[0:00] Okay, thank you, Becky. We're on the record here. It is 3rd day March 19th at 9.01. We'll follow our meeting to order for the Utah State Fair Park Authority.

[0:14] Becky, do you want to do a roll call to get us started?

[0:16] We're really being blessed here, you know what, your family person.

[0:26] We hear it?

[0:27] You're okay.

[0:28] Next year.

[0:32] Steve Lawden.

[0:37] All مع breaking.

[0:45] Under the sand all.

[0:49] Beverly Selede here,

[0:52] on team.

[0:53] Here.

[0:55] Tommy Jowley, have worked

[1:01] with us as well.

[1:03] Great, thanks everyone for attending today.

[1:05] I appreciate being here on this fine march morning.

[1:09] Our first item of business is to approve what appears

[1:12] to be a slew of, so we've got February 19th, all of which were your packet, by the way. February 19th?

[1:23] Is that February 23rd? From the 19th to the end of the 23rd. Yeah, because we didn't.

[1:31] I'm sorry. Yeah. Okay, and then March 5th,

[1:35] Ocean 2, except those minutes?

[1:38] I think we did. I've got it. I think not all of them.

[1:54] Okay, subject to that change. I'll go back to

[1:56] U-Ted and entertain a motion to show move, except those were second. Second. Second, thank you.

[2:01] I'll take William.

[2:03] I'll take William.

[2:04] All in favor say aye.

[2:05] Aye.

[2:09] That's unanimous.

[2:10] The next item on the agenda is the review.

[2:18] Thank you.

[2:18] Welcome, Senator Sandle.

[2:21] We did not get through January financials in our last more any of the February meetings.

[2:27] And therefore, Alan, who's joining us remotely today, is going to take us through January and February financials.

[2:35] The floor is yours, Alan.

[2:36] All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, Board. January revenues, they were up about 9,000 compared to last year.

[2:47] They were up 20,000 against the budget, so it was a pretty decent January revenue-wise. February revenues were down 10 compared to last year.

[2:57] and they were down on the budget tent.

[2:59] We didn't expect that to be quite as light.

[3:03] But overall year-to-date revenues are in a good position.

[3:08] Our expenses for January are up 13,000 to last year

[3:12] and they're up 1,000 to the budget.

[3:15] For February expenses were down 10,000

[3:18] and down 10,000 on the budget.

[3:21] So overall, the ordinary income is down 4K

[3:28] on last year and down 10,000 on budget. That was for January. February was down 1,000

[3:35] compared to last year, and it was even against the budget. So, it puts us in a pretty good

[3:41] position. Our, our income was actually very comparable. It was 39,000 for January and 35,000

[3:49] February. Year to date, again, revenue is down 1,000 to last year and we're up 11,000 against

[3:58] our budget. The expenses, what's that?

[4:03] Nothing, just the car.

[4:07] Our expenses are down 4,000 to last year and down 10,000 against our

[4:11] budget. So that means that our ordinary income is down 4K overall against last year but we're

[4:19] We're already up $21,000 on our budget.

[4:23] The other income is down $3,000 on last year, which is a good position.

[4:28] Any questions on the financial state, the income statements, profit and loss?

[4:38] Our cash position is really strong.

[4:43] We're up $1.94 million on last year in cash.

[4:49] So that puts us in a really good position. Our receivables are down 81,000 to last year.

[4:56] Accounts payables up 21,000 last year, just very comparable. The change in our financial position is up over last year, 1.26 million dollars.

[5:07] So we continue to be in a very strong position. Are there any questions at all?

[5:13] None

[5:18] from us, Allen, appreciate you're being on call today, even though you're away from the office. Thanks for your input.

[5:24] No, not a problem. If you'll excuse me, I'll, I'll, I need to drop out, so.

[5:30] Sounds great. Thanks, Allen. All right. Thanks, guys.

[5:34] I mean, we, we see negative numbers. There's still red numbers there.

[5:37] What we expect that and that's the budget through. I'm meeting so much that can take us a half a year to get back out.

[5:43] So yeah, there's some of you ourselves are down, but our expenses are up because we're profit for the summer business

[5:49] Right, so in January we surfaced the floors from the grand and the pioneer and there's you know a head and right now

[5:56] We're doing a bunch of work on the malls, and so it's just the time of year where we need to prep that's all so it's spending

[6:02] His up, brother is down this time of year. Yeah

[6:04] They let the record reflect that at Steve one's joined us. All right Becky. Hey, thanks Steve. Welcome to the meeting

[6:12] Okay, the next item is to go into closed session and to talk about some negotiation issues

[6:22] on our real estate.

[6:24] So I need to read the right statement, Larry, and I broke.

[6:27] Are you there?

[6:28] You want to take us into closed session?

[6:29] Would you like me to take you into closed session?

[6:32] That would be great, just to get it right.

[6:35] Okay.

[6:36] The chair will now let you take the motion to go into closed session.

[6:41] Is that a nice home for

[6:45] Lincoln?

[6:46] We have a motion from way to second from Ted.

[6:56] Yes, didn't we?

[6:58] Yes.

[6:59] Kelly Pearson.

[7:00] Yes.

[7:02] Wait for it.

[7:03] Yes.

[7:04] Dave Lewis.

[7:05] Yes.

[7:06] Yes.

[7:11] Lewis?

[7:11] I

[7:25] understand that.

