Despite the Lincoln County Board’s vote to build a new grandstand, the Fairgrounds Marketing and Usage group isn’t ready to give up on the concept of replacing the grandstand with an expo center.
A Lincoln County Expo Center Town Hall meeting will be held Wednesday, May 15, at 6:30 p.m. at Les & Jim’s Lincoln Lanes in Merrill. The meeting will give the public an opportunity to ask questions and receive further information about the proposed project.
The County Board’s decision to move forward with creating a request for proposal (RFP) for a replacement grandstand has provided another roadblock in the way of progress for an expo center. In order to obtain more accurate estimates of the expenses involved in creating an expo center, the usage group would need to hire an architect to create a more realistic portrayal of what they want to do with the building. Hiring an architect alone would cost at least $80,000.
According to Fair Board member Dale Christiansen, at least $300,000 worth of improvements have been made to the fairgrounds by the Lincoln County Rodeo Association, Inc. and the Lincoln County Fair Association over the last 15 years. They hope that the County Board can take their contributions into consideration and provide them with the $80,000 they need to hire an architect.
Although the County Board decided to take the next step with a grandstand, the Usage group still feels that an expo center would better serve Lincoln County as a revenue resource.
“There’s nothing there to market,” said Pete Annis, Vice President of the Lincoln County Rodeo Association, Inc. “You’re limited in use, everything is weather dependent.”
At this point, AGRA Industries is still willing to contribute to the construction of an expo center through materials and planning.
The county is looking at an insurance settlement of about $1.2 million from the loss of the grandstand, which was razed after suffering significant storm damage last summer. The insurance money would cover the cost of a new grandstand, while building an expo center would require millions of dollars more.
Bill Zeitz, chair of the county’s Public Property Committee and an expo center supporter, said those in favor of a grandstand are only looking at the dollar figures. The committee has discussed a plan for phased construction, he added.
“They say we want to spend $7 million in county money to build an exp center; that’s just not the case,” Zeitz said. “We want to apply the insurance proceeds to building in stages.”
The next steps for the Usage group involve nailing down the specifics of the insurance policy involved with the grandstand, along with AGRA Industries compiling the estimates for the first phase of construction. They also hope to put the resolution to create an RPF for a grandstand that was passed at the last County Board meeting back on the agenda for the upcoming meeting on May 21.
The Lincoln County Board voted to move forward with creating a request for proposal (RFP) for the replacement of the grandstand during April’s meeting. While this move has not eliminated an expo center from potentially making a home in Lincoln County, it has taken the first step toward utilizing the insurance payout from the grandstand for the replacement of a like structure.