PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson Board of County Commissioners approved a three-year operations agreement with the Jefferson County Fair Association.
This is the first three-year agreement that the two organizations have entered into since in the past agreements were renewed on an annual basis, commission documents said.
“This is an efficiency measure as the annual agreement process consumes staff time unnecessarily,” said Mark McCauley, central services director.
The commissioners approved the agreement as part of their consent agenda on Dec. 16.
Part of the agreement is that the grant amounts the county provides the fair each year was raised from $5,215 to $10,000, with a 3 percent increase for 2021 and 2022, documents said.
The agreement solidifies the fair association’s ability to manage and maintain the Jefferson County Fairground facilities and property, so it is able to be used by the public for events and camping, as well as for the county fair in the summer, documents said.
“Jefferson County has had a good long-term relationship with the Jefferson County Fair Association and they’ve done a good job over the years presenting the annual fair and managing the property,” McCauley said Thursday.
“We elected to enter into a three-year agreement with the fair association in recognition of that solid relationship and to eliminate the need for three annual contracts.”
Part of the responsibilities that the association has in addition to organizing the county fair include keeping the buildings and property in good repair, and maintaining a separate payroll for the association’s needed positions, documents said.
“It’s really no different than what we did before,” said Sue McIntire, Jefferson County Fair manager. “We’re now working on becoming a 501(c)(3) instead of just a Washington nonprofit.”
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com
