GALLATIN COUNTY FAIR BOARD
NOVEMBER 18, 2008 MINUTES
Approved at the December 16, 2008 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
4H Agent: Faith Poet
Fairgrounds Foundation: Chairman Tim Kuhlman was absent.
Bozeman Roundup Rodeo: Lorna Simard
Staff: Sue Shockley, Manager and Karlene Pisarcik, Secretary
Guests: None
Public: Sonja Berg
CALL TO ORDER: Bob called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
PUBLIC COMMENT: None
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Linda moved to approve the October 21, 2008 Fair Board minutes as presented. Chuck seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
COUNTY COMMISSION UPDATE: Joe asked about having fabric covered buildings for livestock. Bob said he had heard that they are difficult to insure because they are not a solid structure. Bob stated that the State High School Rodeo Finals will be held here for a five-day event and they are scheduled for the next three years. He said he would like to have the Commissioners support them like they did for baseball as this event will be bigger than the baseball tournaments. Joe stated that they don’t have any money but that there are some in-kind things that they can do. Kwinci Tatarka heads up the rodeo event.
FAIRGROUNDS FOUNDATION UPDATE: Lorna reported that they met on Nov. 4th and they talked about revising the bylaws as well as the Foundation flyer list. She said that they are working on the Annual Dinner/Meeting for the Foundation. It will be held at the Holiday Inn on January 23, 2009, 6pm no host cocktails and dinner at 7pm. In the future they are looking to have it at the Fairgrounds during Wild West WinterFest in February. Lorna also stated that they are looking to complete the concession stand at the Anderson Arena.
4H UPDATE: Faith reported that they are looking at some schedule changes for next year.
DECISION ITEMS
A. Should the Fair Board have a December meeting: Dennis moved to have a meeting on December 16, 2008. Linda seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried. Jim will bring the meat and everyone else will do pot luck. Board member terms will be up for Chris, Bob and Jim at the end of this year. Chris and Bob would like to remain on the board but Jim said he was not sure and would let them know. Chris stated that he would like to see someone from law enforcement on the Board if Jim decided not to reapply. Sue asked if we should invite new applicants, if we have openings, to the meeting. The answer was yes and Bob said that Glenda would get it advertised. The committee reports will be moved to the January
meeting.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. 2009 Fair and Bozeman Roundup: There were 30 theme suggestions for the 2009 Fair and we’ll vote on them. Sue spoke to the carnival owners at RMAF about having Sunday as a free day during the Fair. Maybe make it Kid’s Day or a Kid’s Safety Day with helmet inspections and car seat inspections. We’d be able to eliminate some costs for entertainment but the exhibitors would have to be off the grounds by about 9am as no vehicles could be on the Midway. Sue said she hasn’t heard back from the PBR yet. She is looking into having the Roughstock Show which has the three most exciting events of a rodeo but that we’d need to have sponsorship for this event. The Bozeman Roundup Rodeo committee hasn’t met
recently.
B. Contract Committee: Chuck reported that they met at the Holiday Inn and found that the Alcohol “Request for Proposal” to be more problematic than they thought. It’s possible that the provider wouldn’t be happy about doing small events such as weddings. Sue said she is waiting for information from Great Falls and other contacts so no decisions will be made until after this information is received.
C. Capital Improvement Committee: Sue stated that the “RFQ” for the storm water management plan engineering study will be in the paper again this coming Sunday. Seven requests from firms have been sent out so far with one more that Sue had. Chris said they need to set a meeting for the Capital Improvement Committee and then make recommendations to the Fair Board. The meeting was then set for Tuesday, November 25th, 6:30am at the Holiday Inn.
CIP for County: Sue will update what we had and email it out to Fair Board members. Sue thinks we need to develop a Small Project list.
D. Policy Committee: Bob stated that they will meet after Christmas.
E. Parking Committee: No report. Dennis has set up a meeting for Monday, December 8, 2008, 5pm at the Ag Center Meeting Room.
F. Pricing Committee: No report. A meeting was set up for Wednesday, December 3, 2008, 6:30am at the Holiday Inn.
G. Security/First Aid/Alcohol Committee: A meeting was set for Wednesday, December 10, 2008, 6:30am at the Holiday Inn.
H. Volunteer Committee: No report.
I. Marketing Committee: No report.
J. WinterFest Committee: Sue reported that we’ll be meeting this coming Thursday, November 20th, 7am here at the Ag Center Meeting Room. She also stated that we’ve already received some commercial exhibitor applications back.
K. Open Lands Committee: No report but Linda will work with Mike Harris of designation for protection of the Fairgrounds. Sue will talk to Mike and let the Fair Board know.
