Ideas for fairgrounds concessions

The Hot Springs County Commissioners met on Tuesday and were pleased to hear from County Assessor Dan Weber that a valuation change was made in the county’s favor in the amount of $15,224.

Valkyrie Resources, LLC had been under assessed and a check was issued to the county in the above amount as a supplement.

Nate Messenger, FBO for the Hot Springs County Airport presented a rental agreement to the commissioners for a 2019 John Deere compact utility tractor. The rental is for $2,000 for the season, giving Messenger plenty of hours to use during the winter for clearing snow out at the airport.

The commissioners, after looking at the purchase price for new tractor, agreed renting at this time is more convenient.

The commissioners took a few moments to reappoint Shurie Scheel to the Big Horn Basin Nature and Discovery Center’s Joint Powers Board.

Members of the Hot Springs County Fair board came to talk with the commissioners regarding a concession stand at the fairgrounds.

Previously, it had been agreed the board would get bids for completely refurbishing the existing concession stand at the fairgrounds, but once those bids came in, way higher than what they had expected, they starting looking into other ideas.

Now the board would like permission to purchase a trailer or a concessions booth that can be moved around the fairgrounds and even moved inside for use during events held in the winter.

General costs for this kind of set-up would be about $25,000 according to the research the board has already done.

The commissioners are all for having a trailer that can be utilized more often, their only concern is they were planning on using SLIB (State Lands and Investment Board) funds to pay for the refurbishment and a trailer may be considered “rolling stock”, something SLIB funds cannot be used for.

Before going any further, the commissioners are going to check in with the SLIB board to see if the trailer would still qualify for funding use.