Jeffco to Host Brainstorming Session on Possible Reductions at Fairgrounds (updated)

It takes money to operate County services, and the Jeffco Fairgrounds is indeed a County service. Unfortunately, during last year’s voting season, the residents of Jefferson County failed to approve Ballot Initiative 1A, and now the County is strapped for cash. As a result, most County services have had their budgets reduced, and the Fairgrounds is on the chopping block.

Jeffco County is holding a meeting tonight, Tuesday January 28th, at the Fairgrounds, from 6-7:30PM, to identify and consider potential options to preserve those types of activities at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. The meeting is open to the public for interested parties to attend and listen. PLAN Jeffco got 36-hour notice of the meeting so if you haven’t heard about this, you’re not alone.

If you or your group have an interest in the continued operation of the Jeffco Fairgrounds, please plan to attend. PLAN Jeffco will try to monitor the situation and keep informed.

For more about the county’s budget situation, please visit the Jefferson County website at www.jeffco.us and click on the link for the Financial Realities page.

Update 1/31/2020: the Jeffco Fairgrounds Brainstorming Session (1/28/2020), less the first 10 minutes of the meeting, can be viewed at https://bit.ly/2OjlmIF, Don Davis, County Manager and Tom Hoby, Director Open Space, moderating. The 2-hour meeting was very well-attended, with lots of input from all stakeholder groups. The end result — four options, which will be presented to the Board of County Commissioners at their weekly morning (8AM) meeting on 2/4/2020. Both Don Davis and Tom Hoby will be presenting to the BCC.

Option 1: maintain status quo (most likely not possible, given the County’s budget situation)

Option 2: more budget cuts (would mean reducing staff and services)

Option 3: close the Fairgrounds (no one wants this)

Option 4: explore a partnership with Open Space (how to do this without violating the Enabling Resolution?)

Follow the BCC meeting at https://bit.ly/2OiMV4Z. Click Video to listen to the meeting and view agenda documents, or Agenda or Minutes to see just the documents.