Commission appoints three fair board members

The Big Horn County Commissioners appointed three new members to the fair board on April 7: Eron Lampman, Jesse Dewey and Dan VanderPloeg.

There is one more seat available. However, at the time of the appointments the commission had not received a resignation letter from the last board member that resigned a few months ago. That letter was received later in the day. The commission and fair board will again confer before announcing the fourth appointment.

On April 15, members of the commission and fair board were to interview the applicants for the fair contract manager position. The person chosen will run the fair this year.

Also at the April 7 meeting, county resident Brian Gifford addressed his concerns regarding the fair. In attendance were County Clerk Lori Smallwood, Andrea Frost, County Treasurer Nicole Vigil, County Attorney Marcia Bean, UW Educator Gretty Gasvoda, James Morgan, fair board member Rebecca Bates and County Maintenance Supervisor Jeremy Pouska.

Gifford thanked Bean and Smallwood for their responsiveness to his inquiries regarding the fair. He stated he was at this meeting to get clarification as the fair is an important cornerstone of the county, the 4-H and FFA youth. He added it was alarming to find out there was not a fair manager or an intact fair board.

“The whole budget for the fair seems to be a muddy situation. We are coming up on 90 days,” he said. 

Gifford continued that in his experience of producing events, a lot of the work and gathering of sponsors should have happened in November and December. Gifford asked the commission what is going on with the fair, with fair board appointments and the contract manager position.

Commission chair Deb Craft noted that, despite rumors, there was never the intention to not have a fair. She added there have not been many people stepping up to serve on the board. Since the fair board meeting last month, there have been applications. When the fair board member verbally resigned in February, it meant the board could no longer vote. Commissioner Dave Neves said that because the resignation could not be acted upon until it was received in writing, this left the board without a quorum for a few months. Bates explained that despite not having a quorum the fair board had work meetings to work on the 2026 fair.

Following up on his previous comments about sponsorships, Gifford asked if the fair board had milestones as far as when items needed to be completed. Craft responded that the fair manager likely had that list and that the fair board has been reviewing it. Gifford asked if it was available. Bates noted there is a timeline, but she didn’t have it with her. The fair board has been working on it. 

Craft pointed out that not having a fair manager is unique to this year. She reiterated the fair was always going to happen, especially the shows for the youth and their livestock. There has been some discussion about scaling back grandstand events. Gifford stated that some youths have inquired about taking their animals to Park County or Washakie County for fair because of the rumors that there would be no fair here. He is concerned of the impact on the buyers and the youth for the livestock auction. He continued that he heard hearsay that there is going to be a jackpot style instead because the budget hasn’t been clearly defined. He then asked if the budget was known yet.

Craft explained that the fiscal year starts July 1. At this point the county doesn’t know what their budget is, because they have not received the budget numbers from the state yet. She also noted that this means none of the departments throughout county government know their budgets either. The commissioners and department heads try to get an early start on their budgets as they wait for state numbers to come in.

Gifford said this is a concern. He pulled up the financials of Crook County.

“They have a dedicated mill levy, a dedicated budget to their fair. They are a smaller population. They are about $12 million less than Big Horn County in the budget. They are 8,000 people vs. 12,000, 12,500. Yet they have allocated budget for, I believe, $23-$25,000 for grounds maintenance, $180,000 for the fair.”

Commissioner Bruce Jolley stated that Crook County has $57,000 allocated for their fair. He spoke directly to the commission chair Fred Devish, who provided the allocation amount.

“I asked him how can you do 1%? He said we don’t do 1% we do .183, which is $57,000.  They have a lot of big-time donators that pitch in $25,000, but their budget for last year is $57,000, because they haven’t gotten their budget yet for this year.”

Gifford said Crook County has a dedicated fair account. He believes it is “messy” in Big Horn County because he believes the big sponsors won’t donate if the money goes back into the general fund. Vigil addressed that statement: “Donations are never put in the general fund. Donations are always put into the fair fund, which is different than advertising. Advertising is getting an ad in the fair book. Donations themselves go to the fair.”

Vigil further explained the money for the fair that comes out of the general fund is placed in the fair line items. They have not received donations over $100 since she has been treasurer. When money is brought to her by the fair manager, Vigil puts the money in the line item the manager asks her to put it in. The bigger donations that have come in previous years are for specific items, such as the indoor arena.

Gifford said he knows of companies that would donate but won’t because of the poor planning of the fair structure. He added he feels the fair board has been scapegoated. The commissioners should have been proactive when the fair manager resigned last fall.

Jolley responded that the fair manager position has been dysfunctional for a while, in his opinion. In the past some fair boards have felt like the commissioners are too involved in the fair, so the commission has backed off.

“In this case we should have done something sooner. At the same time, you never know when the fair manager is going to pull stakes and leave,” Jolley said.

There was some discussion about fair manager turnover in the last four to five years. There have been three fair managers in the last five years. Gifford wondered about the breakdown in communication and structure, infighting and that the manager might be turned loose without any oversight or direction. Craft explained there is oversight and direction. The board and the manager have monthly meetings and work sessions to discuss the fair and what the manager needs to do.

