HomeMy WebLinkAbout01 Minutes January 18 2021AGRICULTURE AND EXTENSION
EDUCATION/FAIR COMMITTEE MEETING
Monday, January 18, 2021
9:00 a.m.
The January 18 meeting was held in the South Room of the Youth & Agriculture Center and by
Zoom. The meeting was called to order by Chairman Pat Schroeder. Present in person were
Chairman Schroeder, Roger Guthrie, John Patcle, Mike Lieurance, Gary Northouse, Bob Keeney,
Amy Olson, Lori Vesperman, Shane Drinkwater and James Schneider. Present by Zoom were Paul
Ohlrogge, Amanda Cauffman, Charisse Orth and Amanda Degenhardt. Mark Stead was excused.
The meeting notice was posted at the Extension Office, Youth & Agriculture Center, Administration
Building, on the Grant County website and emailed to media.
Motion by John Patcle, seconded by Mike Lieurance, to approve the agenda. Motion carried.
Motion by Roger Guthrie, seconded by Gary Northouse, to approve minutes of the meeting held
November 16, 2020 with addition. Motion carried.
Grant County Extension and Youth & Agriculture Center business was presented.
Educator reports were given by Amanda Cauffman, Charisse Orth and James Schneider. James gave
a summary of the estimated impact of the Grant County Tourism Council's "Tourism Business
Re-Boot" campaign conducted between May 1 and August 31. He also discussed plans for changes to
the Tourism Grant program that the county funds each year. Based on continued uncertainty related
to the ongoing pandemic he recommended that the $10,000 available in 2021 be divided into three
segments with up to $3000 being made available to new or expanded tourism related projects, up to
$5,000 made available to social media related promotions, and the final $2,000 be allocated to
acquiring additions to the tourism photo library that continues to be developed. James will develop
the necessary grant guidelines and distribute them to potential applicants. Grant proposals will be
submitted to the Extension office for review and approval by the Committee at an upcoming meeting.
Motion by Gary Northouse, seconded by Mike Lieurance, to go with James’ recommendations for
Grant County Tourism Grants. Motion carried.
Paul Ohlrogge gave the Area Extension Director update and commented on the number of hits made
on the Grant County Extension office website.
Motion by Roger Guthrie, seconded by Mike Lieurance, to approve Extension vouchers. Motion
carried.
Amy Olson gave the grounds and maintenance and Youth & Agriculture Center report. General
maintenance continues.
Sprague Brothers Tree Services cut down a tree and maintenance removed it from the grounds.
Sprague Brothers need to grind the stump yet. Maintenance built eight large photography stands for
the Fair. They continue to deep clean facilities.
Amy shared plans and costs of materials to renovate restrooms in the Extension Office. At this time
the cost is around $500 with some additional supplies needed.
Motion by Mike Lieurance, seconded by John Patcle, to have the restrooms renovated. Motion
carried.
Amy Olson presented Fair and Fairgrounds Business.
Steer ID deadline has passed. Fennimore and Belmont sale barns each designated a day for youth to
bring their steers in for identification and weigh in.
Plans are to move forward with the 2021 Fair. Amy has information from other Fairs that were held
in 2020 as to what works and what doesn’t for safety purposes relating to COVID-19.
Discussion was held on making credit purchases available for the Fair Office.
All entertainment scheduled for the 2020 fair will be held at the 2021 Fair. Contracts were presented
for Badgerland Midway Carnivals, Tower Sounds, Monster Trucks, Hard Hit Promotions and
Tri-State Truck and Tractor Pullers.
Motion by John Patcle, seconded by Gary Northouse, to sign all contracts. Motion carried.
Motion by Roger Guthrie, seconded by Mike Lieurance, to sign the two-year lease agreement with
Farm Bureau for the building on the grounds. Motion carried.
Motion by Gary Northouse, seconded by Roger Guthrie, to hold an event on the Fairgrounds on
June 26 with Hooked on Motor Sports ATV/UTV drag racing and Hard Hit Promotions demo derby.
Motion carried.
Amy will check to see if the flat grill available from the Sheriff’s Department can be wired from a
three phase to a single phase.
The WAF Annual Meeting will be held virtually January 26. Talking Tuesdays will start the week
after the annual meeting and run through the end of March for any fairs that want to discuss the 2021
season. Amy will get the committee a schedule of what will be discussed and the link for each week.
They will be about one-hour long.
Fairbook changes were suggested for the open class beef department.
Motion by Roger Guthrie, seconded by Gary Northouse, to accept Fairbook changes. Motion carried.
Availability of facility rentals on the Fairgrounds for 2021 will be discussed at the February 15
meeting.
Motion by John Patcle, seconded by Gary Northouse, to approve fairgrounds vouchers. Motion
carried.
Motion by Gary Northouse, seconded by Mike Lieurance, to pay livestock claims in the amount of
$1,240 to the Grant County Humane Society. Motion carried.
Motion by Mike Lieurance, seconded by Gary Northouse, to adjourn. The next regular scheduled
meeting will be held February 15, 2021, at 9:00 a.m.
Adjourned at 10:55 a.m.
Lori Vesperman
Recording Secretary