[7:41] From each of Lucia.

[7:43] And Paul, do you hear of Paul?

[7:49] Looks like Paul's meeting me a step to way.

[7:51] So that's unanimous with exception of Paul who did not vote.

[7:55] so that we're going into close session then um then by is is on the call as well I see the only

[8:02] one that's around board member that we'd have to oh brook yeah I'm not quite down yet okay oh

[8:10] sorry is that correct right yes okay so I

[8:20] need to vote so there's sandal do you vote to go into

[8:24] closed section.

[8:28] You're normal. Sorry, yes. Okay, thank you. Okay, so the the purpose of the

[8:36] procession is to discuss the purchase exchange or lease of real property in a court with section

[8:42] 52-4-205 subsection D. The date of the closed meeting is March 19, 2026. The time of closed meeting

[8:53] is 9-10-am. The location of the closed meeting is the State Fair Administration Building,

[8:59] located at 155 North and 1,000 West in Salt Lake City. Are there any other persons, other

[9:06] than board members, attending the closed session, and if so, please identify yourself.

[9:14] It's been lunch.

[9:17] Aaron, will you identify yourself?

[9:22] It's been lunch with you for district.

[9:24] I'm sorry.

[9:25] I'll be to follow your lead, Mr. Chair, on it.

[9:29] I will get to stay.

[9:33] Not beyond the call, then.

[9:34] And then we'll invite you back once we are about a close session.

[9:38] Great.

[9:39] Thank you.

[9:40] Thanks, Ben.

[9:46] We are now going to close session.

[9:48] We

[9:53] want you to stay Becky.

[9:55] But everybody on is a board member.

[9:57] So I scanned the list, right?

[10:00] And we got our meeting here with Larry.

[10:02] Okay.

[10:03] So I think we're in good shape.

[10:04] So the board now now adjourns closed session and removes into an open need.

[10:11] Hey, you want to let Ben back in.

[10:28] The next item on the agenda is the 2025 fair volunteer banquet.

[10:33] Lillian, you want to take us?

[10:35] Yeah, we need a saccharine.

[10:36] Yeah, I know.

[10:37] Great.

[10:41] Wait, Mr. Chairman, would you like me to bring the board up to speed before we're out with

[10:45] the days of 47 agreeable? That'd be great. Thanks, Larry. Happy to do that.

[10:49] So we're making really good progress, there's still a few items that we're working through and some of that is just helping that group understand some of our expenses and where those expenses are coming from.

[11:02] They would really like to have an agreement that's based on our actual cost and where we're at is we need to not only cover our actual cost but we need to put 10% on top of that for admin and a little bit of profit, mainly admin.

[11:16] And one example of why we need to do that is even though the majority of our employees

[11:20] are not eligible for the pension plan portion of the URS retirement plan, the company

[11:26] is still required to put a contribution in regardless.

[11:30] And so that's just one example of an expense that's not going to show up on their reports

[11:34] that why we need that additional 10% to help cover that.

[11:37] So essentially a lot of the individuals that are not participating in the pension portion

[11:42] of the URS plan are subsidizing those who are on the plan.

[11:45] And that payment comes from the company.

[11:47] So there's expenses of the company paid out that are not directly tied to like an expense

[11:51] like you would see if you got a quote for a hourly labor or a rental equipment and things

[11:56] of that nature.

[11:57] So we're trying to get that gap finalized and then we've talked a lot about utilities.

[12:02] They wanted to see some proof that our utilities are really as much as we claim they are, which

[12:06] they have now seen and they've been really great to work with.

[12:09] And as we've shared that information with them, I think that's helped them understand

[12:12] that this is a very expensive property to run and maintain. It's essentially a park and so they're

[12:18] starting to see that and be a little more empathetic and so that I do it. So I feel pretty good about it.

[12:22] They've been great to work with. So plus plus 10% looks like it's going to be the it really needs to

[12:28] happen. Otherwise we're going backwards. So we think by next month we should have I would hope

[12:34] I would like to think of that.

[12:37] Sounds great. Thanks for that update Larry. Welcome Sakura.

[12:40] appreciate you joining us today. Your name is as frequently mentioned in this

[12:47] meeting and all in in good terms and blowing remarks. So William and soccer why

[12:53] don't you take the floor? Well mostly gonna let soccer you know we didn't have

[12:58] but we're coming along great and I say we because I'm not really soccer has

[13:03] taken this on. The whole staff has got buy-in and they I sat in yesterday on

[13:08] their meeting and everybody's asking, from each to part review, what about this, what

[13:14] about that.

[13:15] So it was wonderful.

[13:16] Their invitation has gone out, software has gone through you guys, we've invited plus

[13:23] one.

[13:24] We've got to get a little fail for a little fault in making sure that's all in the legal

[13:29] area.

[13:30] Once it got approved, then the invitation's went out and you remain in the day to get

[13:41] So if any of you, she's going to give you these information, the any of you, please RSVP,

[13:48] if you have a plus one, and we're getting it, accurate count.

[13:52] They've done spectacular soccer, you can go from here.

[13:56] Okay, so I brought an invitation to either have it see it, so that you guys can look at it.

[14:04] So we're doing this celebration to my special thanks to our staff, our volunteer for our

[14:11] partners of the fair and you

[14:19] guys also on this.

[14:22] So right now as it looks we've got the catering, taking care of and then we'll get the members

[14:30] on the Monday.

