Board talks about loss of fairgrounds manager

During an exit interview between chairman of the Great Northern Fair Board and its former manager, the latter said his resignation had a lot to do with failing to meet expectations during his short tenure.

“I think his biggest challenge was feeling like he couldn’t meet the board’s expectations,” Great Northern Fair Board Chairman Paul McCann said Tuesday night after fair board members met. “It’s hard to do because you got grounds and then you have management, and it’s not all mapped out in an operating manual.”

Board members spent some portion of Tuesday’s two-hour meeting tinkering with the fair board policy, which McCann would say afterward, is crucial to helping the incoming manager-groundskeeper know what the working dynamic between board members and the groundskeeper will be.

“It’s very important, when a person takes that position they realize that they basically have six bosses,” McCann said. “The board is the boss of that position. Also, it’s a volunteer board, and the board is the source of the manager to gain knowledge and define responsibilities and coach, so to speak, that person, that position.

It’s not that former manager Bob Horne didn’t know what the job required, McCann said, emphasizing that he was speaking for himself and not necessarily the board members. But there is some on-the-job training, he added.

“You’ll have people that probably won’t know the job until they get into it, even though you described it,” he said.

Horne may have also thought he could work on something else on the side while being the fairgrounds manager, McCann said, which is not an easy task to do.

“It’s a tough one to run a parallel job next to, and I think that was his intention on the front end is: ‘If this is 30 hours a week, that’ll allow me to do something else.’ There’s more than 30 hours of work up there, so you have to make executive decisions as to where those 30 hours go, and you haven’t done it before,” McCann said.

During the meeting there was indication that Horne may still be living on the grounds, as talk between board members went from questions to what he is doing there to how much longer the 30-day contract allows Horne to occupy or work on the property. If he’s not living on the grounds, Horne may still be putting things away and periodically checking on the house, McCann said.

Since he put his resignation in Nov. 16 and the contract says he has a 30-day grace period, the board members agreed Horne has until the end of the month to to be completely off the property.

The fair board is working to bring in a new manager, and the quicker the better, McCann said. The reason for that, he added, is so mistakes aren’t repeated.

“Bob (Horne) entered into this in the spring,” McCann said. “It’s just a very busy time. That’s like hiring somebody when the grain is ready to be cut, so to speak. The work is there in excess and yet the orientation of it is going to be learned in the process of doing.”

Talk of what the position will look like continued, with board members asking: What are the pros and cons of having the position divided? Should the house stay on the grounds, should it be gotten rid of, or should it be rented out? Should the word “manager” be in the position or would “administrator” be a better fit? Should seasonal help be hired to fill in needs during the busy times?

Pay came up as well. At $15 an hour, it’s not like someone with a family to support can take that job, McCann said after the meeting.

“You’re almost looking for someone who is successful, retired and looking to give back,” he said during the meeting.

Despite challenges, McCann said, people are showing interest in the position and they’re bound to find a good fit.

By the next meeting Jan. 17, McCann said, the goal is for position description be solidified. He said it could be different or it could end up being the exact same position Horne applied for.