NATCHEZ — A former Natchez tourism director has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Natchez and former Convention Promotion Commission members alleging defamation and illegal activities by tourism officials, among other claims.

Kevin Kirby, who was fired by the city in April 2016 following ongoing personnel issues and conflicts with the Natchez Convention Promotion Commission, filed the lawsuit. The commissioners were also asked to resign at the time of Kirby’s termination.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi Western Division against the City of Natchez, the Natchez Convention Promotion Commission and specific former commissioners David Gammill, Katie Moore, Virginia Benoist, Ronald Bequette, Maggie Fromm, Dennis Switzer and the commission’s former attorney Christina Ferrell Daugherty.

Court documents state that “at some point in the summer of 2015, (CPC) members became upset that Mr. Kirby would not ‘bow down’ to the board members’ every desire and return phone calls and incessant emails immediately and in unreasonable timeframes.”

Kirby claims in the lawsuit that he was an adviser to the commission, not an employee, and that commission members set out personal agendas to benefit themselves for personal gains.

The commission, Kirby alleges, ‘set out upon a nefarious and unlawful plan to undermine Mr. Kirby’s authority as director and began disseminating false, reckless and grossly misleading information in an attempt to maliciously interfere with Mr. Kirby’s employment relationship with the City of Natchez and defame and discredit Mr. Kirby.”

Kirby claims in the lawsuit that the CPC had closed-door meetings in violation of the Open Meetings Act and that the commission unlawfully amended meeting minutes in an attempt to slander Kirby.

The lawsuit also claims that commissioners made false promises to city employees in an attempt to encourage those employees to make false statements to defame and slander Kirby.

Kirby also claims that the commission gave the information to news outlets instead of directly to the board of aldermen in an attempt to defame and slander Kirby and “poison the well and bias public opinion against Mr. Kirby, who has not been involved in any wrongdoing despite the defendants’ allegations.”

In the lawsuit, Kirby points to the commission’s allegation that he “misused tax monies for the purchase of a vehicle” as a “prime example of the commission’s false and misleading tactics.”

Kirby claims that his hiring package included a vehicle for his use, and by taking away the vehicle, the commission breached Kirby’s employment contract.

The purchase of the vehicle — a 2013 Lincoln MKX — was called into question, as well as other spending by Kirby, treatment of employees and other issues by the commission and addressed in an investigation report the former commission released in March 2016.

Kirby also alleges in the lawsuit that he requested a “name clearing hearing because of the defamatory allegations published by defendants against Kirby.” Kirby claims the city and the commission never conducted that hearing.

As a result of the defendants’ alleged actions, Kirby claims he “has been unable to find suitable employment and news of Kirby’s termination has been published as far away as Virginia.”

Kirby was hired by New Orleans hotelier Warren Reuther as marketing director for Reuther’s family of companies a few weeks after Kirby’s termination. Reuther’s companies own the Natchez Grand Hotel and manage the Natchez Convention Center.

City Attorney Bob Latham and former CPC chairman David Gammill declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.