GALLATIN COUNTY FAIR BOARD
OCTOBER 21, 2008 MINUTES
As approved at the November 18, 2008 Fair Board Meeting
ATTENDANCE:
Fair Board Members Present: Bob Brekke - Chairman, Chris Budeski, Chuck Busta, Dennis Farnham, Jim Oberhofer and Linda Warner
Absent Fair Board Members: Misty Radue
County Commissioner: Joe Skinner was absent.
4H Agent: Faith Poet
Fairgrounds Foundation: Tim Kuhlman – Foundation Chairman
Bozeman Roundup Rodeo: Lorna Simard
Staff: Sue Shockley, Manager and Debbie Holwegner, Secretary
Guests: Fairgrounds Foundation and Bozeman Lion’s Club
Public: Sonja Berg
CALL TO ORDER: Bob called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Sonja Berg suggested the board consider charging a grounds fee for those people bringing in horse trailers and parking them at the Fairgrounds. This revenue would assist with expenses for maintenance and cleanup of the grounds.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Jim moved to approve the September 21, 2008 Fair Board minutes as presented. Dennis seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
COUNTY COMMISSION UPDATE: No report. Joe Skinner was absent.
FAIRGROUNDS FOUNDATION UPDATE: Tim Kuhlman, Chairman of the Foundation, stated there was just over $34,000 in the Foundation fund. Of that, $24,000 is from Marsha Anderson set aside for maintenance. The Foundation made about $4,000 at the Fair from beer sales, the Calcutta and the 50/50. The Lion’s Club is going to give the Foundation their profits from Fair which is approximately $5,000 to help with the outdoor arena concession. Tim met with J & B to get pricing on used kitchen equipment.
Linda mentioned there was a power problem in the concession stand as breakers kept blowing when more than one thing was plugged in. Sue will contact Jim Rehm and have him check it out. Linda asked that consideration be given to installing a first aid kit in the outdoor arena concession building.
Lorna said the Foundation will be reviewing their bylaws. The annual meeting will be at the Holiday Inn, however the date is pending.
4H UPDATE: Faith reported there had been discussions between the 4H committees regarding who has authority to rent facilities at the Fairgrounds using the 4H name. Sue stated in the past there had always been an annual contract for 4H and their contract for meetings, workshops, club events and concessions was current. Faith said 4H was billed a couple of years ago for something that wasn’t 4H and this charge keeps showing up on their statement. Sue said we would take it off of the 4H bill and re-bill to the correct account as soon as Faith lets us know just what the charges were that was incorrect.
DECISION ITEMS
A. Charge for Parking at Fairgrounds Events: Dennis reported the expenses involved to do parking for larger events would be no more than $10,000. This included cones, safety vests, flashlights, spike strips and a movable 6’ x 8’ windowed ticket booth. Since the cost of the ticket booth was still in question, the actual expenses could be less. Service organization groups that wanted to participate in parking vehicles could be on a rotating schedule. Sue will get contact names of these organizations so Dennis can contact them to set up a meeting.
There was discussion about the spike strips. Dennis said the spike strips would be put in permanently at the furthest east entrance/exit at the main parking lot to keep traffic from entering or leaving from this area. Concerns about liability, safety issues, access for Search and Rescue, fire trucks and ambulance were discussed. Sue will check with the county insurance to see if spike strips carry any liability issues for the Fairgrounds. There was not enough information for the Board to make a decision.
B. Fair Board Amended Bylaws: See the attached Bylaws as part of these minutes. Linda moved to approve the amended Fair Board Bylaws. Chuck seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
C. Fair Board I.D. Cards: Dennis said he would like the board to be able to enter scheduled events to see if Fairground rules and regulations are being followed by the event promoter. Sue stated the provision to allow Lessor (which includes Fair Board members) into events was included in the lease provisions. A sample of an I.D. card was passed around. Chuck took photos of Fair Board members and will email to Sue. Linda Blomback in the office will make the I.D. cards.
