During a tumultuous and crowded meeting of the Jefferson County Fair Association last week, two members resigned and the board voted to put itself under investigation for neglect of duty of office.

The accusations — specifics of which have not yet been made public — were raised by Amber Jones, a fair board member and building superintendent at the Thursday, Feb. 9 meeting.

While the meeting was relatively short, not much more than an hour long, passions ran deep.

“I don’t think this organization is functional,” Jones said at the meeting.

“I think that it’s most appropriate for this board to be looked at by an investigative committee, so therefore I would like to make a resolution that a committee of five people be appointed by vote of our members,” she continued.

She was quickly interrupted by Board Treasurer Glenda Meek.

“You can’t do that,” Meek said.

Jones had called for a full vote of the room, but Meek disagreed, saying only the board could vote.

The trustees then struggled to keep hold of the meeting as a debate broke out around the organization’s bylaws and who could actually cast a vote.

One member of the public claimed that at previous meetings, anyone in attendance — including the public — had been allowed to vote on such resolutions. But Meek wouldn’t allow it.

Quoting from her phone, Meek stated that only those who attend the board’s annual meeting on the first Saturday of November could be considered for membership.

Jones responded with her own quotations from Robert’s Rules of Order and a printed copy of the organization’s bylaws.

In the end, the call to form an investigatory committee was passed by both a vote of the full room and a vote only of the trustees.

RIOTOUS ROOTS

The disarray followed the exodus of previous Fairgrounds Manager Danny McEnerney, though the way the board does business was a factor leading up to his departure, as well.

On Dec. 30, McEnerney tendered his resignation, citing two main reasons for leaving the fair.

“We are at odds with respect to our visions, strategies, and personal philosophies ... While the position may be called ‘Manager’ and the work involves managing – I am not given the trust, authority, or support to do my job,” McEnerney wrote in his letter of resignation.

Support for McEnerney was palpable at the meeting.

“I really feel like it’s this board and the disorganization that caused him to be lost,” Jones said. “And I don’t think that we’re going to be able to get another person with this situation.”

Meek and others on the board responded by accusing McEnerney of spending money without the board’s approval.

“We are in the hole $20,000 from the Magic of Christmas,” Meek claimed.

In a conversation with The Leader after the meeting, McEnerney refuted those claims.

“I left them with over $50,000 in funds just waiting for them to cash in on,” McEnerney said.

The financial dispute hinges around the brightly lit, family-friendly Christmas event that was McEnerney’s idea. He said his fundraising efforts through a GoFundMe campaign as well as donations from local businesses were the bulk of funding for the event.

“I was given a budget of $5,000 for Magic of Christmas and I raised $14,000. So that puts us close to $20,000,” McEnerney said.

“You can’t say we’re $20,000 off budget because there is no budget,” he added.

McEnerney noted that the board only gave him access to financial reports in late November 2022.

“I couldn’t even begin to make a budget — a real budget — until then,” he said.

The assertion that he spent money without board approval was also debatable, he said.

“I have documentation of me asking for what I can and can’t do going all the way back to beginning of summer. I was never really given anything,” McEnerney said.

QUIT QUITTING

The board meeting’s disagreements, however, went beyond numerical and into the emotional.

The chaos escalated with both Trustee Rita Hubbard, and Board President Don Pruitt saying they would resign.

“All I get from here is [expletive], so I’m done. I’m done with the fair, I’m done with the fairgrounds. I give notice, I’m resigning,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard then left the room before returning to the table, where she signed her name to a handwritten piece of paper restating her resignation, and invited other members to do the same.

Pruitt joined her by announcing his own resignation aloud before signing his name alongside Hubbard.

Yet he stayed seated until the end and even gaveled out the meeting with his comically proportioned, “Get ‘Er Done” emblazoned gavel.

AFTERMATH ANALYSIS

After the close of the meeting, County Commissioner Kate Dean, who was in attendance, spoke with The Leader about her misgivings of the board.

“We’d really like to see some more transparency and accountability from the fair board,” Dean said. “It worries me to see that they weren’t able to pull off a functional meeting tonight.”

“We’d really like to see the board demonstrate that they are complying with all the financial responsibility that is expected of nonprofits,” she continued.

When asked about the resignations and subsequent returns, Dean’s concern was clear.

“That’s the kind of process that’s worrisome. These processes exist for a reason and they’re cumbersome, but they’re really important to keep the public’s faith in organizations,” she said.

Still, she was hesitant when asked what kind of consequences could be enforced.

“The county doesn’t want to meddle unnecessarily,” she said. “The county does not want to get involved in this, they’d like to see the fair board be able to resolve this, but we take concerns about mismanagement seriously.”

“I support the board in continuing their work, but need to see that they’re following rules,” she added.

FOLLOWING UPFIELD

At the commissioner’s board meeting on Monday, Feb. 13, Dean said a meeting had been arranged for later this week with fair officials.

“The public is calling for an investigation of finances and has asked for much of the existing board to resign,” Dean told her fellow commissioners as she recounted the meeting.

“Some of the existing board did resign at that meeting but then continued to operate in the meeting,” she added.

She also noted the confusion around the board’s operations.

“Their processes are very unclear,” Dean said.

“If you read the bylaws one way, every single person who goes to a meeting is a member and is able to vote. It’s a little bit cumbersome,” she added.

Dean said she and County Administrator Mark McCauley have been doing a deeper dive into their bylaws and the county’s agreement with them and plans to meet with the fair association board.

“A couple members of the board agreed to meet with us,” Dean said.

The meeting is scheduled for later this week.

“We need to use some leverage to help tighten up operations there. We will report back after our meeting,” Dean said.