The Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau has two new members coming to its board.
The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday appointed Realtor Kris Davis and former Canton mayor Sidney Runnels to serve three-year terms.
Two incumbent board members, Quinn Brislin and Brock Reynolds, were up for reappointment. Brislin was appointed in June to fill out the remainder of Joe Beckett’s term after the supervisors removed him from the CVB board. Reynolds was first appointed in 2014 to fill out the remainder of Bart Wise’s term after Wise stepped down.
Brislin asked to be reappointed; Reynolds did not.
There were a total of five candidates in play for two seats: Brislin; Davis; attorney Jace Ferraez; educator Clifford Reynolds; and Runnels.
Rather than simply making motions and voting them up or down, President Trip Hairston asked the board to nominate candidates and then vote for each person. District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks nominated both Ferraez and Runnels, President and District 2 Supervisor Trip Hairston nominated Brislin and District 1 Supervisor Matt Furnari nominated Davis.
By the time all the votes were tallied, Runnels got four votes; Davis got three; and Brislin and Ferraez each got two.
Davis told The Dispatch Wednesday afternoon she and her husband — own ReMax Partners in Columbus — moved here in 2008 and want to contribute to Columbus’ tourism development.
“We want people to visit Columbus because we have so much to offer, and they may indeed become residents one day,” Davis said. “If there’s anything I can do to volunteer or put my previous board experience to work, I wanted to do it.”
Davis said she was previously the president of the Mississippi Association of Realtors board. She previously worked with the GodwinGroup in Jackson from 1990 through 2015, ending her tenure as vice president and director of marketing research.
Runnels has more than 30 years of experience working in city government. He has previously served as mayor of Canton; economic development director in West Memphis, Arkansas; and as city managers in Grenada and Gautier.
“I’ve worked closely with promoting the city in all the places I have lived,” Runnels said. “I think it’s critical for a community to do everything it can to promote itself and to bring people into the community to visit.”
Brislin, for his part, said he was sorry not to be reappointed.
“I hate that the board of supervisors didn’t want to reappoint me to a second term,” Brislin said. “The job’s a volunteer job, and it’s one that I put a lot of work and effort into. We were starting to curb a lot of frivolous spending that was going on.”
The CVB board has nine members. The county and city each appoint four, while the Columbus mayor and president of the county board of supervisors jointly appoints the ninth member.
Interim directors
The CVB will also soon function with two interim directors while the board searches for a permanent leader.
Longtime CEO, Nancy Carpenter, is leaving the position at the end of March. A search for a full-time replacement is gearing up, but in the meantime two CVB employees will essentially split the job between them, Board President Liz Terry told The Dispatch on Wednesday afternoon.
The board voted to appoint marketing assistant Frances Glenn to interim tourism director and financial assistant Sharon Johnson to interim business director, Terry said. They each will get a pay bump to $60,000 for the duration.
“They will handle some of the duties of the CEO, and those that they can’t will be the board’s responsibility to follow through on,” Terry said.
They will begin their new duties on April 1, she said.
A search committee — which includes CVB board members Matt Bogue and Melodie Cunningham — has been established, Terry said, but no firm date has yet been set to begin advertising for the position.
Terry said the board wants to have someone in place by Oct. 1, which is the beginning of the next fiscal year.
Carpenter has led the CVB and its affiliated nonprofit, the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation, since 2011, working mostly under three-year contracts with separate salaries for those roles. However, the board offered her a one-year contract in September 2022, but with pay only for her role at the CVB.
She accepted a six-month extension to that contract in October.
Carpenter is not getting out of the tourism business, however. She announced in November she had been selected to lead the CCHF. The CVB and the CCHF split in March, with a separate board guiding each. The two formerly shared the same board.
The CCHF assists with the annual spring Pilgrimage and oversees operations at the Tennessee Williams Home and Welcome Center.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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