Mayor Robert Smith said Friday he expected the stalemate over the vacant seat on the nine-member Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau board to end “soon.”
Although Smith said he wasn”t sure when, he expressed a desire to compromise with Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders to come up with a joint pick.
Smith initially recommended local Democrat activist Claude Simpson, but Sanders objected.
Simpson, Sanders said, would mire the CVB in party politics.
“I told the mayor there”s no way in hell I was going to put him on there,” Sanders added.
Instead, Sanders recommended Eat With Us Group CEO John Bean, Mississippi University for Women President Allegra Brigham and Cadence Bank Vice President John Davis.
Smith initially said he would not budge on his pick, but that he has nothing against Sanders” appointments. However, he said Friday that he also has several other people who have approached him about the position.
“I guess we”ll have to compromise,” Smith said.
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