The Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation board of directors abruptly ended public discussions with members of the Preservation Society of Columbus on the future operational control of the Columbus Pilgrimage during a meeting at the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau office Monday.
CCHF board member Rissa Lawrence used a priority motion, seconded by Dewitt Hicks and approved by a 3-2 vote, to table the item. A priority motion, when seconded, prohibits further discussion unless the vote fails.
Dick Leike, president of PSC, had appeared before the board to clarify his group’s position — mainly that it would not be shadowing CCHF’s operations of the 2020 Pilgrimage, but would participate by making homes available for Pilgrimage. PSC is made up of those whose homes have regularly been a part of the Pilgrimage tour of antebellum homes each spring. After Leike asked if the board had questions, the discussion was soon ended by Lawrence’s motion.
On Sept. 19, the PSC board sent a letter to the CCHF board announcing its intention to assume control of Pilgrimage beginning in 2021 and asking that all funds the CCHF had provided for the Pilgrimage previously be directed to them. The letter said PSC would work with CCHF to stage the 2020 Pilgrimage.
The CCHF board met on Oct. 9 and voted to hand over operational control of Pilgrimage immediately and noted that there were no additional CCHF funds available to provide to the PSC.
CCHF organized in 2008 to take over operations from the Columbus Historical Society, a homeowners group that operated the Pilgrimage since its first event in 1940. Under that agreement, CCHF is governed by and shares a board with the CVB, which provides the funding for the Pilgrimage through grants generated by the county’s 2-percent restaurant sales tax.
After Leike addressed the board Monday and offered to answer questions, CCHF board member Mark Castleberry asked Leike to confirm that CCHF’s action at its Oct. 9 meeting differed from the PSC’s requests on two points: When the operations would change hands and available funding. Leike agreed to that description.
Board member Whirllie Byrd, concerned about CCHF’s position that no additional funds would be made available to PSC to run Pilgrimage in 2020, was confused.
“Are we saying we are not going to continue funding the Pilgrimage?” she asked.
However, before any response was offered, Lawrence moved to table the item, and was seconded by Hicks over board president Steve Wallace’s objection.
“Let’s go a little further with this,” Wallace said.
Hicks said a priority motion meant there could be no discussion.
“I have questions,” Byrd protested. “Are we not going to have transparency with this?”
Wallace asked for a vote, which passed 4-2, with Byrd and Castleberry opposed. Although critical of the motion, Wallace abstained from the vote.
Board members Nadia Colom, Thomas “Tango” Moore and Brock Reynolds were absent.
After the meeting Lawrence declined to say why she moved to table to item without further discussion with the PSC members.
“I’d rather not go on the record with that,” she said.
Byrd, meanwhile, was dumbfounded.
“I wanted to take the time to talk to them more instead of shutting them out like that,” she said. “My anger was all over my face. I was shocked. If it’s on the agenda, give them an opportunity to speak, then we can all get a better understanding instead of just hearing from (CVB accountant) Tom Buckley, (CVB director) Nancy Carpenter and Dewitt Hicks.”
Wallace said he, too, was disappointed that the discussions ended so abruptly.
“I think there is wrong on both sides, but I don’t think they should have been dismissed right then,” Wallace said. “We’re going to have to sit down at some point and discuss this with them. We’re not against the Pilgrimage. Hell, the Pilgrimage is Columbus. We need to work with the homeowners, certainly. But I don’t think it was handled right to begin win.”
Before the meeting’s end, Byrd asked if a board member could request a special meeting and was told board members have that authority with three days notice. Byrd did not make the request, however, and the board is expected to take up the matter again at its next regular meeting on Nov. 18.
Reached later, Leike said he was disappointed the CCHF board did not want to discuss the matter further, but is still eager to continue talks.
“This doesn’t mean it’s the end of the discussion,” he said.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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