BOCC undoes Dec. 4 vote, requests legal clarification on Fair Board duties

By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff

The Bonner County board of commissioners held a special meeting Dec. 30 with members of the Bonner County Fair Board, aiming to clarify each party’s respective duties regarding the fairgrounds’ property, events and staff. After a marathon four-hour meeting, which drew ample public participation, the commissioners did not make any decisions regarding the division of authority, but did choose to undo a Dec. 4 vote regarding oversight of the fair manager.

The new motion, which passed 2-1, instructed the manager to report to the Fair Board, rewriting previous instruction to Bonner County Human Resources to revise job descriptions to clarify the manager reported to the BOCC only. Though Chair Brian Domke did not agree that the Dec. 4 vote had to be rescinded, as it was based on legal advice, he ultimately agreed to “revert the prior decision so that we can have a clean starting point — after we have a written legal opinion — to move forward from.” At the request of Commissioner Asia Williams, he further resolved to draft a request to the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office seeking a legal opinion on the division of powers between the BOCC and Fair Board.

The Dec. 30 meeting drew more than 40 attendees, speaking to a series of controversies that began in November. Fairgrounds Bookkeeper Jennifer Wyman and Fair Board Treasurer Staci McBrayer, who took over for former-Treasurer Samantha Schmidt that month, presented preliminary findings to the BOCC regarding “incorrect” information in the fair’s Fiscal Year 2024 financial reporting. Prior to their investigation, Schmidt had resigned and returned what was apparently her final $5,000 paycheck, which neither she nor the board could verify she was owed, as she had been operating without a contract for months. Wyman later uncovered that books under Schmidt’s purview had contained errors such as “negatives on our accounts payable” and “large amounts on our accounts receivable,” and that “every check number is incorrect.

Following those findings, the BOCC held a public meeting with legal counsel Dec. 4 at the request of Bonner County Human Resources Director Jonathan Holmgren, who argued that the county was “at risk regarding employee relations and employment practices.”

“It is my professional opinion, as the human resources director, that the county Fair Board has been operating beyond the scope of its responsibility for some time and has veered into the lane of responsibility that belongs to the BOCC under Idaho Code Section 31-807,” Holmgren said Dec. 4.

“This has resulted in the Fair Board thinking that they employ the county fairgrounds personnel and can direct their work,” he added, arguing that because the county hires and pays those wages, they are county — not Fair Board — employees.

Both Domke and Nate Adams, of the Prosecutor’s Office, later clarified that the alleged overreach was the fault of the county, not the Fair Board, and that both entities had been operating within the bounds of state statute. Over the years, the BOCC has delegated additional powers to the Fair Board that are not explicitly stated in statute, as is its right, Adams said.

At the Dec. 4 meeting, Domke and Commissioner Ron Korn voted to clarify the Fair Board’s powers going forward and instruct staff to rewrite fairgrounds personnel’s job descriptions, especially the fair manager, to indicate that they reported to the BOCC and not the Fair Board.

Williams, who was absent for the Dec. 4 meeting, voiced her opposition to the proceedings at the Dec. 9 regular business meeting and alleged that the previous vote had violated Idaho Open Meeting Law due to the vague language of the meeting notice. Prosecutor Louis Marshall found that the notice was sufficient; and, while Williams disagreed, she did not pursue the matter further.

The topic came up again at the Dec. 23 regular business meeting, at which time Korn announced Fair Board Chairman Tim Mahan had resigned. Mahan handed in his resignation before a scheduled “vote of confidence” at the Dec. 22 Fair Board meeting.

In response to requests from Fair Board members, Williams called on the BOCC to vote Dec. 23 on whether to require that Holmgren issue a public retraction of his Dec. 4 statements.

“Some feel like the language used was not appropriate, and it was not correct,” said Williams. “Although Nate Adams, in the same meeting, corrected the statements that were made, what was published and stated in the meeting is being asked to be retracted.”

“For the record, I would like legal clarification on the definition of ‘retraction,’” said Holmgren. “This sounds like an elected official — or group of elected officials — are directing a county employee to lie or state an untruth or a falsehood, which is illegal and unethical.”

Korn and Domke voted 2-1 against the motion, arguing that Adams’ and Domke’s clarifying statements during and after the Dec. 4 meeting were satisfactory.

The Dec. 30 meeting opened with a similar debate, with Adams opposing Korn’s memorandums for the meeting and arguing that they implied the county and Fair Board had acted contrary to statute.

The memorandum for Item No. 2 states: “I believe that the County has abused the members of the Fair Board in the past by overtasking them with responsibilities that should not have been theirs to bear.”

Korn clarified that it was not his intention to imply wrongdoing, but that he believed the BOCC had delegated too many powers to the Fair Board over the years.

“I don’t always have a very well talent of articulating what’s in my head to paper,” said Korn, later adding, “I’m not pointing the finger at the Fair Board — they’re doing exactly as they’ve been told to over the past decades.”

In the first — and only — agenda item discussed Dec. 30, Korn proposed limiting the scope of the Fair Board’s oversight to the fair, rodeo and 4-H horse show. Domke questioned whether the commissioners had the power to limit the Fair Board’s oversight, considering that while the BOCC can allocate powers to the board, it is a quasi-autonomous organization under state statute. He specifically cited Idaho Code 22-204 and 207, which gives the Fair Board “care and custody of all property belonging to the county and used for fair purposes,” and stipulates that money earned from the county fair is retained by the Fair Board, not allocated to the county expense fund.

“I’m reading this to say that the board of county commissioners actually doesn’t have oversight — doesn’t have the ability to delegate that — because it’s actually being given to the Fair Board by statute,” said Domke, later adding, “Foundationally, I don’t even know if I really understand how we should be reading that statute at this time, because as I keep reviewing it again and again, there’s a lack of clarity.”

Robert Able, of the Prosecutor’s Office, conceded that Idaho Code Title 22 is “not written very well,” but clarified that though statute gives the Fair Board control over money earned from the fair, it does not give it a right to profits from other events on the property. That distinction is complicated by the fact that the county has tasked the Fair Board with year-round maintenance of the fairgrounds.

“What I’m hearing is that, because Bonner County chose to form a fair board, by statute, certain duties of authority were statutorily granted to the Fair Board when it comes to the management and oversight of certain county property and funds associated with the fair,” said Domke.

He then asked if the BOCC has the authority to give “clear, written expectations to the Fair Board about certain things that have to do with, say, facilities, financial processes, things of that nature.” According to Williams, previous legal opinions have indicated that the BOCC can make requests of the Fair Board, but not demands.

Domke then motioned to request that legal counsel give a written opinion “indicating a summary of the duties and responsibilities of both boards,” emphasizing where the duties diverge.

During the lengthy public comment section, members of the Fair Board — including McBrayer — requested that the commissioners place the board in charge of fairgrounds personnel. As the fair does not currently have the budget to pay staff, the county would still pay employee wages; they would simply report and receive instructions from the Fair Board.

Holmgren raised concerns with the proposal because it would potentially create an employee-employer relationship between the volunteer board and Bonner County employees. He requested that the Prosecutor’s Office provide a legal opinion “concerning the definition of the employment relationship, as defined under U.S. federal law, because that will provide the framework for fairgrounds personnel moving forward.”