Southaven resolution seeks city representation on CVB board
The Southaven Board of Aldermen Tuesday night passed a resolution advocating for a major restructuring of the DeSoto County Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). The proposal seeks to dismantle what some local leaders describe as an outdated governance model that favors county control over municipal interests.
The resolution, which aligns Southaven with a similar stance taken by the City of Olive Branch, targets two main pillars of the CVB’s current operation: representation and revenue.
A central point of contention in the meeting was the current makeup of the CVB Board. Under the existing framework—the board consists of seven members, none of whom are directly appointed by the cities themselves.
Mayor Darren Musselwhite argued that this “county-only” appointment system is no longer representative of the region’s demographic and economic reality. “DeSoto County is now 80 percent cities, both geographically and in terms of revenue,” Musselwhite stated. “It makes no sense why the cities do not get to appoint somebody on the board.”
The second goal of the resolution is to change how the “tourism tax” (a 2 percent tax on restaurants and hotels) is spent. Currently, the lion’s share of this revenue is directed toward the Landers Center.
The new proposal suggests a “50/50” split:
- 50 percent would remain with the CVB for county-wide promotion and the Landers Center.
- 50 percent would be returned directly to the city where it was collected to fund local tourism initiatives.
City Attorney Nick Manley noted that the resolution specifically asks the CVB to amend the local and private legislation governing them to reflect these terms.
The debate briefly grew heated when Alderman Charlie Hoots expressed concern that the move looked like a “mutiny” and suggested tabling the item to ensure it wouldn’t hurt the CVB’s ability to pay off existing debt for the new Landers Center hotel project.
Mayor Musselwhite countered by stating the resolution includes a strict contingency protecting all prior financial commitments. He also issued a sharp warning against “behind-the-scenes” county politics. “It is time that the politics where people are being manipulated for the county’s purposes needs to stop,” the Mayor said. “I’m going to speak up for the cities.”
The resolution passed with Hoots being the only “no” vote, officially putting Southaven on record in support of these legislative changes. Because the CVB is governed by state-level “Local and Private” laws, the next step would involve taking these requests to the Mississippi Legislature to formally amend the bureau’s charter.
