Building with new fairgrounds office may have to be replaced

Editor’s note: This version corrects the amount of millings Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson has requested from Havre.

The Great Northern Fair Board heard about problems with the fairgrounds office building during its monthly meeting Tuesday, along with an update on a dispute over water bills with the city of Havre.

Great Northern Fair Board chair Tyler Smith said a roof collapsed about 18 inches at the building housing the fair office on the Great Northern Fairgrounds during the first snowstorm of the year about two weeks ago.

The board this spring had a space in the building that formerly housed the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum made into a new office for the grounds, after the former office space was damaged due to a water break.

“We had Jeremy Seamans up there, he’s writing a report, but essentially the old museum is probably going to be a total loss because of the way that it failed and the way that it is designed. The cost to fix would far outpace just a total replacement,” Smith said. “So we probably need to get Buildings and Grounds (Committee) together to talk about how and what we move forward with as what our big projects are, how we are going to fund the projects and what we are going to do within the next five years.”

Smith said that list should include a new office roof, gravel needed in the areas where people park and what to do with the Commercial Building. Those are the biggest things and to prioritize, how to do them with the funds they have.

He added that he met with an insurance agent who has yet to give a final report to him on the roof of the grounds office building, but agreed with what he said the value of the building is — about $166,000.

Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson gave a report on an issue with a water meter that led to double billing, he said the City of Havre should make amends for.

“I hope that somewhere we can come to some kind of agreement with the city,” he said.  “… But the fact of the matter is that there is still a large dollar amount that the fairgrounds has paid for water that the road department also paid for that same water. When I met with the City Council I did not ask them for a dollar amount or check because I know it is very difficult for city or county to just write a check on something like this.”

At a City Council meeting in July, he asked the city to provide road millings to make up for the past double billing.

He said Tuesday that, according to Havre Mayor Tim Solomon, the city doesn’t owe them anything, but he disagrees.

Solomon said this morning he was surprised the issue came up again.

“I don’t know what to say. I thought that was a settled issue. I haven’t heard anything from him since we talked last time,” Solomon said. “I didn’t know there was an issue still.”

Solomon said he knew the water meter has been on the Great Northern Fair Board agenda, but he said he assumed they forgot to take it off their agenda.

He added that he can’t tell the Havre Daily News more information because he said doesn’t know where Peterson is coming from — he thought it was a done issue.

“I guess I’m confused that he is still bringing it up, is all that I can say,” Solomon said.

When the issue came up in July, Solomon said that while he was manager of the fairgrounds, in about 2005 or 2006, officials discovered that when Hill County Shop opened in 1979, the county connected to the water line on the fairgrounds that had a meter, but also installed a meter on the shop.

He said that connections on the fairground, such as the horse barn and beef barn and east bathrooms, didn’t use much water for most of the year. So last decade, the city disconnected the meter and did not charge the county for fairgrounds water going through the meter.

In about 2015, the city saw that the barns were being used much more and were using more water so reconnected the meter. 

Solomon said the plan was to deduct the charges on the shop from the charges on the other meter to prevent double billing, but when Peterson approached them the city discovered double billing had occurred again.

Last year, the city disconnected the fairgrounds meter, Solomon said.

Tuesday, Peterson provided documentation to the board he said was provided by Solomon on water billing from July 2008 to May 2018.

The documentation shows the county Road Department paid $20,884.91 for the county shop in that time period, he said.

“That same water went through a meter at the fairgrounds and the fair paid the same amount,” Peterson said. “As you go further back in here  you will see a note on a meter change and I haven’t yet figured that out.”

He said he was just trying to ask for road millings from the city, which the Havre City-County Airport sells for $10 a yard plus $3 a yard for loading.

He added that he asked for approximately 4,000 yards because he believed that was the approximate number amount or close enough that would be a fair settlement.

“That’s where we sit. We paid the city somewhere in the neighborhood of $40,000 for water twice,” he said.

The number Peterson used came from the $20,884,91 amount provided to him by the road department that went through the fairgrounds from the time period July 2008 to May 2018, he said.

According to Solomon’s comments in July, the fairgrounds was not billed for the water paid for by the county shop for much of that period — the meter was shut off until 2015 and shut off again last year.

Peterson said Tuesday he still wants more information.

“It’s a guess estimation at best. We’ve gone back on our computers as far as we can go and I assume that’s what the city has done on going back as far as they can go on their computer system,” Peterson said. “I would like to have further conversation, but this is where we are at.”

At this point, no resolution has been made, Peterson said.

The board also discussed a project to put up signage around the fairgrounds. Smith said it was going to be a 4-H project, but that group has not reported back to him hat will take place, but he hopes the project can move forward soon.

Great Northern Fair Board member Ray Kallenberger made a motion to start a bid process to put millings around  designated areas at the Bigger Better Barn and midway. Fair board member Jack Solomon seconded the motion then the board voted on approving the motion.

In business of putting in a sidewalk at the new 4-H Chuckwagon building, no progress has been made to report.

Some events are coming up at the fairgrounds. Saturday and Sunday starting at 9 a.m., Big Sky Little Britches Rodeo will be in the Bigger Better Barn on the fairgrounds. Spectator admission is free to this youth rodeo hosted by Hi-Line Rodeo Team.

Saturday, Nov. 9, Hill County 4-H Foundation will host the Rusted and Busted ’19 concert featuring Country Lips of Seattle and local bands Shotgun Betties and Plowed Under Band.

No fairgrounds manager’s report was made as grounds manager Frank English was not present at the meeting. The board also tabled discussing priorities for the manager.

The next Great Northern Fair Board meeting will be 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, at the Timmons Room in the Hill County Courthouse.