With a full board of directors newly seated, the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau is moving past controversy to emerge as a strong agency with a clearly defined mission, board members said.
“My charge, when I was elected, was to move forward,” explained Board Chairman George Swales. “I don’t spend my life looking through the rearview mirror; I’d rather look through the windshield.
“This is a new board built on principles of accountability, reliability and responsiveness,” he added. “We’ve dedicated ourselves to the idea we need to seize the opportunity. A new board affords us an opportunity and necessity to look critically at ourselves, at the policies and procedures of CVB business.”
Swales noted the board already “accomplished a lot in response to mandates of legislation,” including adopting new bylaws, balancing the agency’s budget, hiring a sports marketing staff person for the area’s new soccer complex and supporting initiatives of the CVB’s new executive director, Nancy Carpenter, which Swales called a “positive appointment.”
“The mission is clearly defined for us,” Swales said. “We are supposed to bring bodies and interests to the Columbus-Lowndes area. Tourism, clearly, (is a priority), but also quality of life and economic development.
“My vision is to be the top regional tourism (agency) in the state of Mississippi and to be recognized in the Southeast region and nationally for presenting this city as a quality destination for people to want to visit and be a part of,” he continued. “We’re the envy of the state, industrially, and I want to be the envy of the state in terms of people we can attract.”
Credibility
“I’d like the organization to be at a point where, if someone asks us why we did something, we can give a clear and consistent answer,” said Board Vice President Mark Castleberry. “We still won’t be able to please everybody, but we’ll be clear and consistent. I think through that transparency and clearness, unity will occur and positive things will occur for the community.”
Swales, who has served as chairman of the board since June, also addressed a need to move past recent controversy surrounding the CVB.
“I think within the community there is a general suspicion of public bodies,” he said. “Perhaps public bodies haven’t done the best job of educating the community of what their responsibility is and how the process works. I also think we have not been presented objectively. You have to be careful when you’re stepping through a minefield telling people how to do their job.”
“We’re (now) more transparent than we’ve ever been,” added Board Treasurer Bart Wise, explaining the agency received accusations of “cooking the books,” despite making the budget-building process transparent. “The budget is broader and deeper than before.”
Controversy
“The first thing I want (the public) to see is a decision was made regarding the leadership of this agency, of an executive director who was a value-added candidate, already in house, competent with the skills, the personality, the networks and the hands-on experience to lead this agency without a single ripple,” Swales said of Carpenter. “I don’t understand at all why she has had to take the beating that she has had to take.
“They need to understand we had to get out of the other place we were in,” Swales continued, referring to other misconceptions about the agency held by the public. “We didn’t own that, and we were tenants. And I want them to see we have had savings, instead of their sensitivity to us spending money. We are budget balanced, and it has much to do with creative staffing. Somehow, there’s been this creeping belief there’s something secretive going on here. This is a public body. Any citizen in town can see and get anything they want out of this body. There’s nothing secret going on here.”
“We passed the most transparent and simplified budget I’m aware this board has ever had,” said Castleberry. “We’re trying to operate more efficiently, so we can return that money back to the community. We have a very positive future. The board is functioning much better than it has functioned.”
‘Open and transparent’
“With good clean policies and accountability, I think we’re definitely on the high side,” said Swales.
“I think part of that is we are trying to be more open and transparent and do things the right way,” agreed Wise.
“I’m so grateful for the board we have,” Swales concluded. “I think we’re on the better side. Nancy knows she has 110 percent of our support. She has great ideas, she’s moving on them, and we’re supporting her. I don’t see anything but good coming.”
Some of the initiatives Carpenter said she brought to the agency include moving into the CVB’s new office space, hiring “a competent staff” and bringing smaller conferences and conventions to the city.
“My vision for the agency is to create an environment to visitors which is welcoming, diverse and encompassing,” Carpenter explained. “We achieve this through personal contact, advertising and through visitors, who have had a pleasant experience and have told others.
“Our goal is to bring visitors to our town and county for economic development reasons, cultural and heritage events, sporting events, family and class reunions and to exceed their expectations with our knowledge and hospitality with every visit,” she added.
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