NEW HAMPSHIRE’S FASTEST GROWING ONLINE NEWSPAPER

With Rochester Fair just weeks away, the devil's in the details

Comment Print
Related Articles

ROCHESTER - Several Rochester Fair board members showed up at Tuesday night's Finance Committee meeting expecting to hear whether or not the board would amend its prepayment demand for police and fire details for next month's fair, but there was no such discussion because the city manager had reportedly not gotten the figures requested from the board overseeing the fair.

Meanwhile, Robert Brown, a board member of RAMA, the board that oversees the fair, said Tuesday night during a public comment section that City Manager Blaine Cox has been given any and all financial documents requested.

The confusion surrounding whether there would be an agenda item regarding the fair for the Finance Committee meeting was due to a report in another local media outlet that a vote on possibly amending the demand for full payment would occur Tuesday night at a City Council workshop, but in reality, the City Council workshop isn't until next Tuesday.

Rochester Mayor Caroline McCarley explained that if Cox can review the necessary financials from the fair's board of directors soon, they will call a Special City Council meeting to discuss them in advance of a possible vote to relax the payment schedule next Tuesday.

The squabble over prepayment for all police and fire details for this year's fair unfolded after the city recently broke a longstanding tradition of allowing post-payment for fair security rather than upfront.

Estimates for the cost of the details has been estimated around $25,000.

Rochester Fair board president Nancy Gilbert expressed frustration with the city over its demands for prepayment of safety details made just weeks before the start of the fair.

"This seems to be like putting the sins of the fathers on the children," she said. "I would like to remind (city officials) that some of us have only been on the board for a year. We have made tremendous headway. That's why I wrote in and asked for a waiver. I wasn't expecting such a sharp refusal in lieu of us taking care of so many things."

Resident Sandy Averill said she would like to see the city be a little more supportive of the fair.

"I certainly hope this city would try to help the fair to be successful considering this board has been working so hard to try to make this happen," Averill said.

Read more from:
Top Stories
Tags:
None
Share:
Comment Print
Powered by Bondware
News Publishing Software

The browser you are using is outdated!

You may not be getting all you can out of your browsing experience
and may be open to security risks!

Consider upgrading to the latest version of your browser or choose on below: