Oversight group rips Lake County Fair

The annual member meeting of the normally obscure Lake County Fair Association took what became a very public turn with decisions to look more closely at faltering finances and authorizing the board to hire a fair manager.

In a blistering statement Tuesday, Greg Koeppen, a fair association member and manager of the Lake County Farm Bureau, criticized mounting debt and a loss of prestige. Koeppen charged that continuing on that course would lead to the demise of the not-for-profit group.

“It was me speaking on behalf of a lot of people,” Koeppen said Wednesday. “For the past five years, a lot of people have sat on their hands and not said anything and I was one of them.”

Board President David DeYoung on Wednesday acknowledged the financial difficulties while welcoming any professional expertise that might be forthcoming from the membership.

“There's probably a lot of good that came out of it,” he said of motions that would create finance, building and marketing committees and authorize the hiring of a manager by Feb. 1.

“We need a manager, somebody here full-time. The committees great idea. Come in and help us. I'm taking a lot of it positive.”

Koeppen said the association has fallen deeper into debt with the opening of the new fairgrounds at Peterson and Midlothian roads in Grayslake, and its development has become a “financial disaster.”

The facilities are unfinished, liens have been placed on the property and contractors haven't been paid, he said.

“I think of lot of people didn't realize the magnitude of what this move had done to the organization,” Koeppen said. “It had so much potential, and that potential over the last five years has been less and less.”

Koeppen also charged decisions were made by the board leadership without all nine members being informed or understanding what was going on, and that financial information was not made available.

Members approved motions by Koeppen to make available: complete audits from 2004 to 2009; checks written to contractors and vendors for the same period; payroll; and, records of liens and other information.

DeYoung said no members had asked for specific financial information but it is available.

“It's nothing we've been holding back; we've got it all here,” he said.

DeYoung estimated there is about $2 million outstanding on a construction loan and another $2 million owed to outside contractors. The Fair Association has been the victim of a weak economy, he added, noting nearly 20 valuable acres it owns nearby has had no takers.

“Yes, it's worrisome for us to have vendors out there and contractors to be paid,” he said.

DeYoung said the association will apply for a $7.5 million loan, a third of which will come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The money will be used to clear the bills and liens and finish building at the site.

“We're in the process here of fixing all this,” he said.

A public meeting regarding the loan is to be scheduled.