Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Decisions rescinded by local Fair Board

All action taken by the Nevada County Fair Board since Sept. 11, has been wiped out.

In a special meeting, Saturday, Oct. 22, the Board voted to rescind all decisions made since Sept. 11 and address them at the November meeting.

Clark Crellin moderated the meeting, saying the Board it was an organizational meeting. People, he said, have questions about how things are supposed to be done and how things have been done, along with making plans for next year.

At the last meeting, he said, Board President Rebecca Holley questioned how accounts were set up and mentioned consolidating accounts.

Holley said there are two many accounts and a lot of checks written with no documentation showing where the money is going on the pageant account. She also said an account is not needed for the money in the special account.

On the topic of the pageant, it was brought out there was no separate account for it years ago, and it took about everything the fair made to pay for it. A pageant committee was formed and, in recent years, the pageant has been self supporting, but the committee dwindled.

Part of the problem, according to Jake Tyree, a member of the Board, is the way minutes are kept at meetings, with people relying on their memory of what happened.

The election, he said, was not held at the annual meeting and there was a portion of the Board not invited to the meeting. The election was held prior to a special meeting Tuesday, Oct. 4.

While it was said officers are to be elected in January, Holley pointed out in the five years shes been on the Board the elections have been held in October. The by-laws state the election must be held before Feb. 1.

Crellin said the Board needs to be familiar with the by-laws and work with them.

He said there is no problem with the special account staying separate, but it wouldnt be a bad idea to put it in an interest bearing account.

The Board, under state fair guidelines, must maintain three separate accounts: a premium account, a general account and a construction account. All other monies can be commingled.

Crellin said Lisa McClure has done a good job as pageant director, but the pageant books need to be audited annually to keep up with the money and eliminate confusion.

Tyree said the pageant account needs to follow state by-laws, and there needs to be a concrete date set for the annual meeting.

A pageant committee was formed to set pageant procedures. The committee consists of Mary Godwin, Debbie Henderson, Tracy Ellis, Holley and McClure.

It was also decided to require two signatures on all Board accounts, along with printed monthly financial reports at each meeting.

A by-law committee was also formed to examine the Boards by-laws and see if they need to be changed. However, local by-laws cannot supercede state by-laws. This committee consists of Carol Tyree, Crellin, Hoyt Jobe and Rex Dollar. This committee will also examine the Boards articles of incorporation. Both committees will file reports at the November Board meeting.

It was also decided to have the annual meeting on the second Monday in January, making it Jan. 16, 2006.