Chief hired for planned expo center
Williamson County is moving ahead with plans for its multipurpose exposition center, due to open next spring in Taylor, and last week announced the hiring of a manager who will oversee the planned $9 million facility.
Parks Director Randy Bell introduced Clint Chitsey, 37, to the Williamson County Commissioners Court. He was hired about two weeks ago and is now on the job.
“We’re happy to have Clint here,” Bell said. “He comes from a great background that represents our future users in ag.”
County voters approved construction of the Expo Center as part of a 2013 bond package, allocating about $40 million for parks projects countywide.
Ground has yet to be broken at the Expo Center, to be located off Texas 95 near Chandler Road. Bell said construction could start in September, weather permitting. It will be built adjacent to the rodeo arena in Taylor, with planners envisioning a number of uses.
Bell and Chitsey said everything from livestock sales and rodeos — to concerts and quinceañeras — could be held there, in one of two 25,000-square-foot facilities that are planned.
“Our intent is to build a 25,000-square-foot indoor expo space and a 25,000-squarefoot expo space that is covered (but not enclosed),” Bell said. “We were hoping to build a new (rodeo) arena, on the north end of the existing arena, but construction costs will not allow it.”
Bell said he hopes the facility will open by May or June 2016.
Chitsey will oversee general operations at the Expo Center, including booking events and finding sponsors for those events.
He comes from a cattle ranching family in Mount Vernon, a small community in Northeast Texas.
“I grew up in agriculture,” Chitsey said. “My family has raised cattle our entire lives. I grew up in rodeo and roping.”
After graduating from Mount Vernon High School, Chitsey enrolled at Texas A&M University. He graduated in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural science and a teaching certificate.
For the past 13 years he has been an agricultural-science teacher, first in Lewisville and more recently in Mount Pleasant — located just east of Mount Vernon.
Chitsey said he’s looking forward to his new opportunity in Williamson County.
“I enjoy events,” he said. “I just enjoy the aspect of agricultural and equine, which is a lot of what the facility is going to be.”
By way of comparison, the Bell County Expo Center — in Belton, just off Interstate 35 — hosts similar agricultural and community events.
Bell said he thinks the Williamson County Expo Center will be especially useful for local youths who participate in 4-H or Future Farmers of America projects.
“We think it’s got a great future,” he said. “We’re hoping to give it a great start.”