She continued that the fair presents a budget like all county departments do. The budget is reviewed by the commission and given back. The fair knows what they have to spend and designate how that money is spent. When Gifford asked if it was possible for a timeline or milestone the fair board could be held accountable for, Craft and Jolley noted that the fair manager comes before the commission with updates.

There was also a question about what happens if the manager and fair board are not seeing eye to eye. Neves said the manager could bring that issue to the commission.  He noted that the fair board cannot hire or fire the manager.

BUDGET

Neves explained that the fair budget is more complicated than most, noting, “The fiscal year goes from the first of July. The fair happens the first of August. So, they have spent a lot of the money that is allocated for the fair the budget year before the fair happens. When the next budget comes out on the first of July, they have some money out of that. It is complicated putting those two timeframes together. The treasurer has an account set up to keep track of all of that.”

Jolley further explained, “Out of our current budget, we have to loan them money to get rolling for the next fair because our budget won’t be approved until July 1. They can’t wait until July 1 to get things rolling. There hasn’t been approved money for them to do it. So, it is kind of like we will loan them this money. Then when the budget comes out it comes back in.” He added the county has tried a few different ways to find the right combination to make it work.

When asked by Gifford who allocates the expenditures for the fair, Craft explained that the fair manager brings the expenses to the board, and they approve the invoices. Also mentioned was that the fair manager is supposed to bring to the board the cost of an event for their approval before signing a contract. Bates added that the manager and board work hand in hand. If there is a disagreement, Bates said it is handled like every other board and that there really hasn’t been a disagreement.

The discussion returned to why there has been turnover on the manager position and the same could be said about the fair board. Craft said it is a hard position to hold as is any office. The person must deal with the public, which isn’t always easy. Neves added that some of the turnover might be what the county is able to pay. Part of that is due to making sure that pay is equitable for each employee. The pay scale budget for the last manager was just under $42,000. This did not include benefits. According to Gifford, the state average is between $60,000 and $80,000. Smallwood pointed out the average wage of clerks in the state is $100,000, but that is not what this county pays its clerk. Big Horn County positions, including elected, are some of the lowest paid in the state.

Gifford said the overall county budget is $32 million. Jolley responded that it is about $23.8 million. The additional funds over the $23 million that come from the Federal Government are designated to, for example, airports. That money is only allowed to go to that county entity.  Also discussed was that if an experienced fair manager was able to bring in more money, could their salary increase?

 Neves pointed out, “The thing that you need to look at, though, is how much everyone else (employees in the county) are making. That is a real challenge. We want them to put on a good fair, but I don’t think we say that the fair manager’s compensation is going to keep going up.”

CONTRACT POSTIONS

Craft explained that the county will hire for a contract position to put on the fair this year. She added that there are other fairs throughout the state that are in a similar position.

“Fremont County, Weston County, numerous counties are dealing with the same thing we are … fair managers that have left positions.”

In Fremont County, the fair board is the one putting on the fair this year. Interviews for the contract position in BHC were scheduled for April 15. Jolley noted that the liability insurance and bond would be established.

A question was asked about hiring a contractor to sell the sponsorships. Typically, the fair manager position does. An idea was floated that the contractor would keep a portion of the money as a fee. Bean noted there would have to be some guidelines should the county want to go in that direction.

Gifford said that sponsors are going to want to make sure their money goes directly to the fair and not into the general fund, also, that the left-over money could be carried over into the next year. Vigil reiterated what she said previously in the meeting: She has been putting donations in a separate line item that does not go into the general fund. However, if a sponsorship includes advertising such as fair book ads, banners, etc., it must go back into the general fund. The revenue that comes in from the fair goes back in to fund next year’s budget. This is true for every department that brings in revenue.

Craft stressed that the fair doesn’t have a positive budget balance. The county pulls money from the general fund to make up the difference between fair revenue and fair expenses. Currently, the way the statute reads, even if the fair brought in more money than it spends, the surplus must go back into the general fund. Each year the county has a designated budget for each department.

Gifford said he believes the process is “messy." He asked if there was a set budget for the fair. Vigil said not yet as the numbers from the state haven’t come in. She doesn’t know what her department budget is for this year yet. Morgan asked what the fair budget has been. He was told the 2025-26 budget was $120,019. This budget does not include the manager’s salary, office supplies and non-fair expense. That budget was $46,881. The benefits associated with the full-time fair manager and the part-time fair staff was $44,911. There is an additional budget for the maintenance of the fairgrounds. Pouska said he always asks for additional funds for maintenance. There have been substantial improvements in the last five years, and most of the improvements have been funded by grants. Budgets and expenditures for every department are listed on the county web site.  

Craft pointed out that the allotted time for the discussion had gone over, and they needed to move on to the next agenda item. Addressing Gifford, she said the county would get back to him on insurance/bond requirements that would be needed for contract positions, when fair funds will be available and when the contract position to run the fair starts.