D. County Departments using the Road Department Property: Sue said she has had a few requests from county departments to use parts of the Road Dept. for storage. It was suggested that anyone interested in using the Road Department’s property submit their request in writing to the Board so they could review and consider it in future planning. Another suggestion was to hold off for a year before considering other county requests to give us an opportunity to see what will work for us and what won’t. This is an asset to the Fairgrounds and charges would have to be established for usage to help with taxes and power expenses. Sue commented that she spoke with Lee, Dave and Mitch and they didn’t think all of their stuff would be moved out for a year or
so. Sue said the Weed Department would like to add on a type of lean to and build a fence to enclose their facility at the Road Department but does not have the funds needed to do this at this time. The Board felt a plan would have to be submitted to them for approval before any fence or additions could be added to their facility. Sue said it would cost a minimum of $12,000 to build this fence with multiple gates. There is also concern about liability issues with having chemicals there and the public parking being in that area.
Chris moved that the county departments submit an application to the Fair Board outlining what areas and their use they would like. Linda seconded. Discussion followed.
Chuck amended the motion to say the Fair Board will start taking applications six months after the date the Road Department property is turned over to the Fairgrounds. Linda seconded. Discussion followed. Jim abstained because the Sheriff’s Department was asking for areas to use for evidence processing area, storage of evidence, CSI processing area and one bay or two to process vehicles in. Sue said she preferred the first motion. Sue commented that county budget issues would be a factor for departments wanting space at the Road Department. Departments would have to budget for any fees associated with storage on the Road Department property and could be looking at two years out. Vote was taken. None were for, five were against and one abstained. Motion denied.
Chris moved that anyone coming to the Fair Board requesting to use the facilities at the Road Department submit their requests in writing outlining the area, the type and length of lease they would like to have. Linda seconded. Vote was taken. Five were for and one abstained. Motion carried.
E. Fair Board Meetings: Sue had asked the Fair Board at their last meeting to think about changing their meetings to the daytime. Chris stated he could not make any daytime meetings. Linda could make meetings at either time. Dennis preferred the night. Chuck couldn’t always attend. Jim said he was already committed to two afternoon meetings a month but could occasionally make it. Chris moved to keep the Fair Board meetings at night. Dennis seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
There was discussion to start the Fair Board meetings earlier. Chris so moved to have the Fair Board meetings begin at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 5:00 p.m. Dennis seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried. This change will begin with next month’s meeting.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. 2009 Fair and Bozeman Roundup: Sue told the Board that the Fair Committee wanted to end the Fair on Saturday night. There is not too much happening on Sunday which questions whether or not it is really worth it to have Fair on Sunday. 4-H animals have already left the barns by Sunday. It’s more difficult to find gate workers for Sunday and the gates are already closing early on Sunday due to low attendance. Vendors and open class entries could leave late Saturday evening or early Sunday morning. Logistics would have to be worked out to avoid traffic in the midway area. Sue will talk to Gwen with the carnival at RMAF to see if this could be worked out with them and possibly have just a “carnival fun day”. This was tabled until
the November meeting.
B. Contract Committee: Chuck scheduled a meeting on October 28 at 6:00 a.m. at the Holiday Inn to finalize the “Request for Proposal” for alcohol providers. Contract Committee members are Chuck Busta, Linda Warner, Bob Brekke, Dennis Farnham, Chris Budeski, Misty Radue, Sue Shockley and Debbie Holwegner.
C. Capital Improvement Committee: Chris summarized the “RFQ” for the storm water management plan engineering study. Chris continued there were actually two parts to this. The first being a topography survey and the second a storm water master plan based on the topo survey. This information will be used to move forward with the development of the Fairgrounds. Sue has received suggestions from Larry Watson and she wants to make sure these are addressed in the RFQ. Sue will follow up with the templates she received from Larry. Once the RFQ in completed, Sue will email to the Fair Board to review and notify them when the meeting will be held to make the decision on this. Keep in mind the public needs a 48 hour notice of this meeting.
D. Policy Committee: The Fairgrounds policy manual needs to be reviewed. This was tabled and will be on next month’s agenda. Police Committee members are Bob Brekke, Misty Radue, Linda Warner, Sue Shockley, Kathy Farnham, Lorna Simard and Debbie Holwegner.
E. Parking Committee: No report. Dennis said earlier that he will be scheduling a meeting with organizations that may be interested in doing this.
F. Pricing Committee: This was tabled. A meeting will be set at the next Fair Board meeting. Pricing Committee members are Chuck Busta, Chris Budeski, Misty Radue, Linda Warner, Sue Shockley, Debbie Holwegner, Karlene Pisarcik and Lorna Simard.