[14:30] So far today when I just checked we have about a hundred RSVP's not counting our staff or the border or anything like that

[14:39] So that's just RSVP's and the plus ones. So we got about a hundred people so far. So it includes the plus ones.

[14:45] Yes, okay.

[14:46] Yeah, so it goes through Sunday night, but we won't shut it off till Monday and then I have we have to get the caters and the

[14:55] The rental company for Lin is a channeled, a final channeled for that.

[15:00] But we are coming in on your budget on that. Everybody that's working on parts and pieces, they're really getting good quotes and going back and tightening up the quotes. So I think it's looking really good that we're going to be coming in under the $25,000 more. The $25,000 is based on how many on the attendees. Right. So once we get the final count, then we'll get the new quote for

[15:27] Um, for catering and all that and so that'll be, which is that more.

[15:33] Um,

[15:36] the downstairs we're going to program with some interactive activities.

[15:40] The people can mingle and get to meet each other, bridge a little timeline with some photos of the fair park during the timeline from 1856 to present.

[15:49] And then the staff can put little stickers on when they started, what year they started.

[15:55] We also have a game that we're calling the Department Passport, so they're going to

[16:00] just meet three people and a different department and their own mother down there, just mark

[16:04] a card right there named on the back, pop it into a basket for our drawing at the end

[16:08] of the night.

[16:10] We'll have some music playing downstairs.

[16:12] We have a couple of roaming acts in a timetable, so Marcus is going to bring that.

[16:18] He's also going to have his photo booth set up there, where he's sitting on something

[16:23] any desk, the green screen in the back and you're sitting on a whale or something like that.

[16:27] Then we'll have our fair part photo in the fairies downstairs. So we're going to,

[16:33] as people are coming in, we'll crawl through down there for about 45 minutes,

[16:36] and then we'll send them upstairs to eat. And then our program will start at 5.30.

[16:41] It'll, our portion out there will end at 6.30. So that gives people time to go back downstairs

[16:47] and finish stuff that they didn't get to finish or just sit and talk for a little bit.

[16:52] and then that we were not talking all the way till seven so we're trying to

[16:56] convince all that into an outward but so far everything's good the staff's

[17:00] fought in on it and everybody has a part to play in a piece that they have to

[17:04] take care of and then we'll have a follow-up meeting next Wednesday and start

[17:08] set up on Friday. Well that sounds fantastic, Sarkar. Thank you for all your

[17:12] efforts and thank you William and Gassar, thanks a lot all those of me.

[17:28] I think the plus ones is pretty minimal right now wasn't it the 18 plus ones I think there's that's 30 now 30 now be 20 fuck 20 point so there's been some good response and I think this

[17:45] When we approve this money, there will be several comments that we should continue this and

[17:52] That's our plan is and maybe to do a January

[17:55] So do we have like that

[17:57] 25% response or 30 50s, but we sent out a box

[18:04] Staff we had 296 staff members, but we didn't have emails for every one of them

[18:11] Yeah, so we have to go through some I9s to get other emails and then

[18:15] we sent out like the livestock, volunteers, rodeo, my demonstrators and volunteers. So if you have

[18:25] everybody's emails, we've probably sent out about 3.30 so far maybe, roughly right in there.

[18:32] You've got about a third in. Yeah, so Jennifer has her hand down.

[18:40] Thank you, Mr. Chair. This sounds absolutely wonderful. I'm so pleased with all the hard work

[18:46] complaining that went into it. So thank you, you all. And I

[18:49] apologize in advance if I've missed an email related to the

[18:53] invitation, because obviously if we're online, we're not

[18:55] getting it handed to us. Has this been emailed out to the

[18:58] board yet?

[19:00] Sorry to slur it. I emailed it to you. It's probably in your inbox

[19:03] right now. Just today. Okay. With the last few minutes.

[19:07] Okay. Let's see. That makes me feel less irresponsible. Okay,

[19:13] got it. Thank you.

[19:14] The

[19:18] other thing I was going to ask is, so on the RSVPs are we going to overshoot that

[19:24] by 10 percent, 20 percent for people that just general up?

[19:28] Yeah, so talking to you Fred, we were thinking 10 percent might be a good number depending

[19:36] on where we come in.

[19:38] Fred is food and beverage manager, yeah, so that would be the item, the food beverage, everything

[19:42] else you can scale up or scale down rather quickly.

[19:44] For example, there is one more thing they're doing, they're doing something, they're doing

[19:50] a bunch of interactive or working down there and there is several things that they're engaging

[19:57] that people in, just seeing a courier or gathering out of people to guess the weight on different

[20:07] particles in that part. And so they're going to fill out a form and and get the weight. So

[20:17] Sakura said, I don't know who's going to count that. So I graciously, there's a board on there

[20:22] that counts those. So we could find out who the closest to us. So I'll leave some help counting those.

[20:29] Um, we'll have our, um, clients committee do a lot at the point.

[20:33] Right.

[20:34] If you're there, you'll ask the only one, wasn't it the guest the way?

[20:39] Yeah.

[20:40] Because the other things are, they're doing stuff and putting them in a fishbowl to, for

[20:44] a drawing or something.

[20:46] We're going to just, statistics board just on the, on the 2025 fair, but we haven't decided

[20:51] if it'll be a game or just kind of, the board with stats like, I don't know how many,

[20:57] you know, animals did you sell?

