(Lander, WY) – Around 30 individuals packed into the Fremont County Commission Chambers this morning, December 9, to voice concerns about the Commission’s recent decision to reduce the number of Fair Board seats from seven to five.
Following the public comment period at the start of today’s regular meeting, the Commission ultimately decided to rescind the decision after a motion from Commissioner Clarence Thomas. There will now be a new, 30-day application period for the two board seats at the start of the new year.
Commissioners Thomas and Ron Fabrizius voted in favor of rescinding the decision, with Commissioner Mike Jones the sole ‘nay’ vote. Commissioner Wilson was not in attendance at today’s meeting.
Seven attendees spoke out against the reduction during the public comment period before the motions were made, including three local youth from Riverton who are heavily involved in the fair and agriculture community.
Two of today’s speakers also voiced concerns at last week’s Fair Board meeting, including Ernie Fischer and Chase Taylor. Taylor presented the commission with a petition to keep the board at seven seats, signed by 566 people in the last four days.
Linda Griffin, who is the Barn Supervisor at the Fremont County Fair, a 4H leader, a teacher at Riverton High School, and serves as the Assistant FFA Advisor, reiterated sentiments shared at the December 4 Fair Board meeting that there could have been more transparency as to why the reduction decision was made.
Following the public comment period, Commissioner Thomas addressed the crowd and declared his intention to move to rescind the decision, but urged those present to “participate in becoming a board member.”
He stated that during the last Fair Board appointment period, the Commission only received one application, which County Clerk Julie Freese later confirmed.
“…Everybody’s coming in, and you say ‘we want to lower it.’ Well, we lower it because people don’t want to apply,” Thomas said. “We can’t have the same people keep being on the board, meaning it’s good to have fresh individuals on the board.”
Thomas then started to make a motion to keep the Fair Board at seven seats, but Commission Chairman Larry Allen noted that the motion was “out of order,” and that there would first need to be a motion to rescind the original decision.
“The reason I do this is the fact that we are servants of those who elected our constituents, but in our decisions, I think some of our decisions aren’t really well known to our constituents,” Thomas commented during further discussion.
“…Again, I would ask, if this does happen, that those who are so involved in wanting seven will understand that they need to commit themselves to what they’re asking for,” Thomas reiterated. “That, in fact, it’s not just about us, as people said, it’s about community. But that community tends to get riled up, yet, when it’s time to serve, (they) stand back and say, ‘I’ll let somebody else do it.’ I would say, if you’re adamant about it, then stand up and be a part of it, and make changes… positive changes, not be a part of negative changes. …There should be a positive move of the board members to understand their effective responsibility in being a part of that board, especially if it’s a governing board. Those governing boards… we are having some problems within our county because individuals who apply themselves and are appointed to the board do not truly understand the issue of governing.”
“Governing is not about the issue of putting that cape on and putting an ‘S’ on your chest to say, ‘I’m gonna make change,’ and in doing so, cause so much negativity to the point that it becomes necessary for us, the commissioners, to do something,” Thomas continued. “There should be a fluent movement toward positiveness in being in a board, working together, negotiating together, following policy procedures, doing things the right way. Because in that, we in the county do give money, make up the funding to a Fair Board, and we do have employees of the fair, and those guidelines, those policies, those human resource obligations need to be followed correctly. If they’re not, then there’s legality, liability.”
Thomas did not elaborate as to whether or not the current Board specifically had issues following those guidelines and procedures, but concluded by saying that he is “always about the issue of listening to those who have elected us,” with the caveat that “there comes this community (and) constituent responsibility” to be “a part of positive change” when protesting the decisions the Comission makes.
Commissioner Fabrizius then reiterated that the Commission had been “advertising for quite some time” for Fair Board seat applications, but did not receive many. He then asked how many in attendance at today’s meeting were “committed to serving on the board” (about 10-15 people raised their hands), and urged them to speak to Freese about applying.
Fabrizius then said he “wanted to point out one thing.”
