Delaware County Fair board member Frank Reinhard introduced new fair manager Sandy Kuhn to Delaware County commissioners Monday morning.
Kuhn thanked commissioners for their support and for supporting a hotel bed tax passed in March by voters. “I heard you guys were champions,” she said. “I was told by one of the extension people that we have great commissioner support here.” Revenue from the new tax will be used to pay for infrastructure improvements at the county fairgrounds.
Kuhn told commissioners she wants to make the fair the best in Ohio and a destination place. “I look forward to working with you guys and making the Delaware County Fair the best fair in Ohio.”
When asked by Commissioner Gary Merrell if Kuhn lives in the area, she told commissioners that her house — south of Columbus — is on the market and she has a Realtor looking for a house in the Delaware area.
Kuhn said it’s a challenging housing market now and she’s not having much luck, but she’ll make it work until she finds a house.
However, Kuhn said she’s familiar with Delaware County because she lived here for six years out of college.
A reception to welcome Kuhn will be on May 13 at the fairgrounds in the log cabin. The same reception will also honor outgoing fair manager Bill Lowe his for 21 years of service.
As Reinhard introduced Kuhn, he brought up a proposed property transfer from the county to the fair board. “Sandy also looks forward to the opportunity to work with (county administrator) Ferzan (Ahmed) on the land transfer so we can get that behind us,” Reinhard said.
As earlier reported in The Gazette, county Assistant Prosecutor Aric Hochstettler expressed concerns to commissioners about the county being named in a liability lawsuit if a person was injured on fairgrounds property that is owned by the county.
The county owns nine parcels inside the fairgrounds and the Delaware County Agricultural Society owns eight, according to county officials. Even though the fair board maintains and manages the fairgrounds, the county could be named in a liability lawsuit, Hochstettler said.
Hochstettler suggested transferring the titles to the fair board. “If all the property is titled in the name of the (fair board), you don’t even have the issue of who’s the owner,” he told commissioners earlier.
In other business, commissioners approved:
• The purchase of a self-propelled power broom for $58,849 from HGAC cooperative purchasing program. “The old broom is a 2002 model and requiring a lot of maintenance and repairs,” Chief Deputy Engineer Bob Riley said. “It’s just past its time. And we are proposing to trade in some older equipment that we have in our inventory that we no longer use or need to trade in at some point.”
• Establishing a new fund and new organizational key for the county engineer’s office. The new fund will be used to deposit inspection fees from developers. “Doing it this way, there’s actually two measures of data protection,” Riley said. “Unused funds get refunded to the developer and basically make sure that we not only put money where it should go, but make sure we get the right amount refunded.”
