GALLATIN COUNTY FAIR BOARD
SEPTEMBER 16, 2008 MEETING MINUTES
FAIR BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT – Bob Brekke, Dennis Farnham, Chuck Busta, Jim Oberhofer and Misty Radue. ABSENT – Chris Budeski & Linda Warner
STAFF – Sue Shockley, Manager and Linda Blomback, Secretary
COMMISSIONER – Joe Skinner
PUBLIC – Sonja Berg
1. CALL TO ORDER – Chairman Bob Brekke called the meeting to order at 6:30pm.
2. PUBLIC COMMENT – None.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES from August 26 and September 2, 2008 – Jim Oberhofer made the motion to approve the
August 26 and September 2 minutes as presented. Chuck Busta seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
4. COUNTY COMMISSION UPDATE – None. Sue thanked the commissioners for approval of the CAP funds for the engineering study.
5. FOUNDATION UPDATE – None.
6. 4-H UPDATE – None.
7. GUEST PRESENTATIONS – None.
8. DECISION ITEMS:
A. Proposal to charge for parking at large Fairgrounds events: Dennis Farnham requested the contact names for the Fairgrounds User Groups (Optimists, Boy Scouts, Lions Clubs, Baseball, and Ice Dogs) so he can set up a meeting with them. Sue will get them to Dennis. Jim Oberhofer asked whose insurance covers them, ours or theirs? Chuck Busta thought the Boy Scouts has an all-encompassing insurance policy that covers everything that the Boy Scouts do. Joe Skinner suggested calling Chris Gray, Deputy County Attorney. Sue said they are still checking with SAR to see if they are covered and we will need to check with Baseball and Ice Dogs. Bob Brekke thought the Ice Dogs might only be covered when they are on the ice. Dennis has a meeting with them on Thursday.
B. Approve amendments to the By Laws: Sue sent them out last time. Chuck Busta made a motion to table the decision until the next meeting. Misty Radue seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
9. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. 2008 Fair & Bozeman Roundup: Sue said most of it has been covered in previous meetings. Sue asked if Debbie Ehlert emailed the statistics out to board members? Bob Brekke said yes. Sue said we still have some sponsors that need to pay. She also stated that we have a new accounting person on board and she will need some time to get up to speed. As soon as we get the final financial report she will email it out. She thinks we did very well at this year’s Fair.
B. Contract Committee – No Report.
C. Capital Improvements Committee: Sue said the committee has been meeting and have gone through the RFP for the engineering study. Jim Oberhofer said that with the new Fire Department tower the Fairgrounds should be receiving a new generator soon. Sue said that it has been delivered and is in storage at the Road Department. Jim said that it will be used for emergencies during evacuations or during the Fair if the breakers get blown. Sue said she will being checking to see what it will cost to have an electrician to come in and set it up. Chuck Busta asked if we have to pay impact fees on items that are donated? Jim Oberhofer said that the impact fees are for City sewer and water only. Chuck asked if we had to
pay impact fees for the new restrooms and Sue said no because there were existing bathrooms before the construction.
D. Policy/By Laws Committee – No Report.
E. Parking Committee – No Report.
F. Pricing Committee – Sue said the committee needs to meet. Bob Brekke asked about the two contracts that had issues. Sue said there was a tie vote in the committee with Debbie H, Karlene & Chuck voting to have them pay the new rate (Chris, Bob and Misty voted for the old rate). Sue needs to know what to do because the Sawyer Brown Concert is coming up next weekend, but the other event is long gone. Sue said that Karlene says that she told them about the rate increase when they booked the event. They obviously did not read the contract. Tate owes us money from previous events. Sue wrote Tate Chamberlin notes attached to his bills stating that until the bills are paid he can’t book any more
events. He owes us approximately $1,200. Tate transferred the contract for the Sawyer Brown Concert to the MSU School of Art. Richard Helzer with the MSU School of Art signed the contract so he took responsibility for it, but when we received the contract someone had crossed off the new rate amount and wrote in $1030. Chuck Busta suggested that we send him a note that it is not booked. Bob Brekke suggested that they call the man who signed it and tell him that until the new rate is paid the concert is not booked. Sue said that she also called Tate about having a meeting with Greg Megard with the Fire Department about the concert set up and fire issues which Tate has done before. Tate has not called or emailed Sue back. Sue also said she could call Richard Helzer and tell him if they don’t have a meeting then you don’t have a concert. Bob Brekke suggested that Sue call the man who signed the contract and tell him that
if they don’t pay the new rate and have a meeting with the fire department then they aren’t going to have a concert.
G. Security/Emergency Planning/First Aid/Alcohol Committee – No Report.
H. Volunteers Committee – No Report.
I. Marketing Committee – No Report.
J. 2008 WinterFest Committee – Sue said they have reorganized how they’re going to do the WinterFest and Fair Committees. We will only be having one or two meetings a year with everybody, but otherwise we will be forming smaller groups that will meet separately during the day. Battle of the Breeds, Ag in the Classroom and other event people will meet separately now.
K. Open Lands Committee – No Report.
10. CORRESPONDENCE:
-Thank you from the paintball group that was at the Fair. Sue said it is very unusual to get a thank you from vendors.
-Thank you from the steer show.
-Invitation to the Firemen’s Breakfast on Monday, October 6.
-Thank you from HRDC for passes.
-Belgrade Chamber Newsletter
-Access Currents (ADA information)
-Fairs & Expos magazine
-Pioneer Museum letter – Fairgrounds is a member – requesting items for a fundraiser on October 4th. Deadline is September 20th.
