A recently retired local businessman has been appointed to the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Trustees.
Lester King was appointed to the board by Lowndes County supervisors during their meeting Monday. King, a District 2 resident, was a partner with S&K Door & Specialty Company in Starkville for 36 years before retiring at the end of 2013.
King was nominated by supervisor Bill Brigham. Brigham and board president Harry Sanders voted in favor of nominating King. Supervisors Leroy Brooks and Jeff Smith abstained from voting, each saying they did not know King and wanted to speak with him about the position before changing their vote to be in favor of his appointment during a future meeting. Supervisor John Holliman was absent.
King was the first applicant nominated and voted on, so the other four candidates for the position — Fred Kinder, Willie Petty Sr., Clifford Reynolds and Sidney Runnels — were not mentioned.
Smith said there was a lack of communication with the applicants before Monday.
“My concern is these people applied for a board position and they have to be appointed by this board and I haven’t heard from any of them,” Smith said. “In the future I would hope that when people apply for these boards that we have to appoint that there be some kind of dialogue between the parties involved before we make this decision.”
Sanders said all supervisors had ample time to speak with the applicants because they were announced during the Jan. 15 board meeting.
“We do have some responsibilities ourselves in that if we’ve got questions about some of the applicants, it’s our responsibility to call and ask and sit down with them and interview them,” Sanders said.
After the meeting, King said he hoped to use his business experience to help the CVB and the community.
“I hope I bring some business experience and knowledge to the board. This is my first time to serve on a board such as this and I think I can be an asset to them,” King said. “Being in business for 36 years, I would certainly hope that knowledge I got from that would be a benefit to the board.”
King is one of two at-large members appointed by county supervisors. His term will expire in 2018. The other at-large county-appointed CVB board member is Rissa Lawrence. Mark Castleberry and Bart Wise are the other two county appointments representing hotels and businesses, respectively.
King replaces Leon Ellis, who said in December he would not seek re-appointment.
Four people have applied for two city-appointed CVB terms that expire March 1. Incumbents Whirllie Byrd and Nadia Dale are seeking reappointment to those seats, while Kinder and George Lowe Sr. have also applied.
The city-county seat on the CVB board appointed by Sanders and Columbus Mayor Robert Smith has been vacant since last June when they removed Harvey Myrick from the position. Brooks asked Sanders about the progress to fill the position. Sanders said he had submitted several names to Smith but had yet heard back from the mayor.
In other business, the board:
■ Granted a variance to Lowndes County Volunteer Fire Department for construction of its new facility on Jess Lyons Road in District 2;
■ Allowed road manager Ronnie Burns to purchase two new trucks for litter control out of the garbage collection budget — a total of $46,030.
■ Approved utility permits for the East Lowndes Water extension on Lauren Lane, Caledonia Natural Gas on Alomar Road, AT&T on Military Road and Charleigh Ford Drive and a stormwater permit on Old West Point Road;
■ Approved various construction and engineering invoices related to the Mississippi Steel Processing, CalStar and East Lowndes Water extension projects.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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