News photo by Kayla Wikaryasz Alpena County Commissioner Travis Konarzewski is seen addressing the fair society before its vote to cease negotiations with Blackwaters NE.

ALPENA — The Alpena County Fair Society and Alpena County Fairboard met on Tuesday at the Ramada Inn to present concerns members had regarding the fairboard’s proposed rental and use agreement with Blackwaters NE.

After a vote by fair society members, the fairboard chose to cease negotiations with Blackwaters NE with a 31 to 9 vote.

The vote leaves the future of the project up in the air.

The decision was voted on by members who paid to be part of the fair society. Members had to be enrolled in the fair society for 30 days to qualify for voting privileges.

Those who paid at the door were allowed to make public comments.

Blackwaters NE proposed a plan to the county and fair board last month that could have upgraded the existing infrastructure and built an entertainment complex on the existing Alpena County Fairgrounds property.

The News reached out to Alpena County Fair Board President Courtney Tauriainen for comment regarding how the board plans to move forward after this decision. Tauriainen replied via text message with a statement.

“We felt incredibly relieved and empowered having the opportunity to share the fair board’s experience over the last 40 days,” Tauriainen stated. “The fair society has chosen to end negotiations with Blackwaters NE due to many failed attempts to reach a workable agreement. The fair society understands the immediate infrastructure maintenance needed at the fairgrounds, and hope to be able to work side by side with the county to be able to make that happen and bring our fairgrounds back to the beautiful, historic site that it used to be and the community can be proud of.”

In response to the fair board’s decision, Alpena County Board Vice Chair Brenda Fournier said that she is disappointed in the decision but that the fair society’s actions were not unexpected.

“I’m not surprised,” she said.

On April 28, during the Alpena County Board of Commissioners monthly full board meeting, Fournier attempted to make a motion to terminate the ten-year contract that the county holds with the fair society. This motion never received a second and there was no vote.

On Wednesday, Fournier told The News that she is not sure yet if terminating the contract is the way forward.

“I’m not sure at this point what we are going to do,” she said.

Further, Fournier noted the challenges that county commissioners have faced when working with the fair board through this process. She said she is unsure what that relationship will look like in the future.

“I think at this point they don’t want to work with anybody,” she said. “I think they want things the way things have been … it’s quite obvious they’ve had their chances … they want what they have.”

“They are not willing to change anything,” she added.

She also said she is disappointed in the community’s response to the work that county commissioners engage in with the community and community partners. She said that she thinks the criticism is unjustified.

“The community has really been trashing the county commissioners and I do believe that is wrong,” she said. “The county has always tried to help people in what they would like to see done … it is a very hard position to have.”

“We realize we are not going to please everyone,” she added. “We are doing the best we can.”

Blackwaters NE CEO Mike Romanowski told The News that Blackwaters NE leadership has not decided how to respond after the fair society made the decision to cease negotiations with the company. He added that Blackwaters NE is considering its options.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Romanowski said. “I think there is a path to move forward and that is where we sit right now.”

County Administrator Jesse Osmer stated in an email sent to The News that the fair society’s decision was “unfortunate” but he is looking forward to the county’s partnership with the fair society moving forward.

“It’s unfortunate that the fair board chose to end negotiations on the upgrades and opportunities being offered to our community,” Osmer stated. “After rejecting the county’s plan to have the necessary repairs and improvements made to the property, I look forward to the fair board’s plan.”

“We’ve learned a lot throughout this process – as for the county, we are looking into the zoning issue that was discovered and which must be addressed – and are also looking into the infrastructure as it currently sits, to ensure those who visit the fairgrounds are safe,” he added.

On Tuesday, fair society members participated in public comment portions of the meeting. Some cited concerns regarding the credibility of Blackwaters NE, legality of the lease proposal, uncertainty concerning 4-H and fair use and programming, and more.

Some public comments were directed towards county commissioners, questioning their loyalty to tax payers and their credibility.

Abbie Kowalski, fair board director, presented concerns last night which the fair board had with the proposed contract with Blackwaters NE.

