Appointing at least one member of the Warren County Parks and Recreation Commission to the ad hoc recreation panel created by Vicksburg city officials would be a good first step to participation, county supervisors said Monday.

The board used the final moments of a regularly-scheduled informal meeting to fire back at criticism voiced last Thursday by those who spoke at a session of the 11-member committee put in place to vet ideas for recreation venues in Vicksburg.

In May, the city board appointed the ad hoc group with a broadly-defined mission of improving recreation outlets for youth sports. The panel’s makeup includes businesspeople and prep sports coaches and is chaired by Jackson lawyer Omar Nelson, a onetime member of the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. None of the five-member commission that oversees Clear Creek golf course is on the panel, which rankled supervisors.

“Did they appoint anyone from our commission?” District 5 Supervisor Richard George asked rhetorically as officials read aloud parts of a report Friday in The Vicksburg Post after the ad hoc group met the previous day. A few of the 25 or so people who spoke said the county wasn’t active enough in helping to develop a sports complex or promoting the topic in general. “I’m just curious, because we keep getting hammered over participation.”

The five-member parks and rec commission is chaired by L.T. Walker, with Dale McDuff, Alvin Taylor, Joe Loviza and Lloyd Clark rounding out the panel’s membership. Terms run concurrent with that of the Board of Supervisors.

In March, the city board had passed a resolution requesting the county’s participation on the topic. Mayor George Flaggs Jr. and Board President Bill Lauderdale met a few weeks later about combining city and county recreation efforts. When an 11-member committee was appointed two months later, building a sports complex became front and center. Consolidation talk has all but ceased.

More than 20 minutes of banter on the recreation topic happened after Lauderdale left Monday’s session to meet a prior commitment.

How much revenue either governing body could kick into a facility without the other is an issue because counties in the state don’t collect sales tax, George said. The bulk of tax revenue paid to counties is from real and personal property.

“We can’t match $100 bills with the city because we don’t have the same kinds of revenue sources,” he said.

Other supervisors noted the absence of less than half the committee’s membership at last week’s session at Warren Central High School. The panel has taken no formal votes, but reports of low attendance proved irresistible to county officials.

“You just stop and think about it,” District 2 Supervisor William Banks said. “Five out of 11. It takes six to make a quorum.”

Building a youth sports complex in Vicksburg became the ad hoc group’s primary topic of conversation by the time it met in June. Efforts to establish such a venue started but stalled under two previous city administrations. Nelson said the ideal size is 200 acres, much like the area off Fisher Ferry Road near St. Michael Catholic Church the city bought 11 years ago to develop as such. No location has been identified in the course of two public hearings organized by the ad hoc committee.

“I’m in favor of a sports complex, but it has to be structured right,” District 1 Supervisor John Arnold said, adding privatization is the best route for any sports complex to take and the panel is simply holding those options close to the vest. “To say we’re not wanting to participate is a farce.”

On Thursday, Nelson suggested a seven-member commission with the authority to hire a director, tournament chief and sign a contract with a private entity to maintain it long-term should govern any complex built.

The ad hoc group’s formation coincided with the expiration of a 90-day window the city provided for anyone interested in buying the Fisher Ferry property put up for sale in March. Work to develop the tract stopped in 2009 over concerns about access and long-term feasibility since part of it is in a flood plain. The city has spent $55,343 since August 2012 to replace the concrete in the drainage chutes on the site with riprap and grout under a Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality mandate.

In 2012, former mayor Paul Winfield promoted the concept of a $20 million sports complex funded by a half-cent sales tax. Flaggs, who was a state legislator at the time, opposed the project over a lack of detail about size and location. The project died when the chairman of the House Local and Private Committee refused to introduce the bill.