Future of the fair: Commission and fair board member discuss possible independent contractor to run fair

Rebecca Bates, acting chair of the Big Horn County Fair Board, approached the commissioners on Feb. 17 to discuss the future of the fair. 

Bates said that the members having been discussing ideas about the fair. “One suggestion is instead of hiring a fair manager in a fair manager position we could maybe contract out to somebody to put on the fair for us. The method to that is they wouldn’t be a county employee so you wouldn’t have benefits. But they would only work from March through August.” She continued the person would be paid a lump sum as an independent contractor to do the job. 

Bates said one of the fair board members was willing to sell ads. The person hired to run the fair would be managed by the fair board. “We would tell them what events we want. Obviously, we would be in charge of the budget so we would be saying you can spend this much. So, what is the rodeo going to cost. They would do all of that and come back to us.” 

All the invoices would go through the fair board. They would bring them to the county to be paid. The contractor would have the same duties that a fair manager would have for fair. That would leave items such as membership for the indoor arena for the county to handle.  

Commission Chair Deb Craft asked for clarification. “We would give you a budget, but you guys would handle the invoicing and the paying of them?” Bates stated that the county would pay the person. The board won’t handle money. “I’m saying that when invoices have to be paid for judges, whatever, we (the board) would bring it in.”   

Bates believes having a contractor would save the county money as the job would only be for months and no benefits would be paid. After fair there would be a recap of how it worked and to come up with a more permanent solution. Craft said as long as the county and board agreed that the commissioners would have some say on who was hired. Bates agreed and added that this was not an attempt to go around; it was a possible solution for getting the fair done this year. 

“We are looking at budget cuts and you guys are saying we need a part time person and we’re not sure of what that would look like now. Maybe part time would work but for right now going into it when we are on a crunch it would be a full-time job for somebody (during the months needed for fair),” shared Bates. She added that if it worked it could be what is done in the future. 

The board is working on some revenue generating events. She asked county maintenance supervisor Jeremy Pouska if he could assign one person from the maintenance staff to the fairgrounds.  She asked if that person come come to the fair board meetings once a month. This would allow for the board to talk to that person, who in turn would bring it, and perhaps with work orders, to Pouska. Jolley told Bates that of the 22 work orders turned in after fair, only six were work orders. The rest were capital improvements. Bates said, “Because whoever will be doing the fair wouldn’t be doing fairground’s stuff that have sort of been a part of the job description before. Just ideas that we are brainstorming.” 

Bates said she spoke to the Big Horn County 4-H council the night before. They said they would help in any way they can. They also gave suggestions on ways to scale back financially for the fair. She will share with the full board. Craft said fairs across the state are changing the way fairs are done. In one case, a county is having middle school students sell ads/sponsorships. “Multiple counties don’t have fair managers.” 

One of the concerns the board has is that they don’t have access to the fair computer, emails and social media. They would like to so they can help get things done. County clerk Lori Smallwood explained that she has a binder with the fair sponsorships she would make available to the board. She also said that access to Google docs/Google drive could be granted. She also discussed some thoughts about social media and what is appropriate. 

Commissioner Dave Neves asked if a contractor is used this year, when would that person start. He noted the fair book needs to be worked on now. Bates said the sooner the better. The job would ideally be from March 1-August 15. Commissioner Bruce Jolley asked if the board had some people in mind to be the contractor. Bates replied she does but it not wanting to say names at this point. Jolley said he had received a call from a woman asking about the job. She wondered if she could do the job from home. At the time of the call, he wasn’t aware of what the fair board had in mind, so he didn’t say. Bates explained that one benefit of the job was that a person could work from home.  Jolley asked how, as someone needs to be at the fairgrounds. Bates replied not all the time. They are not running the office. “They are only putting on the fair.” That includes getting judges, booking events, etc. because those things may be done over the phone or on the computer. Deputy County Clerk Jennifer Kirk explained that the county’s policies do not allow or provide for remote work. Should the board and commissioners agree to a contractor that issue would have to be discussed further.  

Jolley added that he has heard from people that the county needs to get someone at the fairgrounds so people can come into the office. Bates agreed that if the job was fair manager, the person would have to be in the office to do the arena memberships and those types of duties. But finding someone to work part time as the fair manager is a concern but the board is open to that if that person can be found. The independent contractor was just an idea to get the fair moving. 

Craft wondered about if the work to get people signed up for fair would have to be done on the computer in the fair office. Bates agreed that in May that would be the time to do that and the contractor would be in the office more then. 

The commissioners shared with Bates that an ad for board positions was placed in the newspapers. Bates was also told that one of the fair sponsors last year has complained about the signs that came with the sponsorship. Three signs total. He told Smallwood that what he had sent to the fair to be used for his ad, including the logo wasn’t what was used. Craft reached out to the vendor who did the signs. That vendor confirmed that what was used for the signs was received directly from the fair. After reviewing what the sponsor sent to the county, she confirmed what was sent was not the same. The commission voted to buy three new signs.

Bates acknowledged there has been communications breakdowns between the county, past fair managers and the board. She noted that the board members are very passionate and do what the fair to succeed. 

The commission agreed that an independent contractor could work and tasked the board to come up a list of what the person would do.  Bates said based on her research she has a ballpark idea what the contractor should be paid. The seasonal help for fair will be under the management of county maintenance staff.  

The commission went into an executive session with Bates, Smallwood, Kirk and Pouska to discuss personnel.