So far, six applicants are vying for three seats that will be up for grabs next month on the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau board of directors.
Leon Ellis, who is one of two at-large appointees from the county board of supervisors, said last month he did not want to be considered for reappointment. His term expires Feb. 6.
City council-appointed directors Whirllie Byrd and Nadia Dale have applied to serve another term once theirs are up on March 1. The council can make appointments during its Feb. 18 meeting.
The CVB is a nine-member board. Four are appointed by county supervisors and four more by city councilmen. The county-city joint appointee seat chosen by county board president Harry Sanders and Columbus Mayor Robert Smith has not been filled since the two removed Myrick from the board last June.
Though six applications have been submitted, only five people are actually competing for spots because both categories share an applicant: Fred Kinder. Kinder has applied before to be appointed by the county but was not chosen. He once again is an applicant supervisors can consider.
He’s also the sole non-incumbent seeking a city-appointed spot.
Byrd told The Dispatch Tuesday she believed Kinder would be a good addition to the board but hoped he would lobby to be added as the city-county joint appointee so the two weren’t competing for a seat at the table.
Sanders told The Dispatch Kinder’s name is one of a handful that he has floated by Smith, but there has been no recent communication about their appointment.
“I ran (Kinder’s) name by the mayor and the mayor never responded,” Sanders said. “He said he would consider it and he hasn’t said anything else to me.”
A call to Smith was not returned as of press time.
Kinder’s previous experience as a board member includes tenures on the Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society, Columbus Arts Council and the Columbus Community Theater boards.
Two other candidates are in the running for the county-appointed seat, including a former mayoral candidate and school principal.
Willie Petty, who qualified to run in the Columbus mayoral election last March before withdrawing from the race two days later, has also applied for the post. Petty ran against Sanders in 2011 county elections for the District 1 supervisor post.
Clifford Reynolds, former principal of West Lowndes High School, will seek the seat. He retired in 2012 after a 26-year career in Mississippi public education, 16 of which were in Lowndes County.
Each seat carries a four-year term.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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