Fair board upholds ‘no fair’ vote

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By Carol McIntire

Editor

Countians holding on to the chance there would be some type of a junior fair event for 4-H and FFA members in 2020 had their hopes dashed last night when the Carroll County Ag Society (fair board) failed to muster enough votes to rescind a June 2 vote to cancel the fair.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine added an incentive for fair boards to conduct junior fairs or complete fairs last week with an offer of $50,000 to those which hold events and $15,000 to those who cancel. He also modified the guidelines for conducting fairs.

The county fair board discussed the new options during the June 16 regular meeting and sought information on the correct procedure to rescind the motion to cancel the 2020 expo.

Member Zeb Casper, who made the original motion to cancel the fair, canvased the room for opinions from other members before announcing he didn’t think there was enough support to pass the motion and questioned if he should make a motion.

“We are still going to have a roll call vote,” said Member Larry Jenkins, who stated he was in favor of having a full-blown fair. “We made a decision to cancel based on the information we had at that time. Now we have new information and we must consider it,” he said.

Member Wayne Ferguson said he was told several members already sold their animals and Casey Allison asked why members who kept their projects should be punished. Both Ray Rummell and Rich Popadak stated the board made the decision to cancel and they were sticking with that decision.

Rummell conferred with Howard Call of the Ohio Fair Managers Association and read from a three-page e-mail on the proper way to rescind a motion, which, he said, required a two-thirds vote of the members present to pass.

“I want this to be a group decision and not be on my shoulders,” Casper said just prior to making the motion to rescind his motion to cancel the fair.

The motion failed 6-5 with Casper, Bethany Davis, Wayne Ferguson, Jim Long, Rummell and Popadak voting not to rescind the motion. Allison, Jess Ujcich, Lynden Ferguson, Pete McIntire and Jenkins voted yes. Sherman Oyer, who seconded Casper’s motion to cancel the fair, did not attend the meeting, and Vanessa Shepherd was present at the meeting, but left before the vote was taken. President Mike Lozier can vote only in the event of a tie.