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2000-1024-Minutes for Meeting November 20,2000 Recorded 12/13/2000VOL: CJ2000 PAGE: 1024 RECORDED DOCUMENT STATE OF OREGON COUNTY OF DESCHUTES *02000-1024 * Vol -Page Printed: 12/13/2000 14:10:05 DO NOT REMOVE THIS CERTIFICATE (This certificate constitutes a part of the original instrument in accordance with ORS 205.180(2). Removal of this certificate may invalidate this certificate and affect the admissibility of the original instrument into evidence in any legal proceeding.) I hereby certify that the attached instrument was received and duly recorded in Deschutes County records: DATE AND TIME: DOCUMENT TYPE: Dec. 13, 2000; 1:06 p.m. Regular Meeting (CJ) NUMBER OF PAGES: 12 Lv� 0--, 0,-� MARY SUE PENHOLLOW DESCHUTES COUNTY CLERK KEY VNED D E 000 CS4Z, lb.2V MINUTES 00 DEC 13 PM 1: 06 Joint Meeting of Deschutes County Fair Board and Deschutes County Board of Commissioners COUN I CLEr�n Monday, November 20, 2000 County Administration Complex, Bend Present were Fair Board members David Bishop, Lee Smith, Don Miltenberger, John Leavitt and Jim Diegel. Also present were Linda Swearingen, Dennis Luke and Tom DeWolf, Deschutes County Commissioners; Rick Isham, Deschutes County Legal Counsel; Mike Maier, County Administrator; Mike Daly, Commissioner -elect; and Neil Bryant, Attorney, representing Express Personnel (Connie Worrell). Fair Board Chair, David Bishop, called the meeting to order at 5:15 p. m. 1. Approval of Minutes SMITH: I move approval of the Minutes of the Fair Board meeting of November 9, 2000. DIEGEL: Second. VOTE: Unanimous ayes. 2. Management of Fairgrounds and Expo Center MAIER: I need some direction from the Fair Board in this regard. Should we: a) Begin recruitment for a regular director; if so, is an executive headhunter needed; or b) Put out a Request for Proposal for a private management company; or c) Both of these things? Minutes of Meeting Page 1 of 11 Pages Fair Board and Board of County Commissioners Monday, November 20, 2000 MAIER: If we do a recruitment, I am recommending that we employ a headhunter. This process was put on hold since we have an interim director. Also, regarding short-term management, in the Fair Board's view, how is Dan (Despotopulos) doing in that regard? Assuming we commence a recruitment, or put out an RFP, I would recommend we extend Dan's contract for three months until about mid-April, assuming he is doing okay. It will take at least three months to conclude this process. DIEGEL: I don't want to rush to fill the job. We need a better vision of the future of the Fairgrounds and Expo Center. Conceptually, I put together a little pictorial of my thoughts on this matter (Exhibit 1, attached, was distributed). We need to know the main focus and vision of the Fairgrounds, and if we don't know this, we won't be sure what we need from a candidate or company. (A discussion about the pictorial ensued.) DEWOLF: You do need a handle on what this is going to be; you need to decide whether you want to be hands-on or hands-off. You also need an agreed- upon business plan; there are people locally, for instance at the small business development center at the college, who can help with that. I also suggest that bring in a person to interview members of the Fair Board, select members of the Fair Association, FFA, 4-H, Fairgrounds employees, and others to help you determine what is important. At that point you will know exactly which direction you need to go to develop the proper job description, and go out and do the recruitment. From that business plan, you can develop the operational budget and ultimately a marketing plan. I feel that the piece that has always been missing and that needs to be addressed right away is a business plan. It's not that hard to accomplish. We expend the funds and hire the right person or group to do it. (A general discussion took place about local talent who might be able to help.) Minutes of Meeting Page 2 of I 1 Pages Fair Board and Board of County Commissioners Monday, November 20, 2000 BISHOP: It's nice to design our marketing plan and/or our business plan. It would be nice to have access to someone who is in the business already who can help us try to pull these different target markets together. I think it's pretty clear from the Fair Board's standpoint that we are more likely to be good stewards and fiscal managers and landlords than promoters would be. We aren't really going to be in the entertainment promotions business, but we want to make sure that we are managing our facilities properly. I don't know what our best target markets are. For example, we are going to build a $500,000, more or less, parking lot. How heavily do we go after the RV industry? How important is it to do the shoulder seasons of different things? I don't know that, and don't know that anyone on the Fair Board does. Dan doesn't know that part of the business, either, and part of the marketing plan/business plan needs to include some of those things that are a natural fit. DEWOLF: Perhaps Jeff Blosser can help design a list of parameters for a business plan. Jeff does have access to that type of information. To me, getting that business plan in place is the next step. It should have been in place before the ground was broken for the buildings. That will define for us what kind of individual or company we'd be seeking. LUKE: Lee Johnson of the Jackson County Fairgrounds may be of help; also people from Crook County. They have a lot of knowledge and resources and can share their experiences. ISHAM: There were 247 events held last year; perhaps you can ask Dan to categorize them. The second step may be to show revenue from the different events within the categories. This might provide the base data and where the revenue came from, or should come from. LUKE: Perhaps you could call the people who held the events and get their feedback regarding the good points, the problems, what should change, whether they will be coming back, and so on. Minutes of Meeting Page 3 of 11 Pages Fair Board and Board of County Commissioners Monday, November 20, 2000 MAIER: What about what the community expects? The taxpayers? DIEGEL: There are many constituents who would like to have a say - users, those who have a sense of what might make it work - we need to capture ideas and feelings from the community. We also need broad-based partnerships. MAIER: You should find out which, if any, events should be subsidized. Some citizens say yes, others no, and others maybe depending upon the event and/or the amount. DIEGEL: That changes your strategy, and how you price for your various constituencies. DEWOLF: It would be good to have a needs assessment - a survey of key groups. Jeff Blosser, if he's available and willing, has a lot of background experience. You could use local groups to put together a needs survey from the various user groups. You need a breakdown of past users, which should help the Fair Board enough to move in the right direction. DIEGEL: We need to know the various markets, and who to go after. Do you try to do this yourself or do you partner? Should you be in the entertainment portion or not? What about the convention and conference center market? I asked the Fair Association for this information well over a year ago. S WEARINGEN: Jeff Blosser asked the Fair Association what their mission was, and how much the facility should be fed. He asked if this was a community center or should it break even. He asked Elton Gregory what they wanted to be, and never got an answer. DEWOLF: The voters assumed there would be no subsidy. It's tough to present this to them. Minutes of Meeting Page 4 of 11 Pages Fair Board and Board of County Commissioners Monday, November 20, 2000 S WEARINGEN: If, in fact, that is the mission of the organization, you approach it more like a business than a community center, and what you say to users is that it will have to be cost effective, as a business decision. SMITH: I was impressed by the information from SMG Corporation; the one thing that really struck me was not so much their management, but their marketing capability. I would be very interested in going ahead with a business plan that incorporates the financial plan and the marketing plan. I would like to talk with somebody who could look at the facility at a national basis. If we can make all the money we need renting it out 200 days a year to money -making events, maybe we then decide to support local interests the rest of the time. Without the knowledge of base of what the facility can do, I have no basis to make a decision. LUKE: I would like to know how much of our business exists because we're the new kid on the block. If someone else opens a new facility, will we lose that business? Also, Jackson County has put together a group called "friends of the fairgrounds", which does go out and promote and raise money. I hate to see us go national until we get this thing under control and know our costs. We're not ready for the larger market. FMCA is about two years too early. We need to be ready for these events, since if you mess it up they will never come back. BISHOP: One of the terms I have used is "youthful exuberance". I think the Fair Association was approached by the biggest and the most difficult groups to do anything with, and we were young and enthusiastic enough as a community to take on any task, big or small. There are two examples of this: the Family Motor Coach Association, which we were not ready for; and a 700 horse equestrian program at the cost of $350 times each horse panel - we didn't have the capital to do that kind of thing. Maybe we can budget for that type of thing in the future; but we need to focus in on what we have the ability to do right now. Minutes of Meeting Page 5 of 11 Pages Fair Board and Board of County Commissioners Monday, November 20, 2000 BISHOP: I want to step back for a minute and say to the Commissioners that it is a great feeling not to be in crisis mode. I want to thank the Commissioners, Mike and Rick. The community has no idea how much you, as the governing body of this county, has allocated in resources to get us to where we are. It's an absolute huge benefit, and I personally want to thank you for all that support. (A general discussion occurred regarding room tax, the possible NBA event next year, other visible events that are good for the community, etc. Also discussed was the idea of coordinating specialized uses; i. e. leaving the dirt in the arena for more than one event.) LUKE: Do you intend to extend Dan's contract? BISHOP: I believe he is doing a fine job. MAIER: There are no problems according to building services and finance. A comment from a wedding events group was that they were very pleased. ISHAM: The rodeo event went well, and made money. SMITH: I move that we extend Dan's contract for an additional ninety days. DIEGEL: Second. VOTE: Unanimous ayes. DEWOLF: What do you plan to do after the ninety days? During the ninety days? LUKE: You need to get a business plan done. Minutes of Meeting Page 6 of 11 Pages Fair Board and Board of County Commissioners Monday, November 20, 2000 MAIER: You can have Dan help with the development of a business plan. DEWOLF: You don't want to compromise Dan's position. There needs to be some professional distance there. SMITH: COCC does a qualified business plan, and they are relatively inexpensive. You also need to allow for a transitional period of time. DIEGEL: SBDC might be interested. They write qualified business plans, and this is almost a case study. They can take components from Jeff Blosser, you connect with the various constituencies in the region to flush out the needs assessment; somewhere in between the 90 plus 45 days we should begin to develop a sense of where we're going. Once we have a sense of where we're going, I'm comfortable with them beginning to move in a direction of that says we'll either go out and hire our own, or we'll look at a management firm, or we're going to do something else that we haven't even thought about. In reality, 135 days sounds like a lot, but it is not. SMITH: Because of the Fair, we need a decision before April, but we'll need a period of time for transition. DEWOLF: You'll have another business plan being written for the Fair itself. LUKE: He can supervise, or submit a proposal. DEWOLF: think it would be too expensive to hire him to write the document; you can use a local person to write the document. Minutes of Meeting Page 7 of 11 Pages Fair Board and Board of County Commissioners Monday, November 20, 2000 S WEARINGEN: You get what you pay for. You certainly need to include someone from the industry. Talk with him and find out what he would charge and what he can do. He successfully ran the Kentucky State Fair, and is very successful in the Portland area. BISHOP: I will contact Jeff, and report to the Board of Commissioners on November 28th with what I've learned. SMITH: I recommend that we use the SBDC format, using Jeff as a resource. I move that we recommend to the County to extend Dan Despotopulos' contract and fund is work for an additional ninety days. DIEGEL: Second. VOTE: Unanimous ayes. LUKE: I move that the Board of Commissioners agree to extend, at the recommendation of the Fair Board, the contract of Dan Despotopulos for an additional ninety days. DEWOLF: Second. VOTE: LUKE: Aye. DEWOLF: Yes. SWEARINGEN: Chair votes aye. S WEARINGEN: Do we have a financial statement as far as what the County has had to spend so far? It would be nice to have, perhaps on a monthly basis, a breakdown of Fairgrounds expenses - for maintenance, legal, finance and other indirect costs. MAIER: We have been trying to track indirect costs. S WEARINGEN: What about just hard cash? Minutes of Meeting Fair Board and Board of County Commissioners Page 8 of 11 Pages Monday, November 20, 2000 MAIER: We don't have that yet. ISHAM: We're a year behind on indirect charges. DEWOLF: Just in the last three months. Considering the amount of abuse as we're taking for picking on the Fair Association, if the community understood the level to which this County is pouring resources into this facility that we apparently hate so much, I think it would turn some peoples' heads. MILTENBERGER: I was wondering if anyone has ever determined whether there is money to finance this. The Fair is not going to be able to pay for running the facility all year long. DEWOLF: We're putting together a supplemental budget, and we'll have proposed budget for the budget committee soon. It will have to fund the past debts and bad debts, the Fair, the interim costs, plus the construction of the parking lot. The total supplemental budget that we'll put together is almost $2.5 million. LUKE: Closing the Fair is not an option. We will keep it open and find the funds to do so somehow. BISHOP: We don't know if the Fair made money because of the entertainment portion. If it had been accounted for under traditional account methods that should have been implemented over a year ago, we would know. What happened is that the deposits they received in the second quarter of the year were counted as revenue. They didn't allocate the indirect costs. SMITH: What's the process for developing the business plan? Who will oversee this process? Minutes of Meeting Page 9 of 11 Pages Fair Board and Board of County Commissioners Monday, November 20, 2000 DIEGEL: I move that the Fair Board Chair and/or his designee, or other members of the Fair Board as he sees fit, and a representative of the Board of County Commissioners, perhaps Mike Maier, work between now and November 28 to contact the SBDC and Jeff Blosser; and report back to the group on November 28. SMITH: Second. VOTE: Unanimous ayes. SMITH: I will follow up with the SBDC. MAIER: I will be happy to represent the Board. SMITH: Mike, two months ago you discussed possibly meeting with SMG Corporation. MAIER: I've left several messages and sent letters to them, with no response. I don't know what to think. DIEGEL: A weekly operations report to the Fair Board would be nice to have. This could eliminate a lot of discussions on issues, and would give us a heads -up on potential problems. MAIER: Regarding Fairgrounds staffing, some of the staff is eligible to unionize. We will try to stall them until summer. I anticipate no problems for six months, but any longer than that could be a problem. BISHOP: We need to keep the employees advised as to what to expect. MAIER: We don't want anyone to think they are lifelong employees yet. We will keep them informed. Minutes of Meeting Page 10 of 11 Pages Fair Board and Board of County Commissioners Monday, November 20, 2000 MILTENBERGER: Dan would like a permanent position. Will he react negatively if he thinks he may be replaced? MAIER: He knew the situation going in. I feel he will do his best. Being no further discussion offered, Board of Commissioners Chair Linda Swearingen and Fair Board Chair David Bishop adjourned the meeting at 6.• 1 S p. m. - End - Respectfully Submitted, Bonnie Baker Acting Recording Secretary Minutes of Meeting Page 11 of 11 Pages Fair Board and Board of County Commissioners Monday, November 20, 2000 (/, KXu) LA-