[20:59] how many people entered on their RV, how many girls life were considered.

[21:04] So, I think it's only the cost of just some of you to help count those.

[21:08] Then we are recognizing, yes we're doing, um, there are, I believe 13 people were going to recognize.

[21:14] So we had to pick a jumping off point. So we're going to go 20 to 24 years.

[21:19] People that have worked that many bears, not years but bears.

[21:22] And then 25 plus bears. So we have five people and 25 plus.

[21:28] and then we have the rest in the 20 plus and then we'll introduce what we're

[21:34] going to start doing next year with like a 10 to 15 year marks. We had to start

[21:39] somewhere and next year we'll have two staff members that have been here for

[21:45] 30 fairs. So yeah so that's really cool. We'll

[21:52] include some of our past board members

[21:54] on the invite.

[22:06] We're just going to leave you that and we're working on the run of

[22:08] show right now, and that runoff show is also going to provide an opportunity for the board

[22:14] to be introduced to the full volunteer staff, so many that don't even know who our board

[22:19] is.

[22:19] So it's a good opportunity for us to recognize the board and all volunteers at the same

[22:24] time, so they can put a name and a face together.

[22:27] So we'll also provide a little bit of time for you to speak to the audience if you'd like

[22:31] to, because we're really going to encourage this collaborative effort and there's a lot

[22:34] of sharing.

[22:34] it. It's a big family is what it is. Yeah. Well, great. This sounds wonderful.

[22:40] Thank you. Any questions for Sakura or Lily before we move on?

[22:44] Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. This is fantastic. Thanks for all your efforts.

[22:48] So live on. Thank you. Okay.

[22:52] Thank you, Sakura. I appreciate you.

[22:53] I'm in. Let's move on to our committee reports. I'm going to switch the order a little bit,

[22:58] Ted. Can I put you first on your safety security? And I'm going to put slash compensation

[23:04] committee. You want to give us an update on those areas?

[23:08] Well, two different committees basically. We got to be sure. We indicated last time that

[23:13] once Ali had a chance to attend the global

[23:21] COVID now, an international conference regarding

[23:24] security that we would then meet as a security committee to believe from Ali what she's

[23:34] learned and to find out. This is really staff intensive. I mean, the committee can pay attention

[23:40] and try to be informed on behalf of the board, but the real work continues to be done by

[23:46] the staff. And we'll just try to keep up with staff on that conversation as a different matter.

[23:53] We've had some serious, scheduling difficulties. I was very hopeful that we would be able to deal

[24:01] with, it's basically incentive compensation for our director for 2025. We've had some

[24:11] difficulties getting together and getting things organized, and we've actually made a

[24:17] couple of changes and determined that we're going to invite all of the board members to fill

[24:25] out of an evaluation, and I'll include some careful instructions with it, but we're

[24:34] going to invite you to respond on the areas where you can respond.

[24:39] If you're too new to have dealt with some issue or don't ever cross-pads on that, we're

[24:46] not asking you to just make a wild guess about something, we're asking you to make an evaluation

[24:53] on the areas where you feel competent to make an evaluation and I'll give detailed instructions.

[25:01] I'll try to get that out within the next week. A couple of decisions were made just in the last 24 hours

[25:07] about how to make that effective and meaningful for the board.

[25:12] And our dealing with our director's compensation is one of the things that falls squarely on the board.

[25:18] we're going to accumulate your evaluation of responses and then we will come as

[25:25] a committee with a recommendation that our next board meeting.

[25:29] Right.

[25:30] Thank you to appreciate it.

[25:31] Thanks for your patience.

[25:32] Yeah, appreciate it.

[25:33] Thank you for your patience.

[25:36] I need a couple more pieces of information from you, but two of that is we're, I've been

[25:44] talking with Larry about how we would change the evaluation from last, the last year of

[25:51] a year before that Lillian works so hard on,

[25:56] anticipate issues or areas of focus for

[26:02] incentive comp that arise because of our involvement with the district, LHM, and to

[26:12] those things.

[26:13] And I think we probably need to change the, add some focus for a couple of items, but I'm

[26:21] working through that with the Larry.

[26:22] Great.

[26:22] Thank you.

[26:23] Thanks, Ted.

[26:24] Appreciate you.

[26:25] And Jennifer, your efforts as well.

[26:27] And we'll look forward to, I'm on that committee as well.

[26:29] We'll look forward to that recommendation for our April meeting.

[26:32] Talking about April, Becky, you just want to make sure that we get that on your base calendar.

[26:37] Is that the 23rd of April then?

[26:40] That's going to be an important meeting for all of this.

[26:42] I want to make sure we're, that's the 4th Tuesday.

[26:47] That was...

[26:48] It's always the 3rd and 3rd.

[26:50] Oh, the 16th.

[26:51] Okay.

[26:52] Oh, I do see it on there. So you've already sent it out, Crata. That's going to be an important board meeting for us. Obviously, what Ted's talking about will come before us then, but also the Larry H Miller discussion. So make sure you mark your calendars for that.

[27:04] Okay. Thank you, Ted. Let's move on then. Steve, anything on the legislative committee that you have. And frankly, we just finished a session. Is there anything that anybody has on the legislative front that might affect the fair park that we need to discuss?

[27:20] I'm not a word of anything that's going to affect the fair park that we discussed.

