Minutes 01-23-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mark Chilton said he agreed with Mark Marcoplos, and he feels this is a great idea. He said this is an opportunity to showcase the local food and value added stuff being produced by the County. He feels it would be more successful than the figures show, and people would be drawn to it. Dave Stancil said the proposed budget with cost on November 12th was $142,000, with another $42,000 in contingencies. He said there has been some refinement to this. Commissioner Rich noted that the abstract says the Visitor's Bureau is committing $10,000, but that is not what happened. She said the notes from that meeting show that the $10,000 would only be available after the event shows it is a viable fair. Laurie Paoceilli said there was a lot of circular conversation. She said the Visitors Bureau is in the events support business, and it seemed fair to many to support the idea of a County fair. She said the conversation got caught up with the realization that there was not enough information about this event yet to financially support it at this time. She said if the Board of County Commissioners vetted this and thought it was a viable event then it is her opinion that there would be a vote to support using that $10,000. Commissioner Rich asked Margaret Cannell, Executive Director of the Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce and producer of Hogg Day, to come up. She asked how much time Margaret Cannell spent on Hogg Day. Margaret Cannell said this would require a minimum of 6 months of full time work since it is a larger event. She said this takes a lot more time and dedication than the Board may think. She said the planner will have a sharp learning curve, and for this first time planning process the County would need a full time person for the full year. Commissioner Rich asked how much money Hogg Day made. Margaret Cannell said she has run Hogg Day for 12 years, and the most money it made was $30,000. She said that was a year when pork producers donated $13,000 worth of meat. She said that figure does not account for staff time. She, taking into account staff time, there was a profit of$7,000 this past year. Commissioner McKee asked if Hogg Day gets grants from corporations. Margaret Cannell said Hogg Day had sponsorships, but it was difficult to get them. She said for a start-up event, this would be the first task the event planner would need to do. She said this could be easy if the planner has good networking in place, but the economy also plays a huge role. She thanked the Board and other County staff members who have supported Hogg Days over the years. She noted that several organizations are trying to pick up the event. Commissioner Pelissier said there are a lot of possibilities set out here and a budget nobody really understands. She said while this is a great idea, her main concern is Blackwood Farm and how this would play out with moving Blackwood Park forward in the future. She would like to wait another year or two until Blackwood Park begins development. Commissioner McKee said costs with the schools are getting ready to come up again, and there are continuous state cuts to the school systems. He said he is concerned with how these cost factors will be accommodated, and he feels that this event will be a competing item in the budget. He said if there is going to be an increase in expenses it should be for school systems and core services. He is uncertain that that can even be done without a tax increase. Commissioner Rich said there was some conversation about this event at the Visitors Bureau end of the year meeting. She said one conversation was about the idea that this could start small with a music venue at the farm's amphitheater. She said there was also some concern expressed about some of the property on Blackwood Farm not being stable. Dave Stancil said that was true at one time, but there has been about $100,000 worth of building stabilization done over the past several years. He said this should not be an issue.