These concerns focused on language disputes between “the right to reserve and utilize the premises” and “exclusive use.”

Kowalski added that the fairboard is also concerned with a list of areas that would be excluded from the fair society’s exclusive use.

“This language, obviously, impedes on what exclusive uses by limiting, really limiting, areas that will be accessible to us during the fair,” Kowalski said. “At this time, we haven’t been provided with a diagram that indicates where some of these improvements are.”

Kowalski said that the language allows Blackwaters NE to hold events during the fair period and “does not mention approval or consultation with the fair board.”

Other concerns the fair society had with the contract included costs incurred during the fair period, insurance, storage, and policies.

TIMELINE

During the meeting, Tauriainen gave a timeline of how the project unfolded from the fair board’s perspective. Below are the details she gave:

March 24 – Tauriainen and Alpena County Fair Board President Vice President Corey Standen were invited to the initial presentation with Blackwaters NE during a closed session meeting of the county commissioners.

March 26 – Blackwaters NE presented to the fair board in a closed session. This presentation was requested by Tauriainen and Standen.

“Four directors were informed they were under a nondisclosure agreement, no contract was offered at this time,” Tauriainen said.

March 27 – Tauriainen, Standen, Osmer, the fairgrounds caretaker, county maintenance manager, and Alpena County Commissioner Todd Britton met at Osmer’s office to discuss initial concerns from the March 26 meeting. According to Tauriainen, no contract was given to the fair board at this time.

“It was mentioned there was an article in the agreement designated directly for the fair board,” she said.

March 31 – The first proposal was presented to the fair board to begin negotiations, according to Tauriainen. The fair board shared this proposal with their attorney at this time. The initial proposal deadline for Blackwaters NE was April 1.

Tauriainen said the proposal at this point in the timeline was a “tri-group agreement.”

April 9 – According to Tauriainen, Osmer requested all notes “as soon as possible for the sake of finalizing the proposal on April 10.”

April 12 – The fair board and Alpena County submitted the edited proposal to Blackwaters NE’s attorney. Tauriainen said that at this point it was decided to split the agreement.

“It was stated after submission that having all parties in one agreement was a liability,” she said. “At this time, separate proposals were drafted for the Alpena County Fair Society and Alpena County.”

April 13 – The fair board received a rough draft proposal in bullet point form, according to Tauriainen. 


“The fair board attorney deemed this as completely unacceptable,” she said.

April 14 – The first public statement was made by the county for potential fairground development. According to Tauriainen, this was also the initial notification of the proposal to Alpena County 4-H.

April 16 – The fair board received an updated draft of the proposal with the expectation of approval for the next day, according to Tauriainen. She said that the fair board was not happy with the proposal at this point.

“This proposal was still far from common ground,” she said.

April 17, 11 a.m. – Fair board directors, Osmer, and Konarzewski met in an attempt to finalize negotiations before the 1 p.m. special county meeting.

“This proposal was still far from common ground,” she said, again.

April 17 at 1 p.m. – The Alpena County Board of Commissioners approved its contract with Blackwaters NE, contingent upon the fair board’s agreement with Blackwaters NE.

April 21 – Tauriainen, Standen, the 4-H program coordinator and leadership, the county administrator, county commissioners Britton, Konarzewski, Fournier, Board Chairman John Kozlowski, and Blackwaters NE leadership met to address concerns, according to Tauriainen.

“A walkthrough of the premises was also completed at this time,” Tauriainen stated. “Still no agreement was reached to accommodate these concerns.”

April 24 – Blackwaters NE submitted their final proposal to the fairboard. Tauriainen said this was when the meeting of the fair society was called, which occurred on Tuesday.

April 28 – The full board of commissioners met for their monthly meeting. At this time, an unsuccessful motion was made to terminate the existing 10 year lease between the county and the fair society.

Tauriainen said that there have been five attempts by the fair board with Blackwaters NE made to “exchange proposals, with little to no progress made to address the concerns of the fair board.”

Her accounts of the past meetings on the proposed project vary slightly from the one Osmer presented at an Alpena County Board of Commissioners meeting on April 28.

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.