The Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the City of Fayetteville and the Lincoln County Fair, Inc. to provide fire protection for events at the fairgrounds replacing a previous “handshake deal.”

Mayor Donna Hartman said the MOU came to the board through the fire department. “It was kind of questionable and a memorandum of understanding was needed because

See BOMA, Page 4A ^ the fairgrounds actually sits on county property.” She said this is “something that’s been needed for many years. It’s been a handshake deal but every time an event happens, it’s like who’s responsible, who’s supposed to do it. So, I think this will clear up matters.”

The MOU states that LC Fair, Inc. “desires having fire protection when events are being conducted on the premise of the Lincoln County Fairgrounds, located at 1003 Hedgemont Avenue. The City enters into the memorandum of understanding for the purpose of establishing terms and conditions for the provision of fire protection by and through the City’s fire department to the premises of the Fairgrounds where events are being held on premises.”

Each party had to agree to 10 points, including: 1.) The Fair shall notify the Chief of the Fayetteville Fire Department or his/her designee when an event is being conducted at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds for which fire protection is sought by the Fair.

2.) Such notification shall be made at least 30 days prior to the scheduled event.

3. The Fire Department will supply personnel, apparatuses and equipment for fire protection services during each event when requested to do so according to the terms of this memorandum.

4.) The fire chief shall have discretion to determine the appropriate number of personnel, apparatuses and equipment needed for the provision of fire protection at each event.

5.) The Fair shall compensate the City of Fayetteville for providing fire protection personnel at a rate of $27 per hour per employee assigned to each event.

6.) Following the completion of each event, the fire chief shall notify the Fair of the amount due within 30 days of the event. Payment for such services shall be made to the City of Fayetteville by the Fair within 30 days of its receipt of the notification of the amount due.

7.) The Fair shall also compensate the City of Fayetteville for damage to any equipment occurring while providing fire protection at events conducted at the fairgrounds. … Equipment being used in the course of providing fire protection at events conducted at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds shall be inspected by the Fire Department prior to each event to determine its condition.

The MOU also details how disputes as to what is owed to the City by the Fair are to be handled; how fire department personnel shall conduct themselves; and the MOU shall not be used as a basis for liability or recovery for the LC Fair, Inc. The agreement isn’t to “supplant or otherwise affect the protection and defenses available to the City through the Tennessee Tort Liability Act.”

Mayor Hartman and Dale Kent, president, Lincoln County Fair, Inc. are to sign the MOU.

The motion to approve the MOU was made by Alderman Jeff Alder and seconded by Alderman Mike Keenan. Voting to approve the MOU were Aldermen Alder, Tonya Allen, Keenan, Joseph Faulkner, Dorothy Small and Vice Mayor Jeff Bradford.

During discussion before the vote, Bradford asked, “The MOU is strictly with the Fair Board and for fair events including the fair, truck pulls or whatever they may have? Any third party renting the Fairgrounds, we’re not involved in that?”

City Administrator Kevin Owens said he, the city attorney and Fire Chief Davy Bergman had a discussion about this. “It’s basically special events,” Owens said. “They’re not the private, smaller events, but anything that’s bigger or larger that are authorized for the Fair Board.”

“Will this protection cover the food vendors in the back because that would be a third party?” asked Mayor Hartman.

“If there’s an emergency inside the fairgrounds, it’ll be an emergency call for fire protection given to the event,” Bergman said. “If that does occur, it would be just like a regular emergency call and on-duty personnel will respond.”

“To piggy back off of Jeff’s (Bradford) question,” Alderman Faulkner said. “I apologize for doing hypotheticals here, but say the Fair, Inc. allows there to be a truck event not sanctioned by the Fair, Inc. They come and they rent the facilities and need fire protection. Would that come to us and then we would charge them the same thing or how would that work?”

“The Fair Board would make the request and charge the fair,” said Bergman. “However they charge it, it would be at their discretion.”

“I think the way it was understood or presented to us is there is a fair board that’s the stakeholders,” said Mayor Hartman. “They lease the property — the Fairgrounds — to The Fair Inc., who runs the fair. Like you said, tractor pulls, concerts and different things like that. If the stakeholders were going to have an event it would have to be outside the time the Fair Board has it leased and they would have to ask for their event.”

Lincoln County Fair, Inc. is a charitable organization that manages the fair and its activities, while the Lincoln County Fair Board of Directors consists of individuals who oversee the fair’s operations and make decisions regarding its management.

Last month, the Lincoln County Commission approved a lease transfer to Lincoln County for the Lincoln County Fair to apply for a grant for new livestock barns at the Fairgrounds. At the meeting, Mayor Bill Newman said the Lincoln County Fairgrounds are owned by a corporation that has stockholders. He said there is also a nonprofit that actually leases it from the stockholder corporation that runs the Lincoln County Fair and the fairgrounds. “So, there’s two different corporations,” he said. Newman said the stockholders would have to deed the property to Lincoln County and then the County would lease it back to the nonprofit if the grant goes through and the livestock barns are built.