Despite having its board of directors cut in half, everything at the Columbus Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau is “business as usual,” the group”s interim director said.
Nancy Carpenter, interim director of the CVB since James Tsismanakis exited to take a job in Georgia, said the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors” Monday decision not to appoint new members, thus preventing a quorum, after vacating its appointments to the CVB board will not interrupt the bureau”s day-to-day operations.
“I can assure you there are very capable people as employees here that will continue to carry on business,” said Carpenter. “We are going to progress as we had planned for the betterment of Columbus.”
She said plans regarding the CVB”s move into its new building are already in place and a quorum is not needed to handle standard tasks such as paying bills.
What can”t happen without the presence of a quorum is allocation for festivals.
Once per quarter, festival organizers come before the CVB board to request funding for events which will take place in the following quarter. The board heard requests from representatives for Market Street Festival and Juneteenth, which take place in May and June, respectively, but have not voted to grant either request.
The city and county voted recently to contract the CVB board from eight members to six in compliance with state code. The county board voted to delay its appointments until after the city council seats its selections March 1.
Carpenter said she would call a special meeting of the remaining board members soon and the board will still meet as scheduled Feb. 28 at 4 p.m.
The CVB meetings are open to the public.
“I will certainly seek legal advice on any business we need to conduct. However, right now it is business as usual,” said Carpenter.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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