CORRESPONDENCE: Sue passed around the letter from the Gallatin Dog Club which stated their reasons for relocating their two day event from the Fairgrounds to Helena. They also sent a copy of the letter to the Commissioners and the Fair Board and that letter is attached. Sue stated that the number of hits to the Website for the Fairgrounds is much larger compared to the rest of the County sites. The Fairgrounds newsletter was also passed around and Sue said she would have it emailed to the Fair Board members each month. Sue presented photos of the new event center in Helena. It was suggested that Sue would get a tour for this new facility organized for the Fair Board members and other interested parties to attend.
MANAGER’S REPORT: The Manager’s Report was available for review.
A. Sue reported that we are working on repairs of our buildings. We are starting to move things out of storage to the “West Annex”, formerly the Road Dept. property. We need to get rid of the dirt berms north of the Anderson Arena before the High School Rodeo in June. Bob mentioned the newly traded property from the Pea Cannery between the fence and Oak Street needs to be cleaned up – maybe put some fill in and level it off. Sue said what we really need is a backhoe and said that Dave from the Road Dept. might be interested in selling theirs. Joe said it might be cheaper to rent one because of the expense if repairs are needed. Sue said she would try to send out updates to the Fair Board through the month.
FINANCIALS: Sue reviewed the financial reports with the Fair Board. Sue said that Ginger is doing a great job with the bookkeeping but that she is frustrated because there’s not enough time to fix the problems only working half time. Sue is hoping to increase Ginger to a ¾ time position and she’ll be meeting with Ed Blackman to discuss it. Sue stated that our books don’t show an accurate accounting of our revenue. Sue will ask Ginger to email the Fair Board the financial report every month so only a brief report will be needed for the Fair Board meetings.
Jim moved to approve the financials. Chris seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
A. Personnel: Bill Wallace, in Operations, has been working about a month now and he’s doing a great job.
Sue said she had to let Don go but that he was still in the probationary period. We then interviewed and hired Ray Toledo and he began working last Monday for Operations. We will be posting a position for a halftime mechanic as we don’t have anyone who has the knowledge or the time to work on our vehicles. This person will need to have their own tools. We’ll be offering them the same wage as the Road Dept. offers. The Road Dept. spent over 400 hours working on and fixing up our equipment. Lee Provance & Dave Fowler from the Road Dept. as well as Dennis Hengel from Weeds will use this halftime mechanic sometimes and they will pay for him as well. Sue mentioned that maybe this mechanic might be looking for shop space and we could rent it to him. She’ll be meeting with Ed
Blackman and Earl Mathers to see if this would work.
B. RMAF: Chris said this was a great event, he learned a lot and met some great people. There were excellent seminars to attend. Chris stated that he felt those who attended RMAF should be part of the group to select entertainment at the Fair. He suggested contacting the man from the Foundation and request the program he used. Sue will let the entertainment crew know about the next meeting. Bob stated that Sue was nominated to be the Representative for the NW District of Fairs.
C. Fairgrounds User Groups: Bob reported that there were almost 30 people who attended this meeting on October 28th here at the Fairgrounds. It was a good meeting. There were numerous questions asked and we did a good job getting them answered as well as sharing general information with those attendees. We’ll be having three of these meetings a year and the next one will be on February 25th, 7pm in Building #3.
D. Fairgrounds Business Plan: Sue can get a template from RMAF and will move forward on the plan. David Smith, of the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce, has done seminars in the Bozeman area. Sue will follow up on this.
E. Montana Association of Fairs: They have formed a new group and will have an annual meeting at RMAF.
F. Haynes & BAHA update: BAHA has hired Rocky Mountain Security to lock the gate at night. There are still lots of speeders going through the Fairgrounds. It doesn’t look like anything has been done to the Icedogs trailer. Jim said to give them one week to either fix it or remove it. Sue will send them a certified letter and Bob will come down to sign it. We let them use two sets of our small bleachers. They gave us a deposit and signed a contract for them. There was an accident with the city bleachers and liability issues have occurred. They now want to use ours but we need them for WinterFest in February. Sue will check on what is happening with alcohol consumption in the Haynes. Craig Danenhauer has a plan to stop
that and Sue will follow up on it. They have requested to extend their lease in the Fall. The 10 year renewal of their lease is up in 2010. Sue told them that the Contract Committee will meet and discuss the options.
There is nothing new on the new ice facility.
Parking lot maintenance – nothing now that lets us charge eventhough there is an increase in traffic as well as an increase of wear and tear on the parking lot.
G. Other Items for Discussion: None
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Sue mentioned the County Christmas Party will be on December 5th and all Fair Board members are invited. Sue asked Board members to get her any items for next month’s agenda.
ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, Bob adjourned the meeting at 7:29 p.m.
| 
