County OKs Warrior Days contracts

Some questions remain over funding, staffing and planning for July events
Carbon County commissioners approved a slate of contracts last week during their regular meeting ahead of this summer’s Warrior Days festivities.
The outdoor activities represent an expanded and combined version of past Fourth of July and Energy Days celebrations.
The commission approved contracts for billboard advertising along Interstate 15, for sound and lighting during the planned Darryl Worley concert, for the promoter and MC of a planned bull riding event, as well as for a carnival.
The discourse among commissioners last week was much less combative than during the previous county commission meeting, when commission Chair Casey Hopes and commissioner Jae Potter raised concerns about costs related to and planning of the expanded summer activities. Commissioner Jake Mellor has been leading efforts to expand the summertime events.
The first contract approved Wednesday was a two-month contract with Reagan Outdoor Advertising. The company sells billboard space in the more populated northern part of the state.
The county is advertising the July Warrior Days hoping to draw tourists into the area.
Mellor said the contract is for monthly periods, first for two months, though he said he’d like to advertise for three.
“We could take it down after a month if we feel we are not getting any benefit,” he said. “I would propose that we keep it going at least until the month of July.”
Potter said he supported the advertising purchase based on available money in the county’s tourism fund.
“I have also looked at the dollars available through tourism and this is a contract that we could definitely approve,” he said.
Commissioners also approved an additional $7,500 contract with Now You See It, LLC, the promoter bringing in Worley to perform. A contract for the same amount was approved during last month’s meeting, but it only covered the entertainment costs. The contract approved Wednesday also covers the production, lighting and sound costs associated with the concert.
Mellor said the total cost of the show would be $15,000, including a smaller contract for supporting musical acts.
Diamond H Rodeo also secured a $3,000 contract, plus $1,000 from a private business sponsor to provide bulls for the bull riding competition. The county’s civil attorney Christian Bryner raised some questions about this contract for insurance reasons.
“To me this is one of the more dangerous–maybe I’m uninformed–but this is one of those that seems some possibility of harm resulting. We would be relying solely on the county’s own insurance,” he said. “We do have coverage out there. Our policy does provide coverage for this type of thing,”
Bryner proposed asking Diamond H Rodeo to purchase additional insurance for the event.
Monroe Magnuson won a contract for serving as Master of Ceremonies during the bull riding event.
And finally, commissioners approved a contract to Midway West  to provide carnival rides during the July event.
The vendor will need to produce a certificate of insurance of $3 million to the county, commissioners agreed.
Potter raised a number of smaller issues with the carnival contract’s wording regarding, water, restrooms and security that may come back before the board. He also made a request that seemed related to the fireworks from the last commission meeting.
“I would like to request additional information about the Warrior Days coming up. We talked about last time that we needed a detailed budget. The items that have been submitted, I thank you for,” he said. “But we also need to have an indication of labor for people involved, any additional materials needed to be purchased, cost of the ambulance, the sheriff, we already addressed, the security and the detailed marketing plan if we are going to administer or submit additional dollars that we have an idea of what those are, not just a piecemeal contract.”
Potter also said he would like more time to study some of the issues at play
“The last thing that I would ask is that these items be added on the Friday prior to our commission with the detailed information that comes with it. We expect that of all people asking to be on the commission agenda,” he said. “Yes, we know changes happen. And we are more than happy to accommodate that. But it would be nice to have those agenda items on by Friday and the detailed information to go with them.”