G. Security/First Aid/Alcohol Committee: Jim stated he would meet with Jeff Wade first and then meet with Sue to review what security is needed for WinterFest.
H. Marketing Committee: Sue stated some time ago students from the MSU Marketing Dept. worked on a video to promote the Fairgrounds. They were waiting for a completed plan from Lowell Springer to include this in the video. Sue thought the Foundation paid them $10,000 to do this video. There was some question as to whether or not we received $10,000 worth of video. We now have the plan from Lowell. Sue will get the names and phone numbers to Lorna so she can follow up on the video as the plan still needs to be inserted in the video.
I. WinterFest Committee: Sue reported the office staff and event organizers have been meeting in smaller groups instead of the customary monthly committee meetings. This eliminates the event organizers from having to meet every month. There will be a lot of the same events as last year, however am looking at a couple of new events.
J. Open Lands Committee: No report.
CORRESPONDENCE: Sue passed around correspondence she had received during the past month.
MANAGER’S REPORT: The Manager’s Report was available for review. Sue mentioned she added a new section to this report called “Meetings and Special Issues for the Past Month”.
A. Salvation Army: Sue mentioned that the Salvation Army was requesting to use building #3 for their food basket distribution. In the past, they were charged $22 per day. There was discussion on rates and what should or should not be charged for the building rent. Sue suggested they use a heated room at the Road Dept. that would be worth about $25 per day. The dates they requested are not all available. We will wait to see if they book this using our dates available.
B. BAHA: Sue mentioned that locking gates and speeding were issues with BAHA. She met with Craig Danenhauer, President of BAHA to discuss these issues. Craig will address these issues in an attempt to work out solutions. Sue will meet with Craig monthly to discuss and stay on top of any further issues and keep these meetings professional. Jim stated he was disappointed to see the not-so-appealing trailer was back. This trailer was supposed to have been resided, not painted. Jim recommended that if they don’t hold up to their end of the bargain to do what they said they would then the Fair Board would be moving the trailer. Sue mentioned that the trailer actually belonged to the Ice Dogs and was questioning whether or not BAHA’s lease allowed
them to sub-lease this trailer. Sue will follow up on this.
FINANCIALS: Sue reviewed the financial reports with the Fair Board including the profit and loss reports for Fair and WinterFest. Jim moved to approve the financials. Chuck seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
A. Personnel: Sue stated the new operations guy Bill Wallace was working out well. Todd Suedel who was responsible for sponsorships has left and returned to North Dakota. Sue will post his position. Ginger was hired part-time to do the bookkeeping and is doing a great job. She is implementing job costing with equipment and events. Ginger’s position will probably require more than part-time as Sue has asked her to do more things for her.
B. Shooting Range: Sue reported the shooting range received an $8,000 matching grant from Fish, Wildlife and Parks. They have repainted their entire building and it looks great.
C. Fairgrounds User Groups: Sue invited the Fair Board to attend this meeting scheduled for October 28 at 7:00 p.m. in building #3. This meeting was setup to discuss concerns and listen to ideas from Fairgrounds users.
D. Fairgrounds Business Plan: Sue is attending a workshop at RMAF that she hopes will be useful in putting together the plan.
E. Changes to Fairgrounds General Lease Agreement: This was tabled till after the Policy Committee reviews them.
F. Other Items for Discussion:
Ø Bob Brekke, Chris Budeski and Jim Oberhofer Fair Board terms expire in December. Chris stated he would reapply. Bob and Jim did not commit. Sue suggested letting the Commissioners know what their intentions are so if there are vacancies it can be advertised if not reapplying.
Ø Bridger Mountain High School Rodeo obtained the bid on the State High School Rodeo in June of 2009, 2010 and 2011. They will be using the entire grounds and have estimated $27,000 each year for facility rent. Sue suggested the CIP Committee and the Foundation meet to discuss what changes need to be done on the grounds prior to their event.
Ø The Spay/Neuter Task Force is asking for the Fairgrounds to donate the facility but Sue has said no.
Ø Sue attended the last NENA meeting and answered a lot of questions they had.
Ø BAHA installed lights on the west side of the Haynes parking area. Looks good.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: No announcements.
ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, Bob adjourned the meeting at 8:35 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted: _____________________________________________/_______________________
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