“This board has helped the County Fair to the point of $2.1 million. It came out of the ARPA funding and all of the other refundings that we received,” Fabrizius noted. “You look around the fairgrounds. Did you get a new parking lot? Did you get your buildings remodeled? Did you get the roofs fixed? Did you get new tractors? And there’s a list right here of everything you got. You got MOVE money. You got a lot of money. In this little book right here are 31 entities just like you. That money could have went to any of them and we would have been glad to put money there.”
“Sometimes we don’t count our blessings… and if it wouldn’t have been for Larry Allen and your director, I would not have voted for all of those because we didn’t have the money; they stretched the budget to help you folks,” Fabrizius continued. “I always felt like the agriculture kids got the end of the tip. We put big money into soccer. We put it in football. We put it into every little league, whatever. I always felt that the actions always kind of got left out. Because of Larry Allen and your director, we put $2.1 million in your coffers.”
Commissioner Mike Jones then stated that he “was not ready to make that decision” and noted his reasons, namely “fiduciary responsibility.”
“…Our funding is diminishing,” Jones commented. “We already had a bunch of property tax relief. They’re considering changing the way we do property tax, which is the way we fund county government, and fair is a part of that government. I believe we do have a board that’s passionate about the fair, but I think we’re at a point where we need to stop and say, ‘Is it just about passion anymore?’ No, it’s really about fiduciary responsibility.”
“Most of the burden has been on the general fund, which is out of the 12 mills that property tax pays,” Jones continued. “We’re at this point now where that number is continuing to diminish, and we have to look at things differently.”
“I don’t believe that our Fair Board members have to be the chief volunteers of the fair,” Jones added. “There’s no reason in my book that fair members or people who are passionate about the fair can’t lead things in the fair without being a voting member. It’s a practical thing for me, and I understand the passions that are involved here, but I think the interpretation isn’t necessarily accurate. I just think that we are at a point in the time in the county where we have to look at that. We still need the passion. I’m not saying get rid of the passion, but admittedly, the county doesn’t have great criteria. If you wanna run for county office… all you need to be is breathing and a county voting person. …If you wanna be on a board, it’s not much different than that.”
“I think we’re at a point where we have to start asking ourselves, who do we need on that board, and then do we need people who can work with us to understand the overall challenges that we have at the fair?” Jones concluded. “I’m not ready to withdraw the decision we made because I don’t think anybody’s given it a good chance to stop and say, can we do things differently considering the future that we have, the near future that we have, and trying to fund all the things we have here in Fremont County.”
The motion to rescind the reduction decision was then put to Commission vote by Chairman Allen, with Thomas and Fabrizius voting “aye,” and Jones “nay.”
Jones then noted the policy for recruiting board members, and that the application period would have to be reopened.
“Are we okay with the policy? Because if we’ve got people who want to now come in, we’d have to open up that period, and I want to make sure we’re consistent with what our county policy is, because we wrote that a couple of years ago,” Jones commented.
“…You have a month that you advertise before that, which we did, and we did receive one (application),” Freese added. “Also, on our policy, we call back every board that has… incumbents and ask if they are wishing to run again, and then ask them if they want a new application or if they want to use the old application.’
“Also, I heard via the courthouse yesterday that the rumor is that we always take all of the old applications and move them up,” Freese continued. “That is not true. Only if somebody leaves midterm do we do that, and that’s only if the board had somebody second or third in their minds of who they wanted to appoint. …You have to apply or at least say you want your form to be put back in the mix. I would agree with you that you probably need to put that out again. …I would suggest you follow your procedure, and then we do a month’s worth of advertising and appoint in January, which means they’re going to be short two people on the board until you get that.”
Chairman Allen then confirmed that the Commission will advertise for those two seats starting January 1, and then “interview and go through our due process.”
Jones then officially motioned to start that process, which was seconded and passed unanimously.
Those interested in applying can reach out to Freese by calling (307) 332-1122 or emailing julie.freese@fremontcountywy.gov.