“Does not get along well with others” seems to be routine at Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau board meetings.
The show was on again Monday evening as board members accused, yelled and generally disagreed among themselves and with others.
Board President George Swales opened the Monday-night fights with a plea for unity. He read a lengthy list of CVB Executive Director Nancy Carpenter’s accomplishments, adding she “didn’t fall off the potato truck last night.”
Carpenter has the credentials to lead the organization, and board members should be glad to have a qualified person to serve, he said.
Swales admonished the board to put down their axes, dull the edges of their picks and get on board with unity.
“I implore, one more time, for us to do that,” he said.
Members seemed to take his words to heart at first. But as the three-hour meeting wore on, the varnish of unity wore off.
The first match on the card was between District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks and CVB Board Vice President Mark Castleberry.
Brooks attended the meeting to make a pitch for funding for the Juneteenth festival.
Board members went over the festival’s proposed budget and asked that the profit margin be included.
Brooks said he would gladly comply with the board but he didn’t want to think sponsors of African-American festivals were held to a different standard than organizers of other festivals.
Castleberry told Brooks to leave the running of the CVB board to its members.
Brooks’ temper flared, and he said he should be shown respect and added that even though he doesn’t personally like Castleberry, he will show him respect.
At last month’s meeting, Brooks not-so gently reminded board members that some of them are appointed by the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors.
Next on the card was the ongoing match between Carpenter and board member Whirllie Byrd, who manages to spar nearly every meeting.
During the treasurer’s report, Byrd inquired about a $184 credit card receipt from J. Broussard restaurant.
Carpenter said she, her husband and a military officer who brings Operation Yellow Ribbon programs to Columbus for military deployments ate a meal together at the restaurant.
Operation Yellow Ribbon brings lots of visitors to Columbus, Carpenter said.
Operation Yellow Ribbon recognizes the sacrifice of deploying soldiers and their families.
Byrd has frequently accused Carpenter of misusing the CVB credit card.
Once the women began yelling, Swales pounded his gavel on the table and called for order.
Byrd kept going, and Swales said, “I’m telling both of you to stop.”
Board Treasurer Bart Wise said it’s customary to take a spouse to a business dinner.
Then Wise and Byrd began a heated discussion.
Wise’s face turned red, and he yelled that Byrd had signed financial reports for former CVB Director James Tsismanakis to put his wife’s spa treatments on the CVB credit card.
Board member Dewitt Hicks said he didn’t have a problem with Carpenter’s husband getting a free meal since he does a lot of CVB work for free.
“I think Nancy ought to take Whirllie out for a meal some time,” he said.
Byrd said Carpenter has a habit of feeding her family with the CVB credit card.
When Swales asked for a motion to develop a credit card policy, no one spoke.
“We need to cut out all this personal stuff,” Hicks said.
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