Local couple donates $2,500 to fair association

Steve and Sue Norman of Washington County presented the Washington County Fair Board with a check for $2,500 at its monthly meeting Wednesday. Monsanto representative Jeff Hedges and Rob Patterson of Stutsman Inc. in Hills were on hand to present the check, as well. Monsanto has a program called ?Grow Communities? whereby they select one farmer at random from each of the 1,200 participating counties. The farmer is given $2,500 to be used for the charity of their choice, and the Normans chose the Washington County Fair Association as their charity.

Sue said she chose the fair association because of the work it does on behalf of 4-H?ers.

?You guys do all the work which benefits the 4-Hers,? she said. ?In a roundabout way, they?re going to get the money in the end.?

Nancy Adrian, administrative assistant at the Washington County Extension Office, spoke to the board about a couple of improvements she would like to see to the extension building. She would like to purchase a sound system for the conference room on the upper level. She would also like to purchase microphones and headsets for the meeting room on the lower level.

?When the air conditioning or furnace is on, you can?t hear very well, so the sound system and mics would help people hear,? she said.

Adrian said three people could use microphones at a time in the meeting room on the lower level.

The other improvement Adrian would like is an LCD projector connected to speakers in the conference room on the upper level. She said it is a hassle to set up a presentation now because it requires hauling in speakers and a projector. She said that, since there are so many programs in the conference room, it would be nice to have an LCD projector in it. Nick Shelman motioned to allow Adrian to apply for a Riverboat Foundation grant for the sound system and LCD projector.

Adrian also talked about the 50-50 raffle that 4-H?ers and others sell during the fair. In the past, half the raffle money went to the raffle winner and the other half went to the fair association. Adrian asked the board if the money could be split between the fair association and Washington County 4-H, so that each entity would receive one quarter of the proceeds. The board agreed to split the money.

Fair board vice president Don Lewis said he is considering becoming the director of the southeast district of the Iowa Association of Fairs. He said that if he became the regional director, he would have to attend all of the 16 county fairs in his region. He said five of those would be the same week as the Washington County Fair and five more would be the week before, so he wouldn?t be able to spend much time at the Washington County fair if he became the regional director.

Lewis also said that he received written communication from the Office of Citizens? Aide/Ombudsman of Iowa which he said indicated that the fair board?s meetings were not subject to open meetings laws.

Representatives from Washington County Relay for Life asked the fair board for permission to use the first floor of the extension building during the relay. Dick Wells motioned to allow Relay for Life to use the building as long as it paid rent, which the board would then return to Relay for Life after the event.

Bill Hartsock of the Washington Fire Department addressed the fair board about the demolition derby during the fair. He recommended that the truck class be eliminated because it is so small. Josh Vittetoe motioned to replace the truck class with a cheaters? class and the rest of the board agreed. The board members considered either giving a trophy or a cash prize to the derby participant who had to travel the farthest to get to the derby.

Bill Ebert of the Washington Lions Club addressed the board and said his service group wished to rehabilitate the stage on the school at the fairgrounds. The board voted to let the Lions Club redo the stage.

?We?d like to put a nice, big floor in,? Ebert said. ?We?d like to put steps on both sides and put a canopy over it. We?d like that to be our project this year. We?d like to make the stage look good for you.?

Ebert said his budget was ?whatever it takes.?