County fair needs stability after chaos
For many longtime Santa Cruz County residents, the annual county fair has been a good-timey annual event. A nostalgic voyage back in time when agriculture was predominant here, rather than real estate prices.
Mostly out of sight and out of mind.
Until.
Until longtime Fair CEO Dave Kegebein was summarily fired and the fair's board of directors and staff saw a high turnover.
Until the county fairgrounds were used as an evacuation center for local residents displaced by winter storms and the flooding of the town of Pajaro.
But, as reported last week in the Sentinel, an interim CEO and manager, Ken Alstott, has been named and is on the job, which hopefully will bring some stability needed for the next county fair, before the September event starts welcoming visitors.
Alstott is not a local resident — he's splitting time in Santa Cruz County and his home in Tennessee — with the kind of ties and experience that Kegebein brought. But he has a long record of overseeing fairs and fairgrounds and has taken on other “interim” duties elsewhere. He promises that despite the turmoil and outrage over firing the popular Kegebein, management of the fairgrounds is in good hands.
His appointment hopefully can bring a cease fire to events that began in October, when an audit from the California Department of Food and Agriculture found that Kegebein used a business debit card to make purchases that were personal and not supported with a receipt or vendor invoice. The board subsequently voted 7-2 to fire Kegebein.
Kegebein countered that he put more than 200,000 miles on his personal truck in his 11 years working at the fairgrounds and said the $33,000 in expenses was a fraction of what he believed he could have been reimbursed for.
The move to remove Kegebein brought on a wave of outrage that led to two board members, who supported the former CEO, being removed from the board by the Department of Food and Agriculture. Another board member and other employees also resigned.
Most recently, Board President Don Dietrich — who was appointed interim manager following Kegebein's firing and was blamed by Kegebein supporters for his role in firing the former CEO — also resigned, leaving two positions open on the nine-member board.
In a recent meeting with the Sentinel Editorial Board, Kegebein said he has gotten positive reports on Alstott, who he believes is moving quickly to shore up management and oversee planning for the next county fair.
Much of the tumult of the past seven or so months around the fair is because the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds is owned by the state of California, one of 53 “county fairs” under the state's hand. The state appoints the fair's board of directors, which has ultimate say over the fair's management and finances and the use of the fairgrounds. But the fairgrounds, which includes about 65 buildings on 105 acres, has to produce its own revenue and depends in part on a nonprofit foundation to raise money. It's a somewhat complicated arrangement as much of the equipment used at the fairgrounds and some of the ongoing events, such as the Ag History Project, are operated by nonprofit groups.
Kegebein told the Editorial Board that he believes that while he brought stability in his tenure, the local fair is in “rough shape,” a situation in which many state-owned fairs find themselves. Kegebein also thinks the state has several agendas for county fairgrounds, which could be a solution some state officials say to finding semi-permanent housing for homeless individuals.
He also stated that his outspokenness about the fair and the need for reforms in how the state oversees and controls all its county fairs led to the audit, which resulted in his firing. Kegebein is still involved at the fairgrounds, as he continues to work with the Ag History Project as a consultant.
Earlier this year, we called for an independent review of the Department of Food and Agriculture's actions. This call went unheeded amid the board turnover. Despite the hiring of an interim CEO, that review is still needed.