A motion to vacate all county appointments to the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau board of directors was met with strong accusations at Tuesday”s meeting of the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors.
Board President and District 1 Supervisor Harry Sanders moved to vacate the county”s four appointments effective Dec. 31 in an effort to get the reappointment schedule back on track for the first time in years. That prompted District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks to accuse Sanders of attempting to “stack the board” with members of the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link”s board of directors.
“It”s not your job to be a water bucket man for the Link,” Brooks shouted at Sanders.
The CVB and the Link engaged in a controversial struggle for funds in October when Link CEO Joe Max Higgins revealed the CVB planned to cut its annual funding to the Link. After a brief period of tense communication the CVB agreed to budget $178,500, or 12.3 percent of its budget, for the Link. The CVB, which is funded by a two percent tax on restaurants, is the Link”s second largest contributor behind the county.
Brooks insists Sanders is attempting to clear the county”s current appointees to the CVB board with the intention of appointing replacements who will vote to secure greater funding for the Link.
Current CVB board members Cindy Putnam, who represents local hotels, and David Sanders, the Link”s direct representative on the board, will see their three-year terms expire Dec. 31, but Sanders claims their reappointments are more than a year overdue. Putnam has applied for reappointment to the hotelier seat along with developer Mark Castleberry. The Link has recommended former Link board chairman Bart Wise as David Sanders” replacement.
According to the CVB, at large appointee George Swales” four-year term is due to expire in December 2011 and DeWitt Hicks” four-year term is up in February 2012. Sanders claims Hicks” term should expire in January 2011.
Sanders returned fire at Brooks following the meeting, claiming Brooks doesn”t want to upset the CVB board”s composition because it funds multiple festivals and events with which Brooks is involved, including Juneteenth.
He claims the appointment schedule, which was established in 1986 via a city ordinance, had not been followed and he moved to vacate the positions in an effort to reestablish the schedule. The terms were originally staggered to avoid multiple expirations in the same year.
“All I want to do is get (the appointments) straight and Leroy and them make a big deal out of it and say I”m trying to stack the deck,” said Sanders following Tuesday”s meeting.
CVB Director James Tsismanakis says the appointment schedule has changed considerably since its inception by the county”s doing, but adds it has been consistent in recent years. The practice of including the head of the local chamber of commerce as the ninth member of the CVB board was also abandoned more than five years ago.
The Columbus Chamber of Commerce and the Columbus-Lowndes Economic Development Association merged in 2003 and later changed its name to the Link.
“The Link does not need to be micromanaged,” Brooks lectured Sanders. “This has nothing to do with staggered terms.”
Brooks went on to claim a meeting was held Monday between CVB board members and Link board members at which “people were being strong-armed to give the Link 15 percent (of its budget).”
Tsismanakis acknowledged four members each board”s executive committees met to discuss funding, but no decisions were reached. The meeting was scheduled weeks ago.
Sanders” motion died on the table when the board split 2-2. District 3 Supervisor John Holliman voted with Sanders and District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith opposed the motion along with Sanders. District 2 Supervisor Frank Ferguson abstained, claiming “I don”t have enough information to decide.”
The board voted to advertise two CVB board positions during its Nov. 15 meeting and Sanders planned to ask the board to vote on those appointments Tuesday, but Brooks moved to adjourn and demanded a vote after receiving a second before Sanders could bring up the appointments. The board adjourned without considering the appointments.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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