The plight of the Columbus Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau appears to be over.
The Columbus City Council unanimously approved a resolution to adopt a new CVB ordinance Wednesday night during a special called meeting.
Implementation of the ordinance is dependent on the state Legislature granting a local and private agreement to expand the board to nine members, but Monday”s unanimous passage of the same resolution by the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors all but ensures the measure will pass at the state level.
“It”s a big relief, it really is,” said Mayor Robert Smith of the cooperation between the city and county after a months-long standoff. “To the public: The big egos, they gave in and they did some compromising.”
In order to bring the current CVB board into compliance with state statute, the council voted to strike Glen Lautzenhiser from the board, but in a round-about fashion. Rather than vote Lautzenhiser off, the council took three separate votes to leave the other city appointees on the board.
Ward 1 Councilman Gene Taylor moved to retain Whirllie Byrd and Columbus historic home representative Dixie Butler. He was seconded by Ward 4 Councilman Fred Stewart and Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens, respectively. Ward 6 Councilman Bill Gavin moved to retain restaurant representative John Bean and was seconded by Ward 3 Councilman Charlie Box. All three votes were unanimous.
The city will make three fresh board appointments March 1, and both the city and county will name a fourth member after the local and private agreement is granted. A ninth board member will be jointly appointed by the mayor and president of the board of supervisors.
During its Monday meeting, the board of supervisors appointed Bart Wise, who was originally proposed to represent the Link, as the “business or industrial community” representative; hotel developer Mark Castleberry was appointed to represent the hotel industry; and George Swales was appointed to an at-large term.
Although the council forfeited its insistence that the CVB board remain at six at-large members, Smith and the council dubbed the compromise a “win-win.”
Taylor cited the addition of an at-large appointment for both the city and county as a good-faith move on the part of the supervisors. Smith said the field of potential candidates was further expanded through opening the hotel representative to include any commercial lodging professional, the exclusion of a Columbus Lowndes Development Link recommendation in favor of a representative of the business and industry community, and the expansion of the restaurant representative to include establishments not subject to the 2 percent tax which funds the CVB.
The same 2 percent tax can be canceled by either the city or the county, and its future was in doubt at times throughout the ordeal.
“Neither one of us wanted to lose that 2 percent. Just being selfish and stubborn wasn”t going to help the situation,” said Smith.
The mayor met for three hours with Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders Friday to discuss the changes, including expanding the purview of the CVB to fund economic development and local festivals. Previously, the 2 percent tax, which brought in approximately $1.4 million in 2010, was confined to tourism with 15 percent going to the Link.
Sanders often complained of the CVB board”s decision to fund local festivals organized by politicians.
Smith said the new ordinance will “broaden the field, then (funding) won”t be a guessing game.” He praised Sanders for his willingness to compromise.
“When we met Friday we had a real good meeting. It was open and we were very objective with each other. And we agreed to disagree with each other,” said Smith.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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