County, Rodeo Association Agree to Lease After Contentious Negotiations
 | Author:
Linda Kent, MT43 News Staff Reporter
MT43 News Correspondent |
County, Rodeo Association Agree to Lease After Contentious Negotiations
Linda Kent
MT43 News Staff Reporter
The Broadwater Rodeo and Fair Association signed off on a new, five-year lease agreement for the county’s fair and rodeo grounds on May 22, paving the way for this year’s rodeo and fair to move forward as planned.
“I hope that everybody understands that we want to see this happen, too,” Commission Chair Darrel Folkvord said. “We know this is a benefit to our community. We know the heritage involved and all of those who have worked over the years to create this... Please don’t think we’re taking that lightly. The contracts that we’re trying to put in place are, from our perspective, in the best interest of the county.”
The process was anything but easy.
Commissioners signed a version of the lease at their May 8 meeting, with at least nine versions of the contract floated at one point or another. However, long-time association member Vince Thompson told the commission, “This agreement was signed without the rodeo association ever seeing the May 8 agreement. And it was sent out to a number of groups and the association did not see it, so negotiations on this agreement were not handled correctly. We were not given a chance to see if the concerns we had [raised] were in the agreement.”
Speaking to the commission, Denise Thompson, a longtime rodeo association leader, also emphasized the often unnecessarily difficult process of communicating changes to the agreement, with multiple drafts of the agreement being circulated without clear indication of which was the most current. The parties were back and forth on the documents for three months.
More upsetting to many of those who spoke at the meeting was the commission and county attorney’s office’s apparent disregard for or lack of understanding of the county and association’s decades-long working relationship. Rodeo Association Director Jessica Graveley told commissioners that beyond the money brought to the community through rodeo events, the rodeo grounds are a symbol of the community’s way of life.
Over 60 years, at its own expense, the association has built and maintained much of the infrastructure – from the arena and grandstands to the ticket booth and fencing – that allow events to take place throughout the year.
Also of concern was the inclusion of a “Termination of Convenience” clause, that would allow either party to end the lease for no reason on 180 days’ notice. Vince Thompson told the commission that such a clause puts the association in a difficult position when it comes to the improvement and maintenance work the group does each year.
County Attorney Cory Swanson told the association that the county has “no intention of kicking [the rodeo association] out and dispossessing” the association from the fairgrounds and the decades of improvements members have made.
Additionally, the Rodeo Association Secretary has held responsibility for scheduling for all events, Lisa Larson told commissioners, including acting as first point of contact when the grounds have been needed for emergency use.
“It saddens me greatly to see the work, the dedication, and the love of our community go down the tubes each time we have to come in front of the commission to ask to recess our lease agreement,” Larson said. “An agreement that was originally a 99-year lease that has gone to ten-year leases and now to a possible 5-year lease.”
Vince Thompson said the association’s directors agreed to sign off on a lease dated May 17, and exercise the amendments clause to ensure an agreement was in place so planned events could move forward. The updated lease includes mediation clauses as well as assurances that the rodeo association will be a party to county growth planning around the fair and rodeo grounds.
The commission, Swanson, and members of the rodeo board will work toward refining the lease to better address the existing relationship between the county and the association at the facility.
