Members of the revived local restaurant association have put three names in the pot to be considered for at least one of the two open county seats on the board of the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.

&#8220I have made a commitment to them and told them I’m willing to consider a nomination from the local restaurant association,” said District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders, who is responsible for nominating a person to serve in one of the vacancies. &#8220I believe the local restaurants should have a voice.”

The District 4 seat has been held by attorney Bobby Bailess, who asked not to be reappointed because of his position as president of the Mississippi Bar Association.

The tourism agency has 11 board members – five county appointees, five by the Vicksburg Mayor and Board of Aldermen and one selected by both boards. Supervisors have a nominee each, subject to board vote.

Joyce May, owner of Walnut Hills and president of the Vicksburg Chapter of the Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant Association, submitted three names, including her own, to Flanders in a letter dated Oct. 27. The other two were Harry Sharp, owner of Duff Green Mansion, and David Day, owner of The Klondyke and Horseface Harry’s.

The restaurant association agreed on the three people as possible representatives in a meeting Oct. 16.

Flanders, who said he is waiting to make his decision after a revised list of candidates from the Vicksburg-Warren County Alliance’s Tourism Council is submitted, hopes to have the seat filled by the county board’s Nov. 20 meeting, making the new member eligible to start serving at the Nov. 30 VCVB meeting.

The Tourism Council list, drawn up last spring, screens and lists names of people believed to be qualified tourism professionals. May’s name has been on the list at least since June. The other two names have not yet been placed on the list.

&#8220I would like to have the Alliance Tourism Council weigh in on who should be appointed,” Flanders said. &#8220I am not going to put anybody on there that’s not on that list.”

The Alliance list has been a point of contention for District 2 Supervisor William Banks, who nominated former city-appointed board member Bobbie Bingham Morrow in August to fill the other vacant county spot, the unexpired term of Bobby Doyle, District 2 appointee who resigned. The appointment failed on 3-2 board votes and, most recently Banks failed to get a second for a motion to appoint Morrow.

Banks has said to defer to the self-appointed Alliance screeners was to defer his elected responsibility. Morrow, who had served as a city appointee of Mayor Laurence Leyens, was not on the list.

Ann Jones, chairman of the Alliance Tourism Council, said the list is a service the council provides for city and county officials who make the appointments.

&#8220We bring it forward as a recommendation with information about the people and they make the decisions,” she said.

Flanders said he had also received a nomination for Harry Sharp from the Vicksburg Bed & Breakfast Association. Carolyn Stephenson, president of the group, said if he is appointed, Sharp will represent both restaurants and bed and breakfasts, a realm of tourism also without board representation, she added.

&#8220Harry Sharp brings a degree of intelligence, and he will also serve two different branches of tourism,” she said. &#8220He knows what it’s like to be in the trenches.”

Sharp previously served on the VCVB board in the early 1990s.

&#8220We had a voice, but our ideas weren’t always followed – at least we had a voice and the board had a better understanding of what the problems were and what we needed to do to bring more tourists,” he said. &#8220My goal is to get beyond the personality stuff – to get the job done.”

VCVB members serve without compensation on a board created 24 years ago to guide tourism development. Its plans and programs are funded by a 1 percent sales tax on motel rooms, restaurant meals and bar tabs. Since March, the board has contracted out management and operations to Compass of Vicksburg, also the city’s contract convention center and auditorium manager.