When Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau staff started arranging memorabilia on the walls and shelves of their new offices last month, something was missing.
Make that about 20 somethings, worth hundreds of dollars to the CVB.
This week, former CVB head James Tsismanakis returned about 20 professionally framed pictures, posters and collectibles to his old employers at their request.
In a letter to the CVB, Tsismanakis claimed he thought it was “customary” to take the items, some of which held more personal than professional significance.
But other items — like the engraved silver, German-made, Blues Trail, Hohner harmonica given to the CVB by the state and signed festival posters — held special significance for both the CVB and the city. Those items should be displayed at the office, according to CVB employees.
Tsismanakis, who now works for the DeKalb County, Ga., CVB, could not be reached immediately for comment.
The CVB board voted in secret session, possibly illegally, to send Tsismanakis a letter asking for the items back.
Although board members claim they faced potential litigation — a legitimate excuse for closing a meeting — open meetings attorneys at the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information said the exception only applies when litigation is imminent.
The board met Monday to discuss hiring an attorney, who — among other duties — could explain open meetings law to the new nine-member board, which will be brought up to full strength in upcoming months.
The CVB board members agreed then to form a three-member committee, with Interim Executive Director Nancy Carpenter at the helm, to look at the possibility of hiring an attorney.
Other options could include having experts from Mississippi State University hold a training session for board members, she said.
The previous CVB board may have also overstepped its bounds when it hired then-board member David Sanders, of the Mitchell, McNutt and Sams law firm, to do some legal work.
Sanders, whose firm was paid $17,320.50 by the CVB in 2009 and 2010, could face a fine of up to $10,000 if the state Ethics Commission finds he violated the law, which states that a board member cannot work for or for a subcontractor of the board.
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