11. MANAGER’S REPORT - Sue said she emailed her manager’s report out this afternoon. She has hired Ginger Buchacher as a half-time bookkeeper. She is learning quickly. She has been to Eden training and Debbie H. has been working with her. We’ll see if it works out as half time.
-We are short-handed at this time due to vacations. Keanan is done on Friday, the 19th. We’ve been interviewing for the position but there are not too many qualified of the 19 that applied. Hopefully they’ll make a decision by next Thursday. Janell from HR has been sitting in on interviews and has been very helpful.
-Todd is working on plans to generate revenue on a year-round basis. We are creating a Fairgrounds Wish List. For example, if someone wants to sponsor a truck for the Fairgrounds, we will put their name on it for as long as it runs. He also has an idea for a wall in the Indoor Arena for sponsor signs. It could raise up to $30,000 a year. Todd also has some ideas for year-round sponsors where their sign would be in the Indoor Arena for half the year and the Outdoor Arena for half the year. He has some great ideas. Once we have these things in place it will be easier for him to generate revenue. We’re finding it is difficult to get the sponsors for $15,000 or
$10,000 because of the economy, but we will try to get more small sponsors. Chuck Busta asked if Todd will be campaigning and sending it out to businesses. Sue said yes and she’ll make sure one is sent to NorthWestern Energy.
-Debbie H and Sue are going to start going to leadership training being put on by the County. They will go for three hours on two Thursdays a month.
- Our move to the Road Department is going to be a big project. Dave Fowler and Sue had the County change their surplus sale from next week until October 24th or 25th so they can include Road Dept and Fairgrounds equipment once the Road Dept has finished moving and we have a chance to see what we want to keep. Jim Oberhofer said the Sheriff’s Department has 4 or 5 vehicles for sale if the Fairgrounds is interested. Dennis Farnham asked what is happening with the company with the gravel. Sue said she talked with them and they will start stock piling material here. She asked them to start stockpiling sand. She said they are grateful to be able to put it here because it will be less expensive for them to transport it from here than their pit. It can be an ongoing
situation. Jim Oberhofer expressed concern about it, but he doesn’t know the pros and cons of the situation. He thought that the ground would need to be used for parking. Sue also said there is a serious possibility of trading some of our top soil for their gravel and road mix to be used on our parking lots. She said she will know within two weeks. Dennis asked if we send a thank you to the Road Department for the work on the parking lot. Sue said yes.
- Sue is working on the User Group meeting. She has scheduled a meeting for October 28 in Building 3. She will be inviting regular users of the Fairgrounds to send a representative and it will be a communication effort. We will be meeting three times a year unless something important comes up like changing rental rates. She said that our office probably should have sent out letters when our concert rates increased. It was a huge jump in rates. It’s probably better in person than in a letter.
12. FINANCIAL REPORT – No Report.
13. DISCUSSION ITEMS:
A. Personnel – See above.
B. Shooting Range Update – Sue said she found out today that the Shooting Range received their grant for $18,000 from the Fish, Wildlife and Parks and they will be painting, putting in new windows and a furnace. They got more money from the matching funds than from the grant.
C. Formation of User Group – See above.
D. Road Department Property – Sue said that the Fairgrounds have gone over all the buildings with Dave from the Road Department. Some buildings we’ll use and some will be available for other people. We used the area for the Rodeo this last weekend for the High School Rodeo and it worked great. It would be good to get a warm up arena out there. Bob Brekke requested that the Fair Board have a walk through this week or early next week so they can have a better idea where things are at. Jim Oberhofer had heard there was a heating problem in one of the buildings. Sue said that there is a heating problem in the building connected to the Shop and that we will only be using it for storage. The building
includes a Hotsy compressor and parts organization. Bob Brekke suggested a noon walk through. Sue will set it up sometime when Dave is there. Jim Oberhofer requested information on what space is still available at the Road Department as the Sheriff’s Department is looking for a place for evidence storage. Sue said we will be heating very little at the Road Department property as they stated the heat average $7,000/month. The Fairgrounds doesn’t have the money for that. We will be using it for cold storage. A small building for a paint shop will only be heated when needed.
E. Fairgrounds Business Plan – Sue said she has not been working on it for quite some time. RMAF is having a seminar on writing a business plan for Fairgrounds and she will contact Don Pisarcik after RMAF.
F. RFP For Storm Water Management Plan – Sue said that they are still working on it.
G. Capital Improvement Project progress report – Some 4-H people that used the concession stand commented that it’s too bad that we have a new facility and old cabinets. They would like to raise money for new cabinets.
H. Changes to Fairgrounds General Lease Agreement – No Discussion.
I. Review RFP for Alcohol Provider – Chris Gray has made comments on it and Sue will email it out.
J. Other items not on agenda – None.
14. ANNOUNCEMENTS – Sue said that the Fair Board has been invited to the annual NENA meeting on October 7 at 7:00pm at the Hawthorne Gym and they want an update on what we’re doing here at the Fairgrounds.
15. AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MONTH’S MEETING – Sue would like the Fair Board to be thinking about the possibility of having day meetings. It is difficult for her staff to be here at night to take minutes. Chuck Busta commented that his company supports community meetings. Bob Brekke suggested that it would be difficult for public to be here for comments. Joe Skinner commented that the Commissioners get flack for not have night meetings.
16. SET NEXT MEETING DATE – Tuesday, October 21, 2008
17. ADJOURNMENT – Chairman Bob Brekke adjourned the meeting at 7:22pm.
Respectfully submitted
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