NATCHEZ &045;&045; Ninety minutes of closed-door discussion by aldermen Wednesday evening yielded, among other things, a new city personnel director and a Convention Promotion Commission with four new members.

Joining current commission members Royal Hill and Angie Singleton &045;&045; effectively immediately &045;&045; will be Ron Riches, Rene Adams, Katie Johnson Moore and Tammi Gardner.

They are replacing Chairman Dr. Eugene Taylor, Mimi Houghton, Liza Plauche and James Coleman on the commission, set up by the Legislature to establish a convention center and attract visitors to the area.

&uot;This is part of our decision to revamp tourism,&uot; Alderman Bob Pollard, chairman of the board’s Tourism Committee, said after the often-heated executive session.

While Houghton and Coleman could not be reached for comment Wednesday night, both Taylor and Plauche said they didn’t see the board’s action coming.

&uot;This is the first I’ve heard of it,&uot; Taylor said when contacted after the meeting. &uot;But I was appointed by the mayor and Board of Aldermen, so I guess I can be disappointed by them.&uot;

&uot;I’m happy to have served for 13 years,&uot; Plauche said. &uot;I’m surprised the Board of Aldermen didn’t consider our service valuable enough to at least notify us of what they were going to do. But I wish everyone concerned a lot of luck.&uot;

The appointing of a new Convention Promotion Commission doesn’t take the place of a new 40-member tourism advisory &uot;superboard&uot; aldermen are also working to appoint, Pollard said.

&uot;We’re asking people to serve on that right now,&uot; he said.

The superboard will only advise the city on tourism matters and won’t be authorized to make policy &045;&045; only the city’s existing Convention Promotion Commission and the Board of Aldermen itself will do that.

Members of the Convention Promotion Commission will also serve as an executive committee of the superboard. Others from tourism-related organizations and businesses will also be asked by the city in the coming weeks to serve on the superboard.

Creating such a board was chief among many tourism recommendations New Orleans-based tourism consultant Stu Barash made last fall to a Chamber of Commerce committee.

But the superboard, as Barash envisioned it, would have replaced the Convention Promotion Commission.

Also during Wednesday’s meeting, aldermen authorized Mayor Phillip West to hire &045;&045; pending negotiations &045;&045; Patricia Gibson as the city’s new personnel director.

Gibson has worked in many capacities for the Natchez-Adams School District, many of them dealing with personnel, said Alderman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis.

Arceneaux-Mathis said Gibson’s experience with personnel and with the Public Employees’ Retirement System, as well as her master’s of business administration degree, made her a good choice.

Longtime Personnel Director Kay Patt retired at the end of December.

In addition, Interim Public Works Director Reggie Carter, who took over that position after former Director Richard Burke, is due to retire at the end of this month. The city received about 80 applications between the two positions.

As far as the public works director position is concerned, Arceneaux-Mathis said, &uot;I think you’ll see us fill that … in a hurry.&uot;

And City Planner Bob Jackson resigned earlier this month, after a little more than one year on the job, to return to Arizona. A timeline for filling that position was not discussed at Wednesday’s meeting.

Also, aldermen voted to direct City Attorney Walter Brown to research the feasibility of allowing police officers to work as security guards at private functions just as sheriff’s deputies can.

Aldermen voted to direct Brown to have the information ready for the board’s review by their next meeting, set for 6 p.m. Tuesday.

While the item was passed without open-session discussion, Alderman Theodore &uot;Bubber&uot; West said the vote was the first step toward allowing &uot;police to get paid directly by people who have events&uot; and use police as security.