Fair Board to tighten rental rules
By Bobbi Mlynar
Originally published 01:35 p.m., June 10, 2008
Updated 01:35 p.m., June 10, 2008
People who rent the Anderson Building for special events soon may discover that the Lyon County Fair Board has a low tolerance for rule-breakers — and law-breakers.
A committee was named during a fair board meeting Monday evening to create a better-defined contract between the renter and the board, as well as better enforcement of the contract.
Board member Chris Phillips talked about a beer barrel left in a storage area that is off-limits to renters. Apparently, a recent renter set beer kegs in the area, blocked it off with a table, and sold beer to the crowd. In the process, the door to the room was broken and had to be repaired.
“Right now, you have no control,” Phillips said, adding that no one was there to enforce the contract or enforce the alcohol laws except security guards hired by the renters themselves.
“Selling beer out of the back room is illegal to begin with” he said.
The board discussed tightening up the contract verbiage at an earlier meeting but, Phillips said, “We dropped the ball. I think we need to pick it up again.”
Explicit wording about terms of the rental contract and security also need to be in the contract, several board members agreed. Security guards at a recent celebration did not realize that beer could not be sold legally by the party hosts.
“We need to be explicit,” Phillips said.
A copy of Sacred Heart Church’s contract rules for renting its parish hall may be used to provide some guidelines for the committee in drafting the new Anderson Building rental contract.
Board president Roy VanSickle said that the committee would meet and bring a written proposal before the next board meeting.
The board accepted a quote from Silverson Security Agency for $14.50 per hour, per guard, to provide security at all events during the Lyon County Free Fair. The Silverson bid was the only one received by the Saturday deadline. Board secretary Sheila Price said that the charge from another security firm last year had been $17 or $18 per person, per hour.
Rick Robidou of Laser Expressions in Americus brought in several samples of a new style of awards that could be given to purchasers of grand champion and reserve grand champion animals. In the past, the board has given fabric banners to those buyers. The company that provided them, however, is going out of business, and the cost of similar banners will jump from about $25 per banner to $60 per banner.
After discussing pros and cons of each style of award, the board chose to purchase mirror-style awards with animals and text engraved in color with lasers. The grand champion awards will be 12x12 inches; the reserve grand champion awards will be 8x8 inches. The cost will be $27 for the large mirrors and $25 for the small ones. The color scheme and text will be determined before the fair. The cost of other options ranged from $25 to $85, depending upon size and complexity of the artwork.
Among other actions, the board:
• Voted to add a top rail made of 2-inch tubing to a fence on the grandstand side of the arena and, in a separate motion, to install runners on bleachers.
• Formally welcomed Rhonda Gordon, who began work on Monday as the family and consumer science extension agent for Lyon County.
yellow82 (anonymous) says...
I called and left 3 messages with the fair board several months ago about renting, and no call was ever returned. I also work with someone who left several messages and their call was not returned either. There is limited renting options in this town, and it was very disappointing for no one to even return my calls. How hard would it have been to call back and say that they are limiting their rental at this time, or currently changing renting rules.
June 11, 2008 at 10:12 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )