen also simultaneously asked for the resignations of all six members of the NCPC.

The aldermen appointed Tricentennial Director Jennifer Ogden Combs as interim tourism director, and she has been at the helms of both operations since shortly after Kirby’s termination.

The aldermen also appointed temporary commissioners to NCPC, whose terms they extended by a week Monday to allow another week for those interested in serving to submit applications.

Combs told the board Monday that in addition to needing a permanent director and commissioners in place, the office has two or three key staff positions that need to be filled.

“I don’t want to start creating some plan that then another director comes in and says, ‘That’s not my vision,’” Combs said.

The temporary commissioners, Combs said, are also being asked to assemble the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

The city has a short timeline to get a director in place, with Combs’ appointment expiring in approximately six weeks.

“And looking at if this whole structure is the best for the city … I’m not sure I would say that it is,” she said. “I think there’s an opportunity.”

Former city attorney Walter Brown said he thinks the system the city has in place now works. He attributed recent issues in the operations of the CVB to personality conflicts.

Brown, who had a role in drafting the legislation, laid out the structure of the taxes that fund the CVB operations as well as the structure of the boards created in the legislation.

Senate Bill 3191 lays out the creation of the NCPC, a six-member commission appointed by the board of aldermen. The commissioners previously served terms, Brown said, but now serve at the will of the aldermen.

The legislation also established the Tourism Marketing Advisory Committee, or TMAC, the members of which represent various entities in the tourism industry and are appointed by the commission.

TMAC’s role involves the establishment of a marketing plan utilizing the $2 occupancy tax, or heads-on-beds tax.

NCPC deals with the overall operations of the CVB and has historically had a management agreement with the city, although the last agreement has expired.

Aldermen questioned for exactly whom the director of the office of tourism management and CVB works.

The job was set up and continues a dual role, Brown said, with one director overseeing the office of tourism management and the CVB. That means the director would report to both the NCPC and the board of aldermen.

Ward 3 Alderwoman Sarah Smith said the oversight of the director position is unclear and convoluted.

“Which part of that person answers to the city, and which part of that person answers to the commission?” she said.

Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said in previous terms, CVB directors have given raises to employees during times when the aldermen had frozen raises. At the time, Arceneaux-Mathis said, the aldermen were told they had no control over the raises since the CVB was its own entity. She likened her previous understanding of CVB operations to how Natchez Water Works is set up. While Water Works is a city-owned entity, it has its own board and superintendent that manage its operations.

Smith said raises were given under the previous director or employees were contracted without authorization, one of the main problems the aldermen had with the previous management of operations.

Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard voiced concerns about “co-mingling” of monies Combs said was discovered. The 2014-2015 fiscal year audit laid out some of those issues.

Combs said she has not been able to locate contracts and discovered NCPC was paying for grounds maintenance and other expenses that would fall to the city. Funds that should be going directly to city are passing through the office of tourism management, and the NCPC ended up with funding that should have went to the city.

Smith recommended the aldermen consider allowing NCPC to keep an attorney on retainer to review contracts as well as an accountant.

After a motion from Dillard, the board decided to send the legislation, management agreements and other necessary documentation to the Stennis Institute and the state department of tourism for interpretation and input.

In the meantime, the aldermen initiated the search for a permanent director. Smith asked Combs if she would consider staying on as interim director until the end of December.

Combs said she would consider it, and would need to talk to her family, saying she has been working every day since May to get a grasp and manage the city’s tourism operations.

Former NCPC commissioner Virginia Benoist recommended the aldermen get input from hotels, restaurants and other tourism-related businesses during its search for a director.

“It doesn’t matter who you appoint … if those people are not part of the deal, you’re not going to be able to have a cooperative tourism group,” she said.

The aldermen tasked Combs, Natchez National Historical Park Superintendent Kathleen Bond, a member of the previous director search committee, and Historic Natchez Foundation Executive Director and NCPC commissioner Mimi Miller with drafting a job description to advertise for the director position.

The aldermen will then form a committee to vet candidates and will short-list a few for the aldermen to interview.

Anyone interested in serving on the convention promotion commission should submit an application at City Hall in the next week.