A standoff is brewing between the county and the city over the fate of the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau board of directors.
Following Tuesday”s Columbus City Council meeting, the majority of the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors expressed disagreement Wednesday with the council”s decision to indefinitely — possibly permanently — reduce the CVB board to six members while eliminating industry-specific appointments in favor of at-large appointments.
The city and the county currently appoint four board members each, including two representatives from stakeholders such as restaurants, hotels and the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link and two at-large members.
“I think they”ve gone from one extreme to the other,” said District 2 Supervisor Frank Ferguson. “What we were trying to accomplish was not lower membership of the CVB. Just to make everything legal.”
City Attorney Jeff Turnage notified the council state code specifies convention bureau boards are to consist of three members appointed by each governing entity. A joint committee consisting of representatives from the city, county and CVB reached a majority agreement last week that the current eight-member CVB board had performed admirably and a petition to the state Legislature was in order to appoint nine members, with the ninth jointly appointed by the mayor and president of the board of supervisors.
The joint committee seemed to agree the CVB board would reduce to six members and delay naming a replacement for outgoing CVB Director James Tsismanakis until legislative approval to expand the board was obtained and the full board installed.
“They didn”t consider any of the recommendations of the committee. That was the purpose of doing that,” District 3 Supervisors John Holliman said of the City Council.
Holliman expressed his belief City Council members had made up their minds how to proceed Tuesday regardless of the committee”s recommendations.
The supervisors will decide how to proceed regarding the city”s proposed interlocal agreement during its Dec. 30 meeting. Both sides agree a compromise must be reached before a new interlocal agreement governing the CVB is sent to the state attorney general for approval.
When, how and by whom the compromise will be made is unknown.
“I don”t know what will happen if we can”t get together on the terms of the interlocal agreement,” said Turnage. “I assume the committee would take another run at it before we threw in the towel.”
County Administrator Ralph Billingsley, who represented the county on the joint committee with Board Attorney Tim Hudson, believes future talks should fall to another group.
“They appointed us to make recommendations and the city ignored the recommendations. If it was totally ignored, I would see no need to get back together. I think it would be another waste of time for the committee to meet again,” said Billingsley.
The sticking point appears to the be the number of members on the CVB board, specifically an odd member to prevent tie votes. District 1 Supervisor Harry Sanders opposed the idea of all at-large appointments, but Turnage said the city likely won”t protest if the county chooses to retain its industry appointments.
But not all supervisors are opposed to the City Council”s decision. District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks endorsed giving the new configuration ample time to prove whether or not it can be successful. District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith said he would not have taken the same path as the City Council because “the process wasn”t broken,” but agreed to follow the city”s lead in the matter.
As long as the current board configuration is in place, Sanders said the county should proceed in reappointing three of its members whose terms have expired and a fourth whose term will soon expire. Sanders” attempt to vacate all county appointments in November prompted scrutiny of the county”s role in governing the CVB.
Soon after, it was discovered only the city had an ordinance pertaining to the CVB, although it provided equal power to the Board of Supervisors.
The state Legislature also gave Columbus and Lowndes County equal authority over a 2 percent restaurant tax, now worth approximately $1.4 million annually, intended to fund Mississippi University for Women and the CVB, in 1986. MUW has since been removed from the equation, and all proceeds from the tax now go to the CVB, which doles out the funds for marketing local festivals and events as well as contributing to the Link.
Elected officials from the city and county are involved with the management of several CVB-sponsored festivals.
Ferguson expressed concern that a prolonged disagreement between the city and county might cost everyone involved.
“If we continue and don”t get on the right page, my fear is we might lose that 2 percent (tax). That we cannot afford to do,” he said.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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