Compass Facilities Management has withdrawn any interest in overall tourism development for Warren County, Mayor Laurence Leyens said Tuesday, adding he’s pulling out of the fray, too.

The Iowa-based firm has had a contract with the City of Vicksburg to operate the city’s convention center and auditorium for about six years.

As the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau board has been continuing its search for a director since April, Leyens has suggested the contract with Compass could be expanded to include VCVB operations.

Tuesday, Leyens told members of the tourism council of the Vicksburg-Warren Community Alliance that Compass has retracted its offer because the company isn’t interested in being part of a controversy.

&#8220I’ve also withdrawn from this because I’m so disenfranchised with the (VCVB) board,” Leyens said.

Weeks of discussions and disagreements about tourism development have already seen Curt Follmer, who was board chairman for VCVB, resign his city appointment, citing a lack of independence and pressure from Leyens.

The Alliance is a grassroots group, which has many members deeply involved in tourism, and the council has been meeting and talking in an attempt to broker an accord.

&#8220Tourism is a very viable industry in our community – one that’s not even been tapped yet,” said Margaret Gilmer, general manager of the Vicksburg Factory Outlets and a member of the Alliance.

Leyens and Warren County supervisors were told at the meeting their picks for the 11 slots on the volunteer VCVB board (five city appointees, five county and one shared) must have the best interest of the tourism industry at heart.

&#8220We need to seize the moment and think about how you appoint someone to the board,” Gilmer said. &#8220I think people serve on the board for the right reasons as their civic duty, but at the same time, we, in the industry, should be able to think of our attractions as enough to earn a living.”

Gilmer said there seemed to be a breakdown in communication between board members and the elected officials who appointed them.

&#8220Do you put them on that board and then never have any communication with them about what you’re hearing out in the community? That’s not right. They’re supposed to be our voice,” she said.

&#8220If all of our attractions are dying out there, you need to tell these people. That takes it out of the political arena and puts it back into the industry’s hands,” Gilmer said.

Leyens agreed that those in the industry need to have more of a say in what is going on with the VCVB board.

&#8220That board should be people from the industry that fight that war every day. A number of people on the board, I believe, are there for the wrong reasons,” Leyens said.

Creation of the VCVB was a city-county venture that won legislative approval in 1970 and independent funding from a 1-percent tourism tax. Its role is to spend about $850,000 per year to support attractions by preparing brochures, hosting tours, advertising and operating visitor centers.

Former director Emy Wilkinson died in April and the board engaged in a national search, attracting 50 applications and interviewing five finalists. However, a meeting in October dissolved into parliamentary chaos with no decision made.

Last week, supervisors reappointed two VCVB board members, Bobby Doyle and Jessica Williams, to new terms. Doyle is a restaurant owner and former clothier. Williams is an International Paper Company executive. Leyens said neither has a vested interest in tourism.

&#8220It’s a slap in the face to the tourism industry. We (the city) have one appointment left, and I’m going to hold off on that until I can see where this board is headed,” Leyens said.

District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon said the county’s appointees are doing a good job serving on the VCVB board, and members do not necessarily need to be from the tourism industry.

Selmon, who as Democratic nominee tried to unseat Leyens’ bid for a second term in June, blamed the mayor.

&#8220Right now the problem is political because the mayor has voiced his opinion and is dictating to these people what they need to do,” he said.

Tim Darden, president of the Vicksburg Hotel & Lodging Association, said he, too, is upset with the recent lack of vision in the tourism industry.

&#8220All we’ve ever wanted to do is volunteer our expertise in the area, and no one has listened,” he said.

Just last month the association voted in favor of a 1-cent increase in the occupancy tax Vicksburg hotel guests pay, all of which would go to the VCVB, saying Vicksburg’s tourism promotion efforts are lagging behind other small cities.

But at Tuesday’s meeting, Darden said the association had retracted its statement because the VCVB board has not been able to decide how to move the tourism industry forward.

&#8220Why would we give them any additional funds?” Darden asked.