Curry fair hot topic with hope for August

CLOVIS — The Curry County Commission met for three hours Tuesday morning, and through a clerical error managed to take no action.

At the beginning of the meeting at the Curry County Administrative Complex, officials explained the agenda was not posted within the time parameters set by the Open Meetings Act. The commission instead discussed decisions on various business, with Chairman Robert Thornton repeatedly noting the commission would ratify each decision at its next meeting — either April 20, or possibly a special meeting yet to be announced.

When asked if the county would handle the ratifications individually or in one lump motion, County Attorney Steve Doerr said state law is unclear on what the commission should do. Just to be safe, Doerr said, the commission will plan to ratify each action on its own.

Business to be finalized down the road, in that case, included the addition of two new members to its committee for establishing a land trust and parameters for a potential Curry County fair in August.

The latter took up the lion's share of the meeting, with Fairgrounds Manager K.C. Messick joined by Keller Taylor of Spectra to go over their concerns and budget requests.

No date was identified for the fair, as there was still uncertainty regarding when local school districts planned to begin their 2021-22 school years. Most of the discussion dealt with what entertainment to keep, and what entertainment to not keep, from the 2020 fair lineup that got pushed up a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taylor said other venues planning for county, multi-county and state fairs are planning for full events but revising plans 60 days out based on the prevailing state public health orders at the time. Wright Amusement was planning some level of carnival, Taylor said, but the assumption going in was a scaled-back version from prior years.

The key items eliminated were the headliner concerts of Aaron Watson and Michael Salgado.

Commissioners balked at the risk of putting up $70,000 for the concerts, with no way to know if indoor concerts will be permitted at a level that would allow for a break-even. Commissioner Seth Martin wasn't optimistic on state actions.

“We'll do what we can ... and I think Spectra will work with us,” Martin said. “But we don't want to overshoot and disappoint people.”

The commission did keep in place nearly $23,000 in entertainment that included tumbleweed crossing (shooting presentation), lawn mower races and a Gold Star Wall, and was amenable to setting more money aside to book local musical acts for outdoor performances. Messick said he has had various discussions with local artists and could supply plenty of quotes to suit county needs.

Commissioner Chet Spear said he wasn't against renaming this year's event the Curry County Expo and pushing the next fair to 2022, given that the next fair is the county's 100th anniversary celebration.

“We can give the community the fair we want to give them,” Spear said of pushing the fair back while holding a smaller expo this year.

The commission also approved about $20,500 in various maintenance expenses at the fairgrounds, including repair of a 2007 Bobcat, various painting jobs and HVAC replacement for the Curry County Events Center. Messick approached the county to repair two Bobcats, but commissioners were concerned about sunk costs on 14-year-old equipment. A replacement John Deere model would run the county about $55,000, Messick said. Spear responded that while he was tight with money he wasn't sure repairs would be cost-effective; “if we need new equipment, we should get new equipment.”

Commissioners also appointed Steve North as the final voting member to the land trust committee, along with Blake Prather in an advisory role.

North was selected from four candidates, and was touted for his credentials as the chief financial officer for the Ninth Judicial District. North said he didn't see any issues with the time commitments and said he had no relatives with land in the paleochannel where the land trust has focus.

“If there was a simple solution, we would have figured it out 30 years ago,” North said. “It's going to take that collaborative approach.”

Prather had originally withdrawn his interest due to a personal matter, but since that point let Spear know the matter was addressed and he could serve on the committee. The commission voted 4-1 to bring Prather aboard; Martin cast the dissenting vote, noting it was bad practice to bring somebody on after they had wavering commitment.