SANDPOINT — In a special meeting held Dec. 30, with the Bonner County commissioners and Fair Board, commissioners voted to undo a Dec. 4 decision that instructed the county’s human resource director to revise fairground employees job descriptions to report directly to the Board of County Commissioners. 

Instead, the board voted 2-1 for the fair manager, a county employee, to report to the fair board. Commissioners Asia Williams and Brian Domke voted in favor, with Commissioner Ron Korn in opposition due to feeling that the Dec. 4 decision was made with proper input from legal counsel and Human Resources. Domke shared that he was personally conflicted on voting for the motion but recognized that there was a need for written legal opinion to be obtained before any decisions were made to provide clarity to the community and fair volunteers.  

At the request of Williams, Domke additionally resolved to draft a request to the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office, seeking a written legal opinion on the division of powers between the county and the Fair Board.  

The three-and-a-half-hour meeting drew more than 40 people in attendance, filled the Zoom meeting room and garnered over 200 YouTube views. The special meeting, requested by Korn, included four agenda items relating to the roles and duties of the fair board. Korn said the items were intended to establish a clearer understanding of the Fair Board’s responsibilities.  

Domke noted at the beginning of the meeting, before the action items were brought forth, that legal counsel had not signed off on the memos attached to the items.  

Legal representative Nate Adams, with request of Domke, said that he had not signed off on the memorandums because the language used had inferred that the Fair Board had been acting outside of the statutes of Idaho Code, which he disagreed with.  

“I feel that the fair board does, and has, been operating within the statutory authority given to it. He also inferred that past commissioners acted outside of the scope of the statute in the breath of authority given to the full board. I also disagree with that, I feel that what has been delegated to them has been appropriate,” Adams said.  

Adams noted that he and Korn had discussed the memos, where Korn shared his original intentions versus what was perceived.  

“I wanted to just get down to what the facts are, so that everybody can understand what the rules are, what the laws are, and how are we going to make this a better fair for Bonner County?” Korn said. “I am no way pointing fingers at the Fair Board, or any of its members. I want to get to the facts and have a clear understanding of what the responsibilities are of the Fair Board, its members and the BOCC.” 

Out of the four action items slated for the meeting, only the first was discussed. In that item, Korn suggested limiting the board’s scope of work to only focus on the annual Bonner County Fair, Bonner County Rodeo and the annual 4-H Horse Show while citing Idaho Code sections 22-204, 22-205 and 22-206.  

However, Domke noted 22-204 and 22-207, which indicates that “the county fair board shall be charged with the care and custody of all property belonging to the county and used for fair purposes, and shall be in charge of all moneys received by it, raised by tax levy or levies for fair purposes.” The statutes also indicate those funds are to be retained by the Fair Board.  

“To me, that infers that if there’s some aspect of the duties and that the Fair Board has with regard to its fiscal responsibility and oversight, 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 been given to the Fair Board, by statute,” Domke said. 

Domke also noted confusion within the statutes, pointing out that while the code suggests the fair board’s income should come from the fair itself, the board has historically maintained the fairgrounds for events outside the fair year-round. Adams later agreed, noting that Idaho Code Title 22 is not as clearly written as it could be. 

Because of differing interpretations of the statute, commissioners approved a motion requesting a written legal opinion to guide future decisions on the roles of the fair board and manager.