Warren County’s appointees to the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau board must win a majority vote – not just a single supervisor’s approval – according to an Attorney General’s opinion letter delivered Wednesday.

The advisory opinion was sought after District 2 Supervisor William Banks made an appointment to the board of the tourism development agency and interpreted state law to say the choice was entirely up to him.

The state’s response acknowledged that local and private legislation from 1990 modifying the original 1972 legislation that created the VCVB was poorly worded.

The agency has 11 board members – five county appointees, five by the Mayor and Aldermen of Vicksburg and one selected by both boards.

Wording in the statute allots one choice to each supervisor, but the opinion letter’s author, Special Assistant Attorney General Phil Carter, used the state law governing community hospital trustees as a guide and said the statute must be read &#8220as a whole.”

As with that law, the letter has concluded the nomination of a bureau member to fill an unexpired term by an individual supervisor is &#8220lawful and effective upon such nomination and approval thereof by the board of supervisors.”

In other words, while the statute allots each supervisor a nominee, that nominee must also get a majority board vote.

The statute does not allot city appointments to individual city officials and there is no requirement of district or ward residence for any appointee.

Confusing the situation is that apart from the VCVB law, city and county officials have, by informal tradition, usually shared appointments to panels such as the library board, port commission, bridge commission, parks and recreation commission and many others. Just as informally, it has been routine for other members of both boards to endorse anyone nominated by a colleague.

That wasn’t the case when Banks announced former city appointee Bobbie Bingham Morrow as his pick for the VCVB, three months after her four-year city term ended. Banks wanted Morrow to fill the unexpired term of Bobby Doyle, District 2 appointee, who resigned.

Reached late Wednesday, Morrow declined comment on the opinion letter. &#8220Not until I have a chance to read it,” she said.

Banks nominated Morrow on Aug. 14, but the appointment failed on a 3-2 vote. Banks and District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon were attending a Mississippi Association of Supervisors conference in Natchez Wednesday and neither immediately returned calls. Both supported Morrow’s nomination to the board.

District 1 Supervisor David McDonald, who requested the opinion letter, said he &#8220won’t keep fighting him on it,” referencing Banks’ determination to put Morrow back on the board.

Members of the board McDonald said he has spoken with &#8220would rather have someone they could work with,” however.

&#8220I wanted to get some clarity on it. I’ve talked to different attorneys and that’s how they’ve interpreted it, too,” McDonald said.

In recent months, both city and county governing boards have taken their lead on VCVB appointments from the Vicksburg-Warren Community Alliance’s Tourism Council, a private self-formed group.

Mayor Laurence Leyens, who chose Morrow in 2002, has said Morrow showed no interest in tourism and was indifferent to owners and operators of local tourist attractions.

Morrow, a records management official with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was also an opponent of contracting out the bureau’s management functions to Compass Facility Management. That move was made in March after a series of close votes starting in December.

One seat remains open on the VCVB board, a county seat for which the nominee is to come from board president Carl Flanders of District 4.

Flanders has said his choice is likely to be filled by those involved in the newly formed Vicksburg Chapter of the Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant Association.

Flanders said Wednesday he will attend that group’s next meeting Monday at 3 p.m.

&#8220We need some restaurant representation (on the VCVB),” Flanders said.