Welcome everyone.

It's two o'clock on Monday, December 8th.

I'd like to call the meeting to order.

This is the Alameda County Agricultural Fair Association.

Ad hoc committee.

We are going to find a better word than ad hoc.

Because it's almost a standing committee.

But anyway, we still call it the ad hoc committee.

Right.

We'll start with a call into order and ask the clerk to make a roll call.

Supervisor Miley.

Supervisor Howard?

Present.

Susan Moranishi, excused.

Terome Hovin.

Here.

Rose Johnson?

Here.

Chuck Moore?

John Snow?

Here.

Corden Galvin.

Here.

Frank and Paul.

Excuse.

We have a quorum.

Laura.

Okay, very good.

With that, the first item.

Supervisor Howard, if I could.

Let's go with introductions.

Yeah, go ahead, John.

You don't want to do introductions?

Let's do it.

Yeah.

I wanted to do some introductions, some opening comments, and then we could get straight to the agenda.

We'll just go around and say who's here.

How's that?

However, you want to do it.

Go ahead.

Vice uh Vice President of the Board's Rose Johnson is here, executive director, uh Chair Chuck Moore, Morden Galvin, executive director uh and Jarella Folburn, CEO, Angel Moore, COO, and Vivian Wu, our chief financial officer.

And we're joined by our legal counsel, Steve Center.

Thank you.

And on our side from staff, we have Kimberly Gassaway, the General Services Agency