GALLATIN COUNTY FAIR BOARD
AUGUST 18, 2009 MINUTES
As approved at the September 15, 2009 meeting.
ATTENDANCE:
Fair Board Members Present: Bob Brekke - Chairman, Dennis Farnham, Linda Warner, Chuck Busta, Jeff Wade, Chris Budeski
County Commissioner: Joe Skinner
4H: Danica Jamison
Staff: Sue Shockley, Manager and Linda Blomback, Secretary
Guests: Julie Keck, BAHA; Mary Atkins, Fair Board Applicant, Vickie Johnson, Fair Board Applicant
Public: Sonja Berg
CALL TO ORDER: Bob called the meeting to order at 5:38pm
INTRODUCTIONS: Everyone present introduced themselves.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Sonja Berg stated that it was a great Fair this year and she commends everyone for all the hard work. A lot of volunteers made it work and she thanked them.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Chuck Busta moved to approve the June 16, 2009 Fair Board minutes as presented. Linda Warner seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
COUNTY COMMISSION UPDATE: Joe Skinner stated that he went on a tour with a local developer who wants to give the Fairgrounds trees with a possible credit to park land in return. He also stated that the budget is on hold for a month until they receive final numbers from the State.
FAIRGROUNDS FOUNDATION UPDATE: Sue reported that there was no August Foundation meeting yet. They may be meeting this Friday (8/21) at 6:30am. The Foundation ran the Calcutta and a 50/50 drawing at the rodeo during the Fair.
4H: Danica reported that the Fair went really well. The Horse Committee has a few changes they’d like to make. They would like to see the exhibits leave earlier next year. She thanked all those who helped her during the Fair since she had just arrived from Virginia. She stated that she has a background in volunteering, but not 4-H.
GUEST PRESENTATIONS: Sue reported that Mike Harris with Open Lands sent her an email requesting the use of the Road Dept for storage of tools and equipment and for maintenance of vehicles. Joe Skinner asked if the Fair Board had decided on the criteria for storage rent? Bob Brekke said they were waiting for the Road Dept to get totally out. Sue said they are totally out now. Linda Warner asked if all the buildings are full with Fairground’s stuff. Sue said yes, although there are some bays open. Jeff Wade stated that if there is no policy yet and that the Board needs to get it on the agenda. He suggested that the Policy Committee needs to meet and make a recommendation so the Board can have a decision no later than October. Sue asked if Mike could leave his stuff
that is at the Road Dept until a decision is made. Bob said yes, but he may need to move it to another bay.
DECISION ITEMS
A. Request for storage for equipment from County Parks Dept – Chuck Busta made a motion that we wait until the Policy Committee comes up with a policy. Dennis Farnham seconded. Unanimous for. None opposed. Motion carried.
B. Assist BAHA with updating lighting in Haynes – Julie Keck with BAHA requested help with replacing lights in the Haynes. She asked if we received a Dept of Energy grant? Sue said no and that we don’t have money set aside for lights. Julie said if there is no money available, they won’t do the project. Chuck asked why they needed to be replaced? Julie said that the lights are 9 years old and are burning out fast. It is also hard to find the replacements in the same color and hard to replace especially during hockey season. It was suggested that they upgrade to low-energy lights which would cost approximately $12,000. There were multiple suggestions given including: contacting NW
Energy, HRDC, and having Fairgrounds look into a grant.
Julie also asked about using Fairgrounds bleachers in the Haynes Pavilion. The City Bleachers are dangerous and it would cost $100,000+ to get their own because they would have to be custom ordered due to the building dimensions. Sue asked how many sets they would need. Julie answered eight. Sue said the Fairgrounds has a total of nine and said the problem is that the Fairgrounds uses them for WinterFest and they are very difficult to get them out of the Haynes with the walls up. Chris Budeski made a motion to allow BAHA to use the bleachers during the winter months when the Fairgrounds doesn’t need them and they have to deliver them when we need them. Dennis Farnham seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion
Carried.
C. Fair Planning Committee Recommendation on allowing exhibits to leave the Fair on Sunday at 3pm rather than 5pm – Sue reported that the Open Class release time of 5:00pm was kept pretty strict when Sunday was a paid day, but now it’s free. Danica has requested to have the exhibits released at 3:00pm. Sue said no gates would be opened until 5:00pm due to the carnival. Linda Warner made a motion to release exhibits at 3:00pm until they’re gone. Chuck Busta seconded. Sue said that we can’t state “until they’re gone” because we always have exhibits left over. Linda Warner amended her motion to release exhibits from 3:00-6:00pm. Chuck seconded. Dennis
asked if this included vendors? Sue said yes as long as they walk their stuff out. Unanimous for. None against. Motion carried.
D. Fair Planning Committee Recommendation on charging entry fees for competitive events-dog dock diving, pet show, dog agility, doxie derby – Sue reported that there are costs associated with running these events even though they’re run by volunteers. Linda Warner asked if there was any input from the dog people. Sue said they wouldn’t have a problem with it. She also said that the Rodeo, Dash & Dally & Poultry Show all have entry fees. Chuck Busta made a motion to uphold the recommendation of the Fair Planning to be able to charge entry fees with any fees being approved by the Board first. Chris Budeski seconded. Unanimous for. None against. Motion
carried.
E. Who wants to go to RMAF Nov 12-14 in Missoula Great Falls. Sue will be sending it in for staff and any Board members who can commit by Aug 31 in order to secure rooms close to the convention center. Sue said that it will be hard to get rooms near the convention center and that we need to get our request in early. She needs to know who wants to go. Chuck Busta asked about a bus service? Sue said Reed Williams at one point said he would furnish transportation.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. BAHA Update: Julie asked if the decision was made about paid parking. Dennis said it was not finalized. Julie asked if they could grade the parking lot every three weeks if they could find someone to grade it. Chris said the problem is the hard ground and we just move slush into the potholes and that we need a new base. Bob said if they want to grade, we should let them. Chuck thought that it would tear up a new grader. Chris suggested a test area. Linda wondered if there was something we could fill the holes with. Chris said there is nothing loose to push unless we brought in some rock. Sue asked if we should bring in pit run or road mix and Chris suggested road mix.
B. Baseball Update: Sue reported that Ron Edwards stopped by to make sure everything was OK. There are still some issues with parking during the Fair. That was one of the issues about having games during the Fair. They did burn their pile of wood before the Fair. There are still some things that need to be removed from the grounds.
C. Greenway Range Update: No report.
D. SAR/EOC Update: Sue asked Jason Jarrett who could come and keep us updated on the SAR/EOC? He said it will be either Don Wilson or Pat Lonergan.
E. 2009 Fair & Bozeman Roundup: Sue reported that there are some preliminary financials available. We made approximately $60,000. Not real good. Last year we made $100,000. There is still some money coming in. The concert did not make money and we’re not sure if it was having a Sunday night concert or John Michael Montgomery. She heard that he didn’t do well in Forsyth or Lewistown either. The preliminary report says that we made $1020 in revenue on the concert with $30,000 expenses. Sue still needs to meet with Tate as he still has money from Murdochs selling tickets. Chris Budeski commented that he thought the seating was poorly orchestrated and wasn’t impressed with John
Michael Montgomery’s professionalism. Sue said other than the concert, the Fair went well. Attendance was up 10%. The RMAF secretary said that most fairs are up 5-10% unless there was bad weather. Open class exhibits were up except for foods. The rodeo attendance was down a little bit. No serious issues, although it was the first time ever that there was an issue with the carnival. The dragon roller coaster came to an abrupt stop and some of the children had minor injuries. The carnival submitted everything to the insurance company. The sting rays were a huge success, but the owner commented that the crowd was rough on the sting rays and they had to increase their supervisors and shorten the length of time they were open. Paintballers had a problem with their paintballs flying out of their area and hitting the Black Hole truck. Clint with the paintballs chose to pull out early and has come up with a better plan for
next year’s Fair. The MT Dept of Transportation was thrilled with their response. Jeff Wade thanked the first aid people as there was a record year for injuries and other illnesses including three seizures in and hour and a half. Sue said it was a good first time with the group running the first aid and they said they would fill out all of the shifts for next year. Linda Warner had feedback on the PBR: most of the people didn’t know they had to pay admission, which should be up to the PBR people to communicate; and some people didn’t think the cowboys were of high quality. Dennis Farnham said the PBR tickets were very confusing with “VIP” written on both the reserved and general tickets which caused a big problem at the gates. Chris Budeski said he brought his family to the carnival and the weather was perfect, the carnival people were nice and the wristbands are the way to go. Sue continued saying the tab
that was inserted in the Chronicle and Belgrade News was 52 pages which was the largest insert they have ever done. The Chronicle covered the Fair four out of the five days. Joe Skinner asked how the 4-H buyers getting in free went. Dennis commented that everyone was happy. Sue said there were not many gate issues, but a few parking issues. The Boy Scouts did not actually park the people so there were people parking illegally and she had to call the tow truck four times. Sue said we need to evaluate what the gates are costing us. It cost about $6,000 not including the bank people. Do we need all the people at the gate? We had probably close to $10,000 into “for-credit” positions at $9.50/hour. She said the vendors did better this year. Danica suggested doing the 4-H results with the Open Class results next year.
