Monday’s move by Warren County supervisors to replace the county’s emergency management director has left an awkward vacancy on the E-911 Commission.

In a 3-2 vote, E-911 Dispatch Center Director Geoffrey Greetham was assigned the duties of L.W. &#8220Bump” Callaway III.

Under a 1998 resolution, Callaway, as emergency management director, was a member of the commission and Greetham, as dispatch center director, was a commission employee.

The result, if Greetham doesn’t join the commission, would create an even-numbered group of six members of the city-county panel for its next meeting a week from today.

If Greetham did join the panel, he’d be a member of the board that hired him in February 2005. That creates tricky situations, such as taking up dispatch personnel matters with the dispatch supervisor as a voting member.

Indeed, a special meeting of commissioners was called May 10 to deal with personnel matters in emergency dispatch, specifically an employee grievance.

It was the first grievance the commission had taken up in more than a year, said Vicksburg Fire Chief Keith Rogers, serving as commission chairman. No action was taken, Rogers said.

District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders, architect of Monday’s changes, acknowledged the quirk, admitting after a scheduled meeting of supervisors Tuesday that such details were yet to be ironed out.

Flanders looked at the situation as an opportunity to revisit creating an at-large, title-free seat on the commission, an idea he and Vicksburg Mayor Laurence Leyens favor.

&#8220This is the first step in taking the politics out of the commission,” Flanders said, adding an at-large position could be filled by a member of the private sector.

According to the 1998 resolution, commission seats are reserved for one county supervisor, the emergency management director, the sheriff, the county volunteer fire department coordinator, the mayor, the police chief and the fire chief. Leyens has long lamented an imbalance, saying there are four &#8220county” seats on the commission and three &#8220city” seats.

The group’s duty is to set a budget for the city-county operation, authorized by voters in 1989 and funded by tolls on wired and cell phones and supplements from city and county tax funds.

Reached Tuesday, Greetham indicated he would not be able to serve as a commissioner and agreed the county would have to appoint an individual to fill the spot.

Greetham is taking over an emergency management and permitting department that has seen its staff dwindle from six to three in the past two years, due to retirements and Monday’s action.

In the organizational chart of county government, re-examined and approved in February, emergency management and building permits stayed combined in one office. Monday’s vote, however, put senior department staff member Gwen Coleman in charge of the permitting half of the department.

Directors of emergency management agencies in each county in Mississippi have their functions spelled out by state law and are the designated people of contact of their counterparts at state and federal levels of government in the event of natural disasters and industrial accidents.

They also have a role along with municipalities in updating their respective area’s Floodplain Management Plan, allowing citizens to purchase subsidized flood insurance.

District 1 Supervisor David McDonald, the supervisor serving on the commission, expressed frustration Tuesday over how the change in directorship was handled, likening it to a contentious vote that replaced longtime board attorney Randy Sherard in 2005.

&#8220I guess we’ll bring all that up and decide what we’ll do. I really don’t know what’ll happen,” McDonald said.

Commissions overseeing emergency dispatch operations were authorized by the Mississippi Legislature in 1987.

In business addressed by supervisors Tuesday, the board: