GALLATIN COUNTY FAIR BOARD
DECEMBER 16, 2008 MINUTES
Approved at the January 20, 2009 Meeting
ATTENDANCE:
Fair Board Members Present: Bob Brekke - Chairman, Chris Budeski, Jim Oberhofer, Misty Radue
Absent Fair Board Members: Dennis Farnham, Linda Warner and Chuck Busta
County Commissioner: Joe Skinner
4H Agent: Faith Poet
Fairgrounds Foundation: Chairman Tim Kuhlman
Bozeman Roundup Rodeo: Lorna Simard
Staff: Sue Shockley, Manager and Karlene Pisarcik, Secretary
Guests: Mark D’Agostino of the Icedogs, Tom Henesh and Shannon Marinko of N.W. Land Consulting
Public: None
CALL TO ORDER: Bob Brekke called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
PUBLIC COMMENT: None
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Jim Oberhofer moved to approve the November 18, 2008 Fair Board minutes as presented. Chris Budeski seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
COUNTY COMMISSION UPDATE: Joe Skinner said “thank you” to the Fairgrounds for the buildings they used for the County Christmas party. It was greatly appreciated.
FAIRGROUNDS FOUNDATION UPDATE: Lorna reported that they started working on the update of their bylaws. They didn’t have a quorum for the last meeting. January 6th will be their next regular meeting. January 23rd will be their annual dinner meeting at the Holiday Inn, 6pm no host cocktails, 7pm dinner. They will be going over the bylaws and a major change of having a 7 member Board instead of an 11 member Board. They haven’t heard back from the Lions Club yet as to an agreement with them to get the concession stand well equipped, up going and running. Sue asked if the Foundation was interested in selling food and alcohol at the concession stand for the Dog Keg Pull as well as in Building #1. Lorna said she would find out and get back to Sue. Tim
Kuhlman, Chairman of the Foundation, then came into the meeting and he said that they would be interested in doing food and alcohol at the Dog Keg Pull as well as in #1 because they need to make some money. They will get together and do it.
4H UPDATE: Faith reported that they are starting to work on Fair things, specifically on the schedule. This is their quiet time now. They are having a fundraiser featuring the Bar J. Wranglers, January 10th at the Willson Auditorium. Tickets are $20.00 in advance (4-H office) and $15.00 general admission (at Sky Federal Bank in Bozeman plus Lee & Dad’s in Belgrade.)
BOZEMAN ICEDOGS: Mark D’Agostino stated that the plan was to expand the Icedogs locker rooms, make the trailer semi-permanent by skirting it and dressing it up and then building Julie’s office. There was some confusion as the office still isn’t done and the completion is a ways off. They would rather put money into the facility since that is permanent instead of the trailer since that is only temporary. Contract negotiations for 2010 need to be started early. The Icedogs don’t have a contract with the Fairgrounds. Is the trailer going to stay or not? Money can be put into the trailer if it’s going to be permanent but that is not known. Jim Oberhofer said it was beginning to look like an eyesore and that’s why the Fair Board asked that it be skirted. Mark D’Agostino asked why skirt it if it’s not going to be permanent? Craig Danenhauer, President of BAHA, was going to check into the progress of the construction. Mark said there were certainly things that could be done to
dress it up and he’ll do it. He said that as soon as he can move Julie’s trailer he’ll move the trailer in and fix it up. When ice is all done the trailer needs to be gone. Work needs to be done by January 30, 2009 meaning Julie’s office done and the trailer moved. Some lighting might have to be put in the dark area between the trailer and the Haynes Pavilion. Mark stated that the Icedogs generate no revenue, they only play and BAHA runs everything else. Chris Budeski moved that if the work is not completed by January 30, 2009 then the trailer goes away, Julie’s office will go away and she will have to set up in the Haynes. Julie’s new office needs to be completed by January 30, 2009, the trailer needs to be out of there and the Icedogs trailer needs to be moved into that space within five days. Misty Radue seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
DECISION ITEMS:
A. CIP Committee Recommendation on Contract award for Engineering and Survey work project: Chris Budeski reported that they received ten proposals from engineering firms in the area. They selected four to interview for qualifications and those were Morrison Maierle, Allied, Northwest Land Consultants and Dowl HKM. The committee selected Dowl HKM and Northwest as an alternative company. A great deal of time was spent on these proposals and the committee said it was very hard to select a firm. Chris Budeski moved to recommend Dowl HKM to enter into negotiations. Jim Oberhofer seconded. Discussion followed. Sue asked if we needed to get a contract established and then approve or not. Joe Skinner said yes. Three voted for. One abstained due to conflict of interest. Motion carried.
B. Ticketed Event Pricing Recommendations from Pricing Committee: Chris Budeski stated that Tate Chamberlin, Promoter, came to the meeting and said that $2,706.00 was too much to ask for the Indoor Arena rental. They have to rent a generator because the available electric in that arena is not enough (cost is $700.00) as well as renting a stage for the event (cost is $700.00) He felt the electric required at the north end needs to be upgraded to 3 phase, 240 volt and possibly 400 amp. Until any upgrades in electric were done or a stage provided then $1,030.00 or $1.00/ticket whichever is greater was a fair asking price for the rental rate. Chris Budeski recommended to the Fair Board to charge $1,030.00 or $1.00/ticket
whichever is higher. Misty Radue seconded. Discussion followed. Sue said she would go and meet with the promoter to settle up on tickets like she used to do after the event. We talked about possibly getting a portable stage. Haynes Pavilion would remain at $3,000.00, Sale Pavilion would be the 24 hour daily rate and the Exhibit Buildings would also be at the 24 hour daily rate. There would also be a charge for any additional services, equipment, etc. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
C. Deposit and Insurance Recommendations for various events: Table until next month.
D. Recommendations from Security Committee for 2009 WWW: Jim Oberhofer reported that this committee met at the Holiday Inn. They will help with the Chili Feed on Saturday, the two Bands/Dances on Friday and Saturday night as well as the Dog Keg Pull on Sunday. Jim said he was delegating his responsibilities to Jeff Wade.
E. Length of Fair: Sue asked if Sunday should be a paid day at the Fair or a free day? There are still some horses here as well as the Petting Zoo and the Alpacas but there is not a great deal happening on Sunday. Since the 4-H Rodeo will be going on their family members wouldn’t have to pay admission if it was a free day. We didn’t sell more than 30 tickets on Sunday last year. Misty Radue moved to have Sunday a free day and allow vendors to leave early if they want to. Jim Oberhofer seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
F. Fair Board Membership: Bob Brekke and Chris Budeski both reapplied. Jim Oberhofer did not reapply. Chris stated that it’s important to have representation of law enforcement on the Board. Jim said that Jeff Wade might possibly be interested. Sue said she will find out if we have any applications yet.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. 2009 Fair and Bozeman Roundup: The Rodeo committee hasn’t met recently. The 2009 Fair planning is moving along nicely.
B. Contract Committee: Joe Skinner suggested starting proceedings as soon as possible for BAHA and Baseball since their contracts are up in April and June of 2010. Jim said there were lengthy discussions with BAHA and the contract needs to be tight. Anyone using the Haynes must adhere to the policies and if any new policies are set up then they need to follow these even if it’s four years later. Sue will contact Craig Danenhauer of BAHA to set up an appointment.
C. Capital Improvement Committee: Chris Budeski stated that it was really difficult to select a firm. He said that at least six firms were very well qualified to do the job but HKM really shined. They did their homework and they were very well prepared. They actually went head to head with Northwest and the difference came down to the grant writing which was part of the request.
D. Policy /Bylaws Committee: Bob stated that they will meet after the first of the year.
E. Parking Committee: No report. Dennis had a meeting set up for December 8, 2008 but had some problems with the front door getting locked by mistake and therefore only a few members were at the meeting. He will schedule another one in January.
F. Pricing Committee: Report covered earlier in the minutes.
G. Security/First Aid/Alcohol Committee: Report covered earlier in the minutes.
H. Volunteer Committee: No report.
I. Marketing Committee: No report.
J. WinterFest Committee: Sue reported that we’ll be meeting this coming Thursday, December 18th, 7am here at the Ag Center Meeting Room. Along with the regular monthly meeting the Fairgrounds staff is meeting here every Wednesday morning at 10am to try and stay on top of this event. We had a meeting with the Dog Keg Pull committee and they sure do have everything under control. We’re moving this event to the Anderson Arena where there will be more room for spectators, dogs, owners, two tracks as well as the concession stand for food and beverages. The Battle of the Breeds is coming together as is the Working Horse & Driver, all the Dog Activities, 4-H Cattle Show, Cattle Sorting, the Quilt Show,
Photography Show, Children’s Art Show, Kid’s Activities and the Horse Sale & Stallion Auction. Misty Radue stated that they have about 35 entries so far for the Horse Sale and that the deadline for entries will be January 9th. Misty suggested adding the admission charge into the entry fee like she does for the horse sale when applicable for certain events.
We’ll need to have four gates instead of three this year since we now have the West Annex property. We’ll still need to have some interior parking but not nearly the amount we had before. Chris suggested having an African Drum Group for entertainment in Building #1 and he knew the contacts. Sue said she would follow up on it.
K. Open Lands Committee: No report.
CORRESPONDENCE: None
MANAGER’S REPORT: The Manager’s Report was available for review.
FINANCIALS: Jim Oberhofer moved to approve the financials. Misty Radue seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
A. Personnel: Sue reported that we hired a new sponsorship person. Her name is Jaime Cargill and she is doing a great job. She has settled right in and has received sponsorship money already. We have gotten back 20 some applications for the mechanics position and six of them are great. Janell Barber of HR, Dave Fowler of the Road Dept. and Sue will begin interviewing these applicants.
B. Montana Association of Fairs: $400.00 for the first year membership for this newly established association. There may be some grant money available to fairgrounds. This money could be used for improvements. The elected Board of Directors will establish more guidelines in the future.
C. Fairgrounds User Groups: The next meeting will be on February 25th, 7pm in Building #3.
D. Fairgrounds Business Plan: Sue got the information from RMAF that she had requested.
E. Haynes & BAHA Update: Sue said communications are better since she has been meeting with Craig Danenhauer, President of BAHA. She said some ice users feel that we are constantly picking on them. The issues we have with them are the parking lot pot holes and the speeding cars.
F. RFP for Alcohol Vendor: This item needs to have more discussion. Maybe have two or three vendors instead of just one. Sue will keep working on this as we need to meet with interested vendors.
G. Fairgrounds General Lease Agreement: Changes are needed but not until after the Policy Committee reviews it.
H. Other Items for Discussion: Chris Budeski mentioned he got a request from “Patty” of the GDAC that they would like to have some gravel at the south end of Livestock Barns #1 & #2.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Sue mentioned that she would be on vacation from December 17th until January 6th.
NEXT MEETING DATE: January 20, 2009, 5:30pm with dinner at 5pm.
AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MONTH’S MEETING:
Set date to start through Policy Manual.
Deposit and Insurance recommendations for various types of events.
Any new Fair Board applicants.
ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, Bob Brekke adjourned the meeting at 7:35 p.m.
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