SANDPOINT — During Tuesday’s business meeting, a majority vote denied a Board of County Commissioners action item requesting the county’s human resources director to retract a public opinion he made during a Dec. 4 special meeting.  

The action item was put in front of the board by Commissioner Asia Williams, who said HR Director Jonathan Holmgren “publicly asserted that the County Fair Board had ‘been operating beyond the scope of its responsibility for some time and has veered into the lane of responsibility that belongs to the BOCC. This has resulted in the Fair Board thinking that they employ the County Fairgrounds personnel and can direct their work.’”  

A memorandum submitted with the item further alleges that the statement — made in an open meeting and then published in the Daily Bee — cast a negative light on the volunteer fair members of current and prior boards — despite Attorney Nate Adams’s statement that it is the county’s responsibility to authorize work to the fair board.  

The action item also states that the fair board has received an apology email from Holmgren.  

In the action item brought forth by Williams, commissioners Brian Domke and Ron Korn both denied the item, which would have required Holmgren to draft a public retraction of statements made against the members of the fair board and read during a Dec. 30 business meeting, as well as have it published in the Daily Bee.  

Williams’ intention with the action item stems from comments of frustration by current, and prior, volunteers of the fair board, who shared that Holmgren’s statement did not accurately reflect how the fair board operates.  

Domke’s vote of denial stems from the apology that was already submitted to the fair board by Holmgren via email, an action that Domke said was recommended, but not directed, by him. He further shared that he believed the statement had been corrected during the Dec. 4 meeting between himself and legal counsel, citing that a corrective statement had already been made on the matter. 

"We cannot and do not control what the paper publishes and chooses to say and leave out. So, unless someone watches the meeting and sees the whole context, and understands everything that’s been said, then they’re not relying on all the facts,” Domke said.  

Korn agreed with Domke, feeling that everything had been clarified and corrected in the December meeting,  

“At no point in time did I feel like we were pointing a finger at the fair board themselves. It was because of the past commissioners, that we have no control over, allowing too much leeway for what (the fair board) was being asked to do,” Korn said. “There’s a whole host of things that have played into this over the past couple of decades to get us to the point we’re at today.”  

Korn said he feels that the board needs to dive into the situation of role delegation of the fair board, correcting it to align best with state statute.  

“The board of commissioners is what deviated from statute, not the fair board,” Korn said.  

The conversation stems from Holmgren’s professional opinion that the fair board had been overtasked with responsibility relating to events outside of the county’s fair. He noted in the Dec. 4 special meeting that the board had been performing outside of its intended scope of work, taking on responsibilities designated for the board of commissioners.  

During that meeting, legal counsel Nate Adams, and Domke, noted that the board had not been acting outside of their scope of work, but that the commissioning board had been delegating tasks to the fair board without defining a proper scope of work that aligns with Idaho Code. 

Legal counsel noted that it was the county board’s responsibility to delegate tasks to the board, sharing that the board had never divested themselves of authority over the fairgrounds or the fair event.