On the day of the national college football championship, Warren County supervisors took their cue from game officials by tossing a coin to settle a stalemate on a political football — the latest vacancy on the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau board.

After a nonbinding, voice vote taken Thursday on a list of candidates for a vacancy to be filled jointly by supervisors and the City of Vicksburg ended 2-2, Richard George, board president who had chosen a name, took a quarter out of his pocket and let chance decide who’d be tops on the county’s list.

“It’s tails,” George said, meaning commercial real estate broker and local developer Shirley Waring moved to the top of supervisors’ list over Betty Bullard, owner of the George Washington Ball House. Ann Jones, co-owner of Mississippi River Tours, rounded out the list to be sent to the city for consideration.

Because supervisors met informally, no official vote on the choice could be made at least until the next formal session, Jan. 20.

District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon and District 2 Supervisor William Banks quickly voiced support for Waring, who also heads up the Vicksburg Blues Society. George, of District 5, and Bill Lauderdale, of District 4, had Bullard as their choice.

That left David McDonald of District 1 wavering for a moment, mulling his options.

“Well, each has got her own agenda,” McDonald said before all five agreed to a coin flip.

In the college event, Florida defeated Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.

Whether a meeting would take place with one or more of the three women was left undecided.

The open seat on the 11-member tourism board appointed with City of Vicksburg officials was held by Nelda Sampey, who resigned in November. The term ends in August 2010.

The VCVB charter calls for five county and five city appointees, but has been operating without an appointee in the county’s District 2. Banks has declined to offer a selection for more than two years since a previous denial by fellow supervisors led to an attorney general’s opinion saying a majority of supervisors must approve the nominee. Under the opinion, supervisors could fill the post without Banks’ approval, but they have not.

A city-county agency created by the Legislature, the VCVB receives a dedicated tourism tax to spend on advertising, promotion and development of the area.

Decisions on appointments have been prominent on supervisors’ agenda in the new year’s opening week.

Supervisors have decided to advertise for a temporary replacement for the District 3 election commissioner post, then set a special election date. The appointment of  Randy Sherard as board attorney returned 13 years of previous experience to the county board but was made without taking offers from other lawyers.

IT’s Rankin resigns after next month

Another depature is pending, as information technology director David Rankin told supervisors he was leaving his position effective Feb. 28. He cited family-related obligations and a return to private consulting work. The board has the choice of hiring from within or advertising the position, but declined a direction for the moment.

Rankin has headed the department since 2004. Since then, duties were added to the office’s initial function of mapping and technical support. The position of addressing coordinator was moved under the department’s oversight from E-911 and aided in updating the voter database countywide and a continuing streamline of its residential garbage service client list. Work in setting up the county’s Web site, www.co.warren.ms.us, took place under Rankin.

“I’ve really enjoyed working with you all,” Rankin said. “Without the technology we now have in place, without the foresight you’ve had, we wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

Roads added to Obama plan

In another discussion, more long-term roadway projects were added to the list of improvements sought by supervisors expected to be offered in the Obama administration’s economic stimulus plan.

A project to connect U.S. 61 North with North Washington Street to provide better truck access to the Port of Vicksburg is one of them, county engineers said.

The connecting road has been the subject of multiple reviews and one continuing environmental study for the Mississippi Department of Transportation. Previous routes have been shelved because of the steep grades through the bluffs separating the two thoroughfares. Other agencies said to be reviewing the long-discussed project are the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the National Park Service.

Resurfacing projects already on the county’s 4-year plan of road work will be submitted to the state’s congressional delegation. Chief among them are Henry Lake Road and Bovina Cutoff Road, both of which have unpaved sections and total $1.5 million for planned work.

Projects to be submitted by the City of Vicksburg and the Warren County Port Commission include a backup generator and a pair of softening units for the Vicksburg Water Treatment Plant, an additional 16-inch water line near the plant and a third phase of municipal street resurfacing.

Also, funding for the South Frontage Road bridge and interchange connection would be sought. A plan was presented publicly in 2007 to connect the frontage road between Porters Chapel Road and the Outlets at Vicksburg shopping mall, but remains about $6 million short of funding.

A list of more than 11,000 infrastructure projects nationwide is under consideration, including those from 24 cities in Mississippi. Details have evolved for oversight and precise criteria for which projects see any of the estimated $800 billion in federal money. Officials with the presidential transition have said federal agencies might play a growing role as opposed to individual congressional representatives.

The replacement of the bridge at E.W. Haining Road and North Washington Street will be bid out for construction Feb. 12, later than originally planned.

A short delay was confirmed when information on the $7.3 million bridge construction and intersection improvement did not appear on a state-run procurement Web site in time for a pre-bid conference with potential contractors held Thursday. The project description appeared later in the day, following several calls from the county to local grant administrators, but the county board opted to re-advertise to ensure fairness. 

Expected to take about 2 1/2 years, the work will involve replacing the current two-lane bridge with a wider, four-lane structure capable of handling greater volumes of trucks.

The project is financed by a $10 million Katrina-related disaster recovery grant secured by Warren County in September and administered by the Mississippi Development Authority.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com.