The Navajo County Fair Board held its annual meeting Jan. 7, adding new board members to fill all seats on the board and selecting officers.
The fair board consists of 21 seats and 18 of those seats had been filled. Last Wednesday the board filled those three seats left vacant by the departure of Jake Hatch, Melissa Buckley and Jimmy Crosby earlier in the year, as well as those of Rusty DeSpain, J.R. DeSpain, Paul Van Zelf and Heather Scott, whose terms were expiring. Each of those four board members asked to remain on the board, and Billy Elkins, Spencer Huish and Jeremy Browning asked to be considered for the seats that remained open.
Since the number of vacancies were equal to those wanting to be on the board, a motion was made and unanimously approved to suspend the rules and cast a ballot accepting all the applicants.
The board then went on to select new officers for the coming year. In order to be considered for an office, a member must have been on the board for one full year. Scott moved to forgo the bylaws and keep the 2014 officers in place.
That motion was initially seconded and a majority of the board voted in favor of it until board member Rusty DeSpain cautioned against taking such action. “I think we should stick to our bylaws on an election. It’s why we have them and doing it this way keeps people from being nominated or allowing them to ask to be considered,” he stated.
The motion was rescinded and the elections were conducted according to bylaws with the officers retaining their positions from last year, including Mike Sample as president; Rusty DeSpain, vice president; Marshall Losey, secretary; and Valerie Slade, treasurer.
Once the annual meeting adjourned, the board reconvened in the first meeting of the year to discuss matters pertaining to the fairgrounds.
Sample reported that a tractor that was not working had been repaired at a cost of $3,200, and that an agreement had been made with Navajo County to receive 150 tons of millings to be used at the fairgrounds. He also noted that they were waiting on bids for the construction of a new tin roof for the grandstands.
The board selected the themes for the next two years of the Navajo County Fair. For 2015, the theme will be Ridin’, Rockin’ and Livestockin’ at the Navajo County Fair, and for 2016, the theme will be Stir Up Some Fun at the Navajo County Fair.
In other business, the board approved March 6-8 as the dates for Tolani Lakes Team Roping Classic with the rate to use the facilities to remain the same as the previous year and for the fairgrounds cantina to be the only vendor. Rusty DeSpain cast the sole dissenting vote.
