NATCHEZ — The voice of local business is adding its perspective to the discussion on how best to revitalize Natchez tourism.

The Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce Tourism Council penned a letter to the mayor and aldermen, offering its opinion on how best to rebuild the recently emptied Natchez Convention Promotion Commission.

Chamber of Commerce President Debbie Hudson, who signed the letter, said the correspondence was the result of a meeting between those with a vested interest in hotels, restaurants and other tourism-related businesses in the area.

The tourism council’s letter asks the aldermen to consider appointing only an interim commission, then allowing local business sectors (such as hotels, restaurants and the casino) to nominate representatives to sit on the commission.

Additionally, the letter requests the aldermen conduct training sessions for new commissioners as well as a public education session that goes over the legislation that created the commission.

“We want them to take their time with this,” Hudson said. “We also know this is a political time, and people sometimes rush to have their nominee put on, whether we’re ready for that or not.”

Allowing the business sector to nominate its own representatives on the board would remove politics from the appointments, she said.

“It worked for Natchez Inc. to do it this way,” Hudson said. “It went through a process. And that’s what we want — the process.”

Between the interim appointments and the public-sector nominations, Hudson said a professional consultant should be called in to clear up the relationships between the city, the commission and the office of the tourism director.

Hudson said many in the chamber’s leadership feel a change to the legislation that created the commission might be necessary.

“That’s the worst case scenario,” Hudson said. “It’s just time consuming. If there are other things we could do, that’s fine, too.”

The city’s tricentennial, Hudson said, is not the time for conflict.

“I just want to see us working together,” Hudson said. “We’ll look at how well we can make it work for the future. You’ve got an opportunity.”

The Natchez Board of Aldermen plan to meet at noon today to discuss how best to move forward from the recent dismissal of the Convention Promotion Commission and former tourism director Kevin Kirby. The city sought resignations from all after weeks of investigation into disputes between the group and Kirby.

Those interested in becoming commissioners submitted a total of 15 applications to city hall, and Natchez Mayor Butch Brown said more names would be added to the pool shortly.

Brown said the application process has been different than in previous years, but he is optimistic about the results.

“Everything’s cool, I think this is a good measure,” Brown said. “To my knowledge, it’s never been the format used before, but getting good people who understand and appreciate tourism is not an easy chore.”

Ward 3 Alderwoman Sarah Carter Smith had her own ideas on how to go about rebuilding the board.

“My thought was we could possibly have a meeting when they’re all there, we give a job description for what all the job entails, give them a minute to talk about why they’re interested it,” Smith said, “Go over what exactly the responsibilities of the commission are to make sure they all know what the position entails.”

Smith, who has been vocal at recent meetings about tourism concerns, had envisioned the aldermen making their own selections from the pool of applications after thorough deliberation.

“With 15 applications, we should be able to at least have an interim,” Smith said. “If they want to stay on, they could certainly ask to continue.”

Smith said she might suggest letting the interim commissioners’ terms expire at the same time as the term of Interim Tourism Director Jennifer Ogden Combs.

“That’s just my thought, someone else might have a completely different idea of how to do it,” Smith said.

Ward 4 Alderman Tony Fields said he was open to all ideas at this point in the process, including the chamber’s suggestions.

Fields said he wants to make sure the commission is representative of those involved in Natchez’s tourism industry.

“I think we should have a diverse commission as far as race, age, gender and skill set,” Fields said. “I think people who have a vested interest and know the tourism industry or people who really have the desire to be on the commission and truly follow whatever rules and bylaws are in place, those are the people who need to be on the commission.”

Ward 5 Alderman Mark Fortenbery, who attended several meetings of the previous commission, said he feels a quorum of the Natchez Convention Promotion Commission is needed urgently.

“There have been several people that say we need to wait for the new administration, but I don’t know how it will function,” Fortenbery said. “I think somebody’s going to have to be down there. Somebody’s got to pay the bills.”

Fortenbery said he would be open to placing interim commissioners to take care of business until after the upcoming election.

“If we can find an interim group, we can let them go on in after we do an interview, or whatever process the board decides,” Fortenbery said. “I guess when we get together today we’ll hash that out.”