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Show Commission to look at fair grounds investment By SCOTT SUMMER ILL The Davis County Commission is looking into a way to help get the Davis County Fairgrounds up and running for the 1990 fair in August. Fair Director Don Sides presented a $239,000 proposal to the commission at the Wednesday, March 21 meeting. The main thrust of the request was to get funding for water and sewer installation and the construction of two buildings, which Sides has budgeted at $140,000. The remaining $99,000 would be used for parking lot improvement, im-provement, offices, concession stands and other improvements. "We have private contractors that are willing to donate sheetrock and wiring for the buildings," he said. "Once the fairgrounds are completed, we feel it will be a self-supporting self-supporting facility." Sides said the county doesn't have to foot the entire bill. Much of the money can be raised through donations. However, until the county coun-ty shows its support of the project, the fair committee can't approach prospective donors. "There are a lot more donations out there," he told the commission. "We can't really approach them until un-til the county makes a commitment. commit-ment. ' Commissioner William Lawrence suggested that money gained from interest paid on the county's hospital fund be used for the project. However, Commissioner Commis-sioner Gayle Stevenson argued that the project would deplete the funds in the account and eliminate a good portion of the county's working reserve re-serve for one project. "I would hate to see us operate that way," Stevenson said. "Just because we have the money in the reserve doesn't mean we have to spend every cent. I think we should be conservative. ' ' Assistant County Attorney Jerry Hess cautioned that projects under- taken by the county cannot go to bid until a set of plans and specifications specifica-tions is submitted. Once the county and city codes are met, the county can take appropriate action. "The restrooms and water are our primary concern right now," Sides said. "The specs are already put together, we just need to draw them up. We have a company that's willing to donate the plans." The commission agreed to have Sides work with Director of Administrative Ad-ministrative Services Vernon Griffeth to have the plans drawn up to county specifications. At that time, the commission will again look at the proposal and make a determination. de-termination. "The money that's put into county coun-ty facilities that contribute to county improvement is very important," said Lawrence. In other business, the commission commis-sion voted to allocate $3,000 to bring br-ing a computer software representative represen-tative to the county to demonstrate a package that could get the county's new computer network on line. "It looks good when they demonstrate the software and show you all the screens," said Griffeth. "But you never know until you get into it and give the system a real test with our information and requirements." re-quirements." Griffeth said the county has been building a new network of personal computers to replace the inadequate main frame computer now being used, and the right software package is the last step in the process. pro-cess. "We have the lion's share of the hardware in place right now," he said. "We just need software and training." Griffeth emphasized that no commitment has been made, and this is just one company that appears ap-pears able to provide what the county coun-ty needs. "It's possible that there isn't any software out there that meets our needs," he said. "At which case, we would have to continue to write our own programs and do our own training." The software company representative represen-tative will be conducting three days of simulated workloads on the county computers to allow officials to determine if the package is a viable investment. |