Arapahoe County officials propose clearer Fair Planning Committee bylaws, extend member terms

At a meeting of the Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners, county staff presented proposed updates to the Fair Planning Committee bylaws intended to clarify the committee’s purpose, membership rules and officer duties and to reduce recurring conduct problems at the county fair.

Jenny Pincheno, Open Spaces director, told commissioners the planning committee — a 10‑member body focused on 4‑H public competitions and FFA events — had last updated its bylaws in 2018 and that staff spent five months working with committee members on revisions. “We have spent the last 5 months with the fair planning committee itself, talking through and working through edits,” Pincheno said.

The draft bylaws add an explicit purpose for the committee and five top-line duties, Pincheno said: allow public input into 4‑H and FFA fair programs; establish and implement policies for those events; model appropriate behavior expectations; be accountable to the Board of County Commissioners; and work closely with the fairground manager and CSU Extension staff to enforce 4‑H conduct rules.

Pincheno and Dina Baker, CSU Extension director, also described several specific changes: clarifying whether members must reside in Arapahoe County or may serve if they pay Arapahoe County property taxes on land they farm; explicitly listing the treasurer (the CSU Extension director) as a non‑voting member; extending ordinary member terms from one year to three years to improve continuity; and spelling out duties for vice chair, secretary, chair and the general membership, including attending events and complying with county purchasing and financial policies.

Dina Baker said requiring committee presence at listed fair events should help reduce behavioral incidents that had arisen the previous year. “That should theoretically help as well … to see that presence,” Baker said, noting staff could not be everywhere at once in prior years.

Commissioners raised procedural questions about who purchases equipment, which entity owns certain property and how the county, the 4‑H organization and the 4‑H Foundation overlap. Pincheno said some foundation members also serve on the planning committee and that staff plan to seek foundation support for targeted items such as small‑animal paneling.

After discussion commissioners indicated support; staff noted the bylaws amendment will be placed on the board’s consent agenda for formal approval. The board did not take a recorded roll call vote on the bylaws at this meeting.

Next steps: the bylaws will appear on the board’s consent agenda for formal approval at a future meeting.