[27:26] So from a legislative front, Larry and I have had a couple of conversations about it

[27:32] and really there wasn't a lot that we could see that that was going to affect the fair

[27:40] park.

[27:41] Larry, do you have any additional information on that?

[27:45] I don't.

[27:46] So there are so many bills that there's a possibility there's a bill that would have some

[27:50] impact and we're still going through that but as of today, nothing really is consequential

[27:54] to the fair park.

[27:55] Larry, I know we'd mentioned procurement provision that was in one of the BS, so it

[28:00] would affect us to that pass.

[28:02] That did pass.

[28:03] So we'll be able to secure the food providers that are necessary to support a fair without

[28:08] happening to go through a whole bit process.

[28:11] Okay.

[28:12] That would be hugely impactful.

[28:13] Well, just to say of relief that they're done and things aren't still in flux, yeah.

[28:22] One thing, can I say something?

[28:23] Let's go to Darryl and then Lilian.

[28:25] So I just tell him, hapline provenance passed, I did send you a thin list of hapline provenance,

[28:30] so I saw that variant with a lot of other construction, not bearing real wealth, hapline provenance

[28:38] hit very well this year, so that there are parts, yes.

[28:40] I don't have my let's pull the front now to email to you that we did get all the requests

[28:45] that I was recommending so.

[28:47] Now we received great support from Darryl and DFCM and one of the more important projects

[28:53] is to address this entryway and clean it up and make it safer for pedestrians and more

[28:58] efficient to get vehicles in and out and so we're really looking forward to seeing that project

[29:03] come to fruition.

[29:05] It's really being more and more important.

[29:07] that we're starting to see on our front,

[29:09] whereas artists wanted to share of your beverage sales

[29:14] to help offset their fees and costs and their profits.

[29:17] They're now they're starting to dip their toe into parking.

[29:21] So being able to be efficient in parking

[29:23] is going to become even more important.

[29:25] Yeah.

[29:26] Any other major projects that were approved

[29:28] that are kind of on that docket?

[29:30] There was quite a few, but just improve a project out here

[29:34] There are no other major countries that haven't been there.

[29:37] Well, Darrell, thanks for advocating for us.

[29:38] I know you're a big part of why that works well for us.

[29:42] So, appreciate you, your participation on the board

[29:44] and advocating for that budget.

[29:47] Louis.

[29:47] Oh, I just wanted to note that, very nice.

[29:51] Well, yesterday, he had gone on the hill

[29:54] and left every legislator and every senator,

[29:57] the economic impact study.

[30:00] He took them up and they were placed on every guest. And I emailed my senator and let's say if you guys would reach out to yours to make sure they received it. It may just be a heads up and they might look for it, they might not, but just seem, is there a lot to turn that in? Yeah. That's a good point. We ought to mention as well. Thanks Larry for getting that out. It was very timely to get it out during the session where eyeballs are focused on that kind of a thing.

[30:28] I think any summaries you want to tell us about it though.

[30:32] I haven't received a tremendous amount of feedback.

[30:35] I did speak with Mike Mauer, the governor's office,

[30:37] and he was very thankful of our efforts to keep the fair part vital

[30:42] and an important part of our community.

[30:45] I'm very grateful for that.

[30:46] I did not have a chance to visit with the Speaker of the House

[30:49] or the President of the Senate.

[30:50] They were very busy, but I did make sure that they had copies delivered to them.

[30:54] Okay.

[30:54] These are hard copies, not emailed, so they should be stressed here.

[31:00] Senator Sandal.

[31:04] We ought to reflect in the record how positive that the impact report was.

[31:10] It was a great report, right?

[31:12] Let's make sure we include that in our record in our minutes as well, Becky.

[31:17] Okay, let's keep moving on.

[31:18] Steve, any updates on the Education Committee?

[31:22] Yeah, Sakura and I are going to meet after this meeting, but Dave Seacrest with Utah State University has put together a theme of producers.

[31:37] And we're trying to focus on, he's invited me to be a part of that as part of the Fairboard board board.

[31:45] and the whole focus is on young producers and he wants to be a part of the

[31:51] education committee here and I think what we'll do is we're going to work in

[31:59] tandem with them so that we're not duplicating efforts but I think that moving

[32:06] forward with them and with the help of Utah State we're going to have a much

[32:11] better product this year. Sounds great. I think the message was great last year and the

[32:18] agenda was great. Steve, we didn't have maybe as many as we would have wanted, but certainly

[32:25] we can make that grow and build on it. So thanks for your efforts there. I think we can make

[32:30] it grow. And I appreciate that. I'm still looking forward to it. There is a meeting this next week

[32:39] down in in St. George down in Washington County for it's it's a cal producers

[32:47] meeting down there that I'm going to attend. They generally have some really

[32:51] good speakers at that meeting and so I can report more on that after that

[32:56] meeting.

[33:00] Question.

[33:01] Jennifer.

[33:04] That I was just the studio had mentioned a meeting and do we have an

[33:08] education committee meeting right after this?

[33:10] just it's just gonna be like a 10-minute meeting to catch up see if everybody see

[33:17] what anybody has and everybody has nothing nothing more real detailed right now

[33:22] not even an agenda so

[33:30] there is a committee meeting I'm just I don't I'm no

[33:34] I don't have anything on my calendar Jennifer it's not gonna be an official

[33:38] committee meeting we have not scheduled about meeting for after this it's

[33:43] Okay, mainly Sakura and I just catch you up to see what's what's going on and what we need to do to move forward.

[33:50] Okay, great. Just want to make sure that, yeah, you're good.

[33:55] Taking care of my responsibilities. Thank you.

[33:59] Yep.

[34:00] Okay, well, thank you Steve. Appreciate your efforts there.

[34:03] Let's move on to the fair committee, Lilian.

[34:07] Yes, they're moving along great, great speeds.

[34:11] There's some offers out for concerts, but we don't disclose that to it's actually signed

[34:16] to the state by says that every time, but there is some I'm excited, it's some of these,

[34:23] it's just so expensive, rock, country, plastic, rock prices have not come down from these

[34:29] inflated numbers we've seen in the past very prices have not come down a good example would

[34:35] be Leonard Skinner. There is no surviving members on that band whatsoever. And they're starting

[34:44] prices for $400,000. So this is a tribute band if you will.

[34:54] We've got quite a few offers out

[34:56] there. It takes me on Lillian's comments. It's a painstaking process because Utah is so competitive with

[35:01] a number of performing arts venues, so now they just call everybody else and see if they

[35:05] get a better deal.

[35:07] Alright, so they're working on that and I appreciate that diligence because that's

[35:11] a lot.

[35:11] These go back and forth, back and forth, and then they say no, we're not coming.

[35:15] So there's a lot of time and effort that doesn't come through fruition, but you have to go

[35:19] through the process.

[35:20] What is kind of like deadline for that to be out finalized, you know?

[35:24] We told them that we really need to have good direction the next couple of weeks, and so

[35:28] in Iraq, so working on second, third backup offers for different bands, just so we can

[35:33] roll right into it. And then right now we're giving them about 30 days. That's typical

[35:37] to the norm, but the next one will get two weeks, right? We've got to start pushing people.

[35:41] Right, right. They have to make a decision because it has to help. And there's some great

[35:44] talent we've got offers out. We're just waiting for them to say yes. We keep hearing

[35:48] yeah, everything was great. We're, but they're checking for a better off. They're checking

[35:53] for a better off. So this year they are working on the America 250.

[35:58] that's a lot of the theme this year even though we're after the 4th of July. If you're looking

[36:03] at your packet, there'll be showing you some grounds entertainment and so that's a lot of the

[36:08] focus. And Osanker is working with the fiber arts and trying to have different demonstrations geared

[36:14] toward that. So I'm really excited about that. I think it'll be a wonderful celebration. Very good

[36:20] 50-50. Other than that they've got the grounds under him I think is all finalized and they're just

[36:28] bringing all that and I think all the stages are now completed. Pretty close. Yeah the fair

[36:35] programming is was essentially completed. Yes. Still you know dialing it on some of the events

[36:42] that we're going to host to support the 250 celebration but it's getting very close. Yeah.

[36:47] I think he's put a lot of work into that.

[36:49] Yeah, I'm really excited for that.

[36:51] And then what I thought, the food vendors are usually

[36:54] on buying that I think that's right about that.

[36:56] We just opened that up yesterday, right?

[36:58] So we're just now starting to solicit those entries.

[37:02] Yeah.

[37:03] Hopefully we have a cheaper than $20.

[37:06] That will happen.

[37:07] Well, with $5 diesel, I went on older breath.

[37:10] And $10 pound of beef.

[37:12] Yeah.

[37:13] Yeah, you know, we're certainly going to push that, you know, it's a good opportunity to talk a little bit about while you're on food and beverage and a fair is the contract that we had with our previous beverage provider expired.

[37:26] So we did send that off our RFP and PICI was a very important part of that when we looked at awarding that and the successful respondent is Pepsi Cola and their pricing was significantly less than the other.

[37:41] because they were getting down.

[37:43] It wasn't even in the same zip code price wise.

[37:46] And so that's how we have now, too.

[37:48] It's who we have now.

[37:49] But we were surprised to see that the price gap was that big.

[37:52] And when I did speak with that other company,

[37:55] the representative did mention that they were worried

[37:58] that the prices were too high before they even presented it

[38:01] to us and tried to get their management to bring the price down.

[38:04] And so it's a delicate balance that everybody's fighting

[38:06] on price and profits.

[38:07] But it was without mentioning exact dollars, it was double the price.

[38:14] Wow.

[38:15] This makes it more workable when you have someone willing to put in the patent.

[38:20] And they also provide other, you know, sensory stuff.

[38:24] So it's a good relationship with Pepsi right now.

[38:28] That's great.

[38:29] That's all.

[38:30] Okay.

[38:30] Thanks.

[38:31] I really appreciate all your efforts and the effort of your committee there.

[38:34] Wade, where do you with rodeo?

[38:35] Not a lot other than here

[38:42] we've walked everybody in raises I mean hold the get here locations killing them as well

[38:51] It just more

[39:03] money the

[39:09] all aspects of our fair

[39:11] Yeah, it was put more people to see it's right. Yep. That's what we've got to do. You're in for sir

[39:18] Jim livestock that

[39:30] chairman now our

[39:36] family gets on board

[39:37] I think it would be better if we could time it all together with Sammy right and go from there

[39:41] Okay, but I'm pretty encouraged by what you're doing. Yeah, so I know Jason's kind of working on the final guidelines there

[39:48] Several

[39:55] things one of which was the new drenching rule. I have not received any feedback on the drenching rule other than it's out there and that it's

[40:03] You know, you didn't know you heard anything on it. So I guess no news is good news

[40:10] Yeah

[40:11] Yeah

[40:12] Yeah, yeah, and then the way Darryl and I

[40:20] building design people on the new building,

[40:22] and it's where we started those meetings. Every other week on Tuesday I think they are, I think

[40:27] I mean, first being went really well, and I

[40:32] have to eventually make, but you

[40:38] know, I know

[40:39] I had to see it that early on that meeting, but it'd be possible to move that meeting up because

[40:46] I've got a consistent conflict on Tuesdays that I already went back from 11 to 11.30, I'm

[40:52] Yeah, but I don't know the thing.

[40:56] And is that the actual designer that

[40:59] I think him would hire so we're going to hire the designer. We already have that.

[41:05] So that we're just to the next level of the designer. They don't

[41:09] can be the ones that design the entire. They all get us 99% of the way there.

[41:16] The old fairgrounds players been working with us for a while. They've actually gone on trips with us to

[41:21] instance the Denver year ago. They travel along with us and that's what this specialty is designing

[41:26] barns for fairs and fairgrounds, so that's their 4j. And they're the ones that are doing them.

[41:30] The Colorado State Fair, it's the Colorado State Fair, the Iowa Fair, they did the New York

[41:36] building, but they're concerned there though. No, that's just curious. If we were hiring them,

[41:43] or a birth

[41:47] test for whatever effort, that would probably be the

[41:54] same thing as the youth fair.

[41:59] It's somebody involved that actually understood how fairs work and the fair programming

[42:03] from a livestock perspective because what fairs do is a little bit different than how you generally

[42:08] you know poke

[42:13] about the initial designs and we present a familiar information I think we're

[42:17] going to have a really good product. So do we end up one client laterally again did we end up

[42:21] laying on two barns for sure yeah I don't know about for sure but yes that was the original that's

[42:26] the direction thanks

[42:33] Jim hey chairman if I could reel the quick I meant to bring this up during

[42:36] wage rodeo, but just so you're aware, JC was actually selected as one of the top 30

[42:42] under 30 women in the country for rodeo, so she'll actually be in Calgaryl magazine and they'll

[42:48] do an article on her. So that's a great accomplishment and just give us an opportunity to highlight

[42:53] the fair, so we'll take an ad out to support her recognition and promote our own rodeo

[43:01] editions of

[43:02] copies and then we will get some extra copy, or at least the picture of it, sent it to the board.

[43:07] but yeah, so it should actually be in Arlington on May 23rd and that's where

[43:11] next I have the ceremony at the war presentation. Fantastic. So congratulations for her. Yeah,

[43:16] let's put that on the record as well Becky and make sure you pass along our

[43:19] congratulations from the forward. Before we get too far to the end here, Ben, can you hear us?

[43:29] Yes, I can. Hey, Ben, I want to make sure you know you're invited to that Saturday

[43:33] March 28th celebration as well with your plus one you should see an invite in your inbox but if not

[43:42] know that you're invited to that as well.

[43:53] Agenda. I maybe had just one more question. I noticed

[43:58] that we're replacing the roof and I saw a leverage report on the market that will

[44:04] sell in those to

[44:06] LA Jam. Why would you want that? Those projects were approved some time ago and some of it is the

[44:12] interior work to which will benefit us while we continue to use it. But the overall

[44:17] objective has always been to make sure those assets are protected and that's

[44:20] all we're doing. So filling that obligation to make sure the asset is

[44:23] preserved. I mean, that's fine. I just don't worry about that at all, buddy.

[44:27] It's a little more important to make sure it's a good question. Yeah, that's no

[44:29] thing like something that won't change when they take over and remodel or retro print.

[44:33] But we get have funding that through the floors as well, which we chose not to do

[44:38] because it would not only be dust back, we did it with the underground utilities,

[44:43] but it would look like so it would be foolish to put new cement to have a cut back out.

[44:48] But some of this also is going to benefit us. They're going in and they're putting all

[44:51] of the earthquake tie-ins, so that roof was never tied into the walls, so they've been doing that,

[44:56] so it's going to be a safer product all the way around it as well. I mean that's fine, I just

[45:00] That asked the question and bring it up. That's a very good question to ask. We understand why. Mr. Chairman. Yes, but yes.

[45:08] Senator Sando. You've got the floor. Sorry. Sorry. My service is really bad right now. I don't know why. Back to where I can be part of the meeting. I just wanted to recognize. I think I saw Lillian's name come back up for renomination for the board by the government. Is that right?

[45:30] Congratulations. Congratulations. All happy to support that nomination.

[45:35] Thank you. Yeah, we got a letter from Governor Cox. If you'd signs asking me to be

[45:41] reappointed. So thank you. Yep. I just want to recognize that, Mr. Chair.

[45:47] Thank you, Senator Sandom. And you're a great resource for the people. We appreciate all your efforts.

[45:52] So thank you for being early to serve you.

[46:04] Okay, we've reached the end of our agenda, anything else we need to schedule for our next month, next month's going to be a pretty good meeting when we talked about a number of these really hot topics, so anything else we need to bring up an agenda for that meeting.

[46:19] I just got a question made it for this meeting real quick, because like I mentioned earlier,

[46:24] the SCM's got a report back to the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on potential

[46:30] Olympic impacts statewide, and I know that's 10 years down the road, but we need to start

[46:35] thinking about now, and I got a report, or the SCM's got a report, hopefully, not made that

[46:40] by May 1st.

[46:42] There you know if there was any impact to the fair park during the last Olympics, parking,

[46:48] anything like that, that this might be the service box or anything like that

[46:55] that would need improvements. The last the last Olympics, the fair did not play a

[47:00] very big role in the Olympics. It was mainly a what they would call a marshalling

[47:05] yard which is where sound lights were dropped and things of that nature. Our goal is

[47:10] to play a much larger role this time so hopefully we start to see some clarity on that a

[47:14] little bit. I thought I'd bring it up so what would you like the

[47:18] We would love to host one of the country's houses, right?

[47:22] So they all have a, like a hospitality housing,

[47:27] but each country will set up.

[47:29] And the grant would be a perfect location

[47:31] for one of those countries to use

[47:32] as one of their hospitality locations during the Olympics.

[47:36] I know Larry, they also had awards,

[47:39] the actual Awards ceremony within you,

[47:42] was downtown next to church.

[47:44] I saw that lot.

[47:45] Yeah.

[47:45] I mean, might there be an opportunity to host something of that nature here because we have an infrastructure?

[47:51] I think there's a lot of opportunities for still just exploring. All of them, there's been

[47:55] discussions about what we should do with 3-day festival here during that, right?

[47:58] So people would like to do that. So there's a lot that's happening, but we want to make further line with the Olympic effort first.

[48:04] We don't want to create something that competes with what they're trying to show.

[48:09] Yeah, so do we sit in on those discussions?

[48:11] How do we ours that fair park be integrated into those like every other than you so then you're just on a list. Okay

[48:19] Some bend you to their Darrow. I mean higher priority. I'd like to you

[48:23] Is your report to them to say hey their state properties and here's their availability is that no?

[48:29] It's just for

[48:30] potentially planned venues or

[48:33] Infrastructure needs you know park needs just okay. How the state might be impacted and how we might use

[48:40] state resources with other venues and what that impact my own it's a pretty

[48:45] short timeline and I don't know I need to get with others that are aware of

[48:50] what's going on and find out what information they have and this report back it will

[48:54] be a pretty high-level report at this time because obviously in 45 days we

[48:59] can't begin but that's just something I've got to work on so yeah we have some of

[49:08] I will approach the Olympic committee, I know Brad Wilson really well, he's actually married to my first cousin, so I've been open for ever, and I will, I will, I will

[49:23] venue and what possible there as they begin to plan events.

[49:32] We're in urban area, so I would assume we should be on the options there.

[49:36] If you remember, the first one, too, they did concerts every night.

[49:39] They did, they were kind of free to the public and I'm sure, by the way, I mean, I'm not going to get rid of those.

[49:45] But the events, compared to the last one, at least we had here, almost doubled.

[49:49] So there can be a lot more needs than there was supposed to be.

[49:52] And unfortunately, I just worked, I worked many years with the home and play and seek

[49:59] foundation.

[49:59] Let's call him, help him.

[50:01] That's my resource.

[50:02] I'm going to be reaching out to him and say, hey, what's going on here?

[50:04] I don't know if we don't need to get with.

[50:05] That's it, of course.

[50:06] So I just thought I'd ask.

[50:08] Good question.

[50:09] Oh, that's a great question.

[50:10] And then some of us have a lot of a lump experience.

[50:13] I worked for NBC Television and the International Broadcasting Group that actually filmed and broadcasted

[50:19] and had the rights to the Olympics.

[50:20] I spent a lot of time up there with all those groups.

[50:22] It's just so we've got some resources that are available to people who are unaware of so that's great

[50:28] Ted just one small item

[50:31] At least some of you know I'm very involved in the local fair park community council

[50:36] The suggestion has been made in our in our meetings that

[50:40] We consider teaming up with the fair

[50:45] And getting third north or tenth west

[50:49] Just renamed to Fair Park Avenue or Fair Park Boulevard or something like that.

[50:55] And I said to the group, well, I would sound out the board to see what they think about

[51:02] that.

[51:03] If the board is supportive of it, it's certainly something we'd like to pursue.

[51:09] To be straight with that.

[51:10] Either third nor third, or tenth, west.

[51:19] What are the next mean here?

[51:20] Do we, we can't take action because it's not a gendered bit?

[51:23] Well, I don't know that we need to take action at all.

[51:25] I'm just looking for board opinion or it's a little feedback it seems positive. I see nothing negative in that anybody else

[51:32] What's the process to get that change? Don't know. Okay. Yeah, it's a big city thing. All right. It's a fence. I think it makes sense. Yeah, so like so like city council

[51:44] Okay

[51:45] We we have an in there sounds like we have some positive feedback for you though. Thank you. And so take that back to your group

[51:53] Will do okay

[51:54] Okay. Okay. I think that concludes our meeting for today. I'll entertain an

[52:00] motion to adjourn. Thank you Ted. We have a second and a second. That's all

[52:06] favors say aye. Aye. Aye. Just unanimous. We are adjourned. Thanks everyone.

[52:11] Appreciate everybody being on today. Make sure you mark your calendar for the

[52:15] 16th of April.

Utah State Fairpark Authority Board Meeting March 19, 2026

Transcript