F. Contract Committee (BAHA Meeting): Jeff said the meeting is scheduled for Thursday.
G. Capital Improvements Committee: Sue reported that Glenda sent her a copy of a County Structures Study that Stahly did three years ago. They looked at major buildings and structural problems and prioritized them. Joe said the County is taking the facility index into account. Sue said she was glad to get a copy and that the report said both the Quonset and Indoor Arena have structural problems.
H. Policy/By Laws Committee: Jeff said there will be a meeting set by the next Fair Board meeting.
I. Parking Committee: No report.
J. Pricing Committee: Waiting until January to meet. Chris Budeski asked if there was any feedback from the public after raising fees. Sue replied “Not really.” Sue said there is an issue that has come up with our billing for set up days. Normally we allow one setup day that we charge a reduced price for, but there is an auction company that has requested more than one setup day. Do we make exceptions to the rule of just one setup day? Bob Brekke suggested that the policy or pricing
committees look at it.
K. Grounds Safety Committee: Dennis reported that we need to thank the Fair people and get ready for the WinterFest. Sue said she didn’t like the tent that was used. Jeff said that the fire departments have their own tents. Sue also said the Winter Fair had the safety people in Building 4. Chris thought that having them in a building was a good idea because it could also serve as a booth. Dennis said they will start planning for the WinterFest in November.
L. Volunteers Committee: No report.
M. Marketing Committee: Sue was hoping Jaime Cargill would be at the meeting, but that she works some evenings. Chris Budeski suggested having a written report each month.
N. 2010 WinterFest Committee: Sue reported that there is a WinterFest meeting on Thursday. They are planning on new events and bringing back some old ones.
CORRESPONDENCE: Sue passed around what has come in.
MANAGER’S REPORT: No update was sent out. Bob commented that Sue had covered a lot in the meeting. Sue said the web site has the calendar with all of the public events on it.
FINANCIAL REPORT: The June financial report was sent out. Chuck Busta made a motion to accept the June financial report. Linda Warner seconded. Five votes for. Dennis Farnham abstained. Motion carried.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
A. Concession Stand Update: Chris Budeski said he talked to Chris Kukulski about the final inspection problems. Chris asked when the warranty on the building is over? Sue thought it was soon. Chris asked if Ray had been honoring that? Do we have any warranty items? We need to do a final walk-through before the deadline. Sue will check on the deadline.
B. 2009/2010 Budget: Sue said that the budget will not be approved until the end of September. Joe Skinner commented that Ed Blackman doesn’t think that the revenues support the staff at the Fairgrounds and that if revenues go down, then staff will have to be down-sized.
C. County Audit Review: Sue reported that we are waiting for recommendations.
D. Charge for Parking: Dennis requested Jeff Wade’s help with writing the proposal and guidelines.
E. Personnel: Sue reported that we lost an operations guy during the Fair. We have posted the position and received over 80 applications. We chose seven to interview – four interviewed today, three more tomorrow. She also reported that Linda Blomback has been approved for full time.
F. Restroom Project Update: Sue reported that the RFQ for the architect is done. Larry Watson has reviewed it as well as Chris Budeski. Chris explained that RFQ is Request for Qualifications. After that process then we discuss the contract with the qualified people. The RFQ will be out in the paper on the 20th. Joe Skinner asked about a completion date. Sue said it needs to be done by September 2010, but she thinks it can get done sooner than Larry has planned. Joe also suggested that Larry sit in on the CIP Committee review. Chris also suggested that there be 6 people on the CIP Committee review.
Chuck Busta asked if we have received data back from HKM? Sue replied that due to snow, the Fair and other events, they got behind. They should be getting close now.
G. Fairgrounds General Lease Agreement: Tabled until after Policy Committee reviews.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Everyone thanked Jeff Wade for bringing chicken. Linda Warner is assigned food for the next meeting.
AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MONTH’S MEETING: Next meeting, September 15. Sue asked for any agenda items to be sent to her.
ADJOURNMENT: Bob Brekke adjourned the meeting at 7:38pm.
Board met in an executive session following adjournment.
Respectfully Submitted:
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