The term of the joint city-county appointee to the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau has expired – a surprise to elected officials and the appointee herself.

The term of Nelda Sampey, chosen by fellow members as chairman barely a month after being nominated to the 11-member tourism board, was determined this week to have expired. The Warren County Chancery Clerk’s Office said the term expired July 1, 2006, and the City Clerk’s Office said it expired Aug. 6, 2006.

At the time of the appointment, city and county officials believed the term was to expire Aug. 7, 2007.

&#8220Everything they had printed out on minutes I was shown said it expired Aug. 7,” Sampey said Friday.

Chancery Clerk Dot McGee said the discrepancy was discovered when she was contacted by Barbara Luke of the City Clerk’s Office after both offices confirmed later expiration dates following Monday’s vote to fill a county-appointed seat.

&#8220It must have been some kind of typographical error,” McGee said, who added that each term of appointment the county makes to the VCVB is retroactive to July 1 in the official board minutes, despite language to that effect usually absent from supervisors’ motions to appoint or reappoint board members.

The five board members appointed by the city have terms with ending dates of Aug. 6.

The finding adds another wrinkle to a debate over who sits as voting members of the board, which was just emerging from a bitter strife earlier this year over the decision to contract out its management functions to Compass Facility Management.

Members’ status as appointees to the board are spelled out in the legislation that created the VCVB in 1972. The law calls for each of the five county supervisors to appoint a member to serve along with five appointed by the city Board of Mayor and Alderman. The 11th member is appointed jointly by both boards.

Sampey was appointed to that seat in May to fill the unexpired term of Jo Wilson, who resigned in March.

&#8220She’s been good for the board,” Mayor Laurence Leyens said, who said he did not know the term was expired and &#8220was not surprised” city and county clerk’s offices had conflicting end dates.

Leyens said he would move for her renomination Monday. The county board also meets Monday. McGee said the item would likely be on the agenda.

District 2 Supervisor William Banks moved to nominate Bobbie Bingham Morrow as his appointee Monday, which was denied on a 3-2 vote of supervisors.

Morrow was not reappointed by the city after her four-year term ended. The county vacancy came about when Bobby Doyle turned in a resignation letter Aug. 7. Doyle was appointed to his seat to fill the unexpired term of his late wife, Elease Doyle, in 2003.

Banks and District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon were irate at the departure of what has been described as a &#8220gentleman’s agreement” to appoint choices made by other supervisors to serve on various boards and commissions sight unseen.

The law that stipulated how each VCVB member is appointed says each supervisor &#8220shall appoint” an individual to the panel. However, it does not contain similarly specific direction to supervisors or the city to accept, reject or even vote on that supervisor’s choice.

Other county boards with five members are those that oversee the old U.S. 80 bridge, the Port of Vicksburg, the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library and the Parks and Recreation Commission.

Also due for reappointment or replacement are city appointee Patty Cappaert and county appointee Bobby Bailess.