Jackson Free Press

The Jackson City Council's Legislative Budget Committee moved forward to re-authorize the Convention Center & Visitors Bureau yesterday, but committee Chairwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon said the committee should ask the state Legislature for a law change that could make future re-authorizations for the bureau unnecessary.

Barrett-Simone said the city of Jackson was one of the few state municipalities that required re-authorization of the bureau, which books local and travel and hotel accommodation for all the large events in the city.

"We're one of about 17 cities in the state where that authorization sunsets every five years, which makes it very difficult to do long-term planning for conventions, most of which are booked years in a advance," Barrett-Simon said.
Ricky Thigpen, executive vice president of the Jackson Convention and Visitors Bureau, agreed that the bureau's five-year expiration date sometimes made accommodating long-term events difficult.

"We only have a certain window of time to participate in funding or convention support, which interferes with long-term commitments," Thigpen said. "We can book things, but the bureau can't commit to changes in schedules or situations, such as the opening of new hotels prior to the event that would be more accommodating to the event, if they occur beyond our authorization date. And those large meetings can be booked three to five years out. Right now, we can't make commitments for conventions in 2014."

The city council will be working with city representatives to submit bills re-authorizing the bureau and removing the five-year expiration date. Deadlines for bill submission fall on March 26, weeks after the deadline for legislative revenue bills.