Conflict over how to advertise the area dominated Thursday’s Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau board meeting when Vicksburg-Warren County Community Alliance’s Tourism Council members said they were not pleased with a VCVB plan.

&#8220We insist y’all start working with us and we want you to actually work with us before you spend all the money,” Tourism Council Chairman Ann Jones said to VCVB members.

The Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau is a city-county agency funded with about $1 million from a tourism tax and established by a 1972 state law as the &#8220exclusive” funding arm for tourism marketing and development.

The Alliance is a private group developed in 2001 as an umbrella organization with the stated purpose of coordinating all development efforts and to avoid duplication. The Tourism Council is a subdivision of the Alliance and has sought out its own funds for advertising.

Last week, Jones and Alliance executive director Scott Martinez were granted $22,913 remaining in a $40,000 fund created by Warren County supervisors to support Alliance efforts. They plan to use it for a seven-week television ad campaign.

Thursday, VCVB board members heard from Compass, their contract management firm since March, about insertion orders for ads to appear in various publications from October through August 2007. The advertisements will focus on the regional market and will be paid for by a matching grant through the Mississippi Development Authority. The total cost of the campaign will be $150,000, a portion of which will be taken from the VCVB’s budget.

Larry Gawronski, a member of the council and head of the VCVB’s contract management firm, told the council in June that the bureau would apply for a matching grant specifically for tourism entities. He was not at Thursday’s VCVB board meeting.

Tourism Council members said they were under the impression the VCVB had no ad money left and that there was agreement that a narrowed, regional strategy should be taken.

Lynn Foley, a council member representing the Vicksburg Hotel & Lodging Association, said the VCVB plan, which has been approved by board members, looks similar to advertising efforts done in the past.

&#8220I thought we were kind of on the same page, but yet this plan – 75 percent of this plan – is exactly as it was in 2005.

Colleen May, new senior sales and marketing executive for the VCVB, defended the VCVB approach.

&#8220This is what we came up with for now, and it’s based on research and traffic,” she said.

VCVB Chairman Nelda Sampey tried to bridge the gap. &#8220My greatest concern here is promoting Vicksburg,” she said. &#8220It’s going to be a good year.”

Jones, who has encouraged &#8220cohesiveness” in tourism, was not convinced.

&#8220Don’t forget how you got here,” she said. &#8220Remember us when you’re planning.”

Council member Liz Porter, who represents Vicksburg Factory Outlets, called the duplication of efforts a &#8220slap in the face” to the Tourism Council.

The last three new appointees to the VCVB board – Sampey, Renay Jenkins and Elmeree Bradley and the recent reappointment of board member Patty Cappaert – were chosen by city and county officials after being screened and placed on an Alliance list certifying them as experienced and involved in tourism-related efforts. An Alliance point has been that some previous VCVB appointees are not responsive to owners, operators and employees in tourism-related business.

The list has been specifically rejected by District 2 Supervisor William Banks who said he will not be limited. He has twice nominated former city-appointed board member Bobbie Bingham Morrow as a county appointee. Banks’ motion has failed 3-2 both times.

That seat remains open as does the county District 4 seat held by Bobby Bailess, who has declined a third term and the city seat held by Morrow.

In other business, the board: