EATON — Preble County Commissioners continue to plan an Expo Expansion Fundraiser for later this year.
During a meeting on Monday, March 25, Commissioner Rodney Creech said the Fair Board is in full support of the plans.
He added, the county will be responsible for “upfront costs,” including insurance for a beer garden and other small costs which might occur. He also plans to establish a planning committee for the new event. Sponsor money can be used for the “upfront costs” he mentioned.
“If this goes well, this could be an annual event. Get together a lot of good people — farmers like to hang out with each other at events,” Creech said. “This year would be a huge fundraiser, next year may just be a good event. My goal is $40,000, but I think we could do better than that. If they only make $5,000 a year based on an annual event, that is still huge.”
Commissioner Denise Robertson added, she wanted to speak to the board about the WiFi at the fairgrounds and how that project coming along, but her topic was not on the agenda for the latest Fair Board Meeting.
“I really wanted to board to know that they can make some money off of this if they wanted to. Now, whether they do or not, they didn’t seem so excited about it. I have a real problem with the lack of initiative, but if there is a money making opportunity to be had, they should be jumping all over it because they are supposedly broke,” she said.
“To me, if you can make even a little bit of money on this extra log in, they should be doing it. I definitely didn’t get anything from [Fairgrounds Manager Jim Shute], because in the meeting he said they weren’t going to do it. That is why I wanted to go and let the board know that was an idea out there. That bothers me that they would not jump on any opportunity to make some money.”
In other news:
•The board approved a resolution authorizing an expenditure of $18,580 for the installation of a gateway at the Quaker Trace Radio Tower for the Sheriff’s Department.
•The board approved a resolution authorizing an expenditure of $11,789 for the purchase of chemicals for broadleaf and brush spray program on various county roadways for the Preble County Engineer.
•The board approved a Resurfacing Project Agreement with Barrett Paving Materials for the engineer at a cost of $580,469.50.
•The board approved a Small Paving Project Agreement with Wagner Paving, Inc. for the engineer at a cost of $73,575.
•The board approved a Chip and Seal Project Agreement with Ray Hensley, Inc. for the engineer at a cost of $342,045.84.
The Preble County Commissioners meet every Monday and Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the Preble County Courthouse, unless noted otherwise.
