Vidalia — The Concordia Economic Development board has an attendance problem.

In the last year, the board has not had enough members attend to achieve a quorum.

That’s a problem, Concordia Economic Development Executive Director Heather Malone said.

“It makes us seem like we are defunct or inactive, and we aren’t,” she said.

“It’s hard to get business done in a timely manner. But when we have five-plus people confirmed for a meeting and then they don’t get here, it wastes their colleagues’ time.

“We are working on good projects, and I feel like we are doing good for the community, but I am at a loss for how to (get board business done).”

The board is composed of eight members, four from the public sector and three representing the business community. The public sector members are the mayors of Clayton, Ferriday, Ridgecrest, Vidalia and a member of the Concordia Parish Police Jury.

The CED board has changed its legislation twice in order to accommodate easier attendance, including allowing voting by phone and allowing a proxy representative to attend meetings. It has also moved the times it meets and reduced the number of meetings to encourage attendance.

But the public sector members of the board often miss the meetings, and at the last board meeting only Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland and Beatrice Cummings — who represented Ferriday’s government — attended from the public sector. All of the private sector representatives were present at the meeting.

Board chairman Richard Young said he has drafted a letter to all of the members to encourage attendance.

“This board is for all our parish, and if people are not going to show up, that is not good,” he said. “The board has done a lot of good in trying to get taxpayer dollars here in a viable position, the port being a good example, and it needs to continue to be able to do that work.”

The organization is tasked with industrial development and finding ways to improve the business climate in Concordia Parish, and is funded by a hotel-motel sales tax.

While the board has taken no official action to address the issue of non-attendance, Malone said one option to consider would be to make the Clayton and Ridgecrest representatives ex-officio — or non-voting — members and adding a fourth private sector representative.

“If we did that, it would push the weight to the private sector, where if someone is not attending, you can roll them off the board and get someone who will, but it still allows those members (from Clayton and Ridgecrest) to be active,” she said.

Part of the reason for making the Clayton and Ridgecrest mayors ex-officio is their municipalities do not collect sales tax and — as part-time mayors — the mayors may not have the time to attend as many meetings, Malone said.

In the short term, the board members have decided to publish all of their minutes in the parish journal and note who attended meetings so the public can know if their representatives are attending.