Cumberland County Building and Grounds Committee members discussed complaints that were voiced by Cumberland County Fair Board members during last month’s county fair board subcommittee meeting.
“Those employees and Donnie [Moody, Cumberland County Community Complex manager] are working hard out there at the Community Complex every day and it’s about all they can do to keep up with everything out there,” Tom Isham, 2nd District commissioner, said. “I went out there to the fairgrounds, and about all I could see from the complaints [were] a couple of broken boards in the arena that needed to be replaced and the fence needed painting. Those doors on the exhibitor’s building just need a coat of paint.”
Gary Adams, chairman of the Cumberland County Fair Association board, said the appearance of the fairgrounds “are in terrible shape” and daily maintenance such as weeding and mowing was not being performed routinely.
Complaints were also made about lighting behind the exhibitors building and the sound system in the arena.
Cumberland County Fair Association board member Everett Bolin said the fair association has spent over $780,000 on the fairgrounds since 2014 doing various repairs and upgrades.
Terry Lowe, 5th District commissioner, said, “I looked at the contract that the county has with the fair board, and the county is above and beyond the requirements. The county is to rent them the [fairgrounds] as is during the fair time and they are supposed to turn it back over to the county in the shape it was … I know a lot of times Donnie and them have had to clean up a lot of things that weren’t taken care of after the fair.”
Lowe also said he believed Bolin must be referring to buildings that have been built over the years and given to the county in lieu of rent.
Wendell Wilson, 6th District commissioner, said he thought some of the members of the fair board were frustrated and venting their frustrations at the meeting.
Wilson told the fair association the county had moved the funding for resealing and striping the parking lot at the Community Complex into this year’s budget and it was being finished before the Cumberland County Fair started.
The sealing and striping was finished last week.
Rebecca Stone, 3rd District commissioner, suggested Wilson and the subcommittee work through Cumberland County Mayor Allen Foster and Moody regarding the lighting in order to determine what needed to be repaired.
Wilson said that the building and grounds committee and Foster are looking to get a master plan for the Community Complex on upgrading the entire facility.
Earlier this year the building and grounds committee voted to allow Foster to move forward with getting master plan presentations from different groups for the committee to review.