County again seeks opinion on VCVB|[12/05/06]

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, December 5, 2006

For the second time in less than three months, an attorney general’s opinion will be sought to clear up a Warren County supervisor’s appointment to the Vicksburg Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders said Monday he will ask for an interpretation of whether a temporary lease between The Duff Green Mansion owner Harry Sharp and the bureau constitutes a financial conflict that disqualifies Sharp from being chosen for the VCVB board.

Flanders said after supervisors met Monday it was &#8220the only way I can get this pushed through.” The decision was not announced and did not appear on the board’s Monday agenda.

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As Flanders’ first choice to fill a seat on the 11-member tourism promotion board, Sharp, who served on the VCVB more than a decade ago, appeared to have a majority of supervisors’ approval until a lease he entered with the VCVB in June became an issue.

Sharp provided space at 1300 Washington Street to the city-county tourism development agency when the staff was forced out of its location on Washington and Clay streets because of the old Thomas Furniture building’s collapse nearly six months earlier.

In the interim, Flanders presented David Day to the board as a possible replacement last week.

While Day, owner of Horseface Harry’s and Klondyke restaurants, seemed to be received favorably, the push to have Sharp serve on the board remained strong enough to produce Monday’s decision.

Since the matter does not involve interpreting state law, the Attorney General’s Office could hand the matter off to the state Ethics Commission.

Supervisors who had voiced support for Sharp said counsel from either entity would suffice.

&#8220With all the problems and press the VCVB has gotten, (direction from the Ethics Commission) would be just as good as an Attorney General’s opinion, as far as I’m concerned,” District 1 Supervisor David McDonald said.

Under state law, people serving on public boards and commissions may not be vendors or suppliers to those boards. In some cases, particularly keyed to people being chosen for public office, no relationship may have existed for a year.

The VCVB board consists of 11 volunteers, with the city of Vicksburg and Warren County splitting the appointments on 10. One person is jointly appointed.

Two county-appointed seats remain open, Flanders’ appointee and that of District 2 Supervisor William Banks.

Banks has twice nominated former city appointee Bobbie Bingham Morrow, two failed votes that sparked an Attorney General’s opinion in October stating appointees to boards and commissions may be nominated by individual supervisors, but must win a board majority vote.

The District 2 seat was held by restaurant owner Bobby Doyle until he resigned in August. The District 4 seat had been held by attorney Bobby Bailess, who declined another term upon his selection as president of the Mississippi Bar Association.

One appointed position was filled Monday, when Culkin Water District board member Clyde McKinney was approved for another term. His reappointment was requested by a letter from the board’s chairman to the Chancery Clerk’s Office.

The board recessed until Dec. 18 at 9 a.m.