Great Northern Fair Board meeting rescheduled

Because only three board members attended Tuesday’s Great Northern Fair Board meeting, it was adjourned after 10 minutes.

Without a quorum of members, the board was unable to vote on anything on its agenda.

Before adjourning the meeting, the board members invited the guests to raise any public concerns or comments to the board, which would not be voted on at that meeting, they added.

Only one guest, Paul Nugent of Hill County Search and Rescue, spoke. He came to the meeting to report to the fair board about what Search and Rescue did at the 2018 Fair, he said, since the board had paid Search and Rescue to work the fair for the first time.

In total, Search and Rescue worked for 396 hours, Nugent said, which whittled the payment Search and Rescue had asked the fair board for down to about $4 per hour for workers.

The fair board members said the board did not look good in light of that wage, but Nugent said it was not a problem, as Search and Rescue had requested the original total payment amount themselves.

At the fair this year, he said, Search and Rescue found 19 “lost parents” whose children were looking for them.

“I do say lost parents, because the kids know where they’re at,” Nugent added. “It’s the parents that need to be found.”

A few kids had accidents at the fair, he told the board, including a minor bone fracture.

Search and Rescue handed out 88 free, fluorescent identification bands to children and even one dog, Nugent said. The bands cut down on search time, he added, since people who find a child without a parent then have a guardian’s phone number to call.

Finally, Nugent added that a Search and Rescue member had noticed that the fire extinguishers in the fair’s community buildings are two years out of date.

The fair board members told Nugent they appreciated the work that Search and Rescue did this year. They added that the board had also noticed the fire extinguishers, which would be updated soon.

The fair board has not yet scheduled their next meeting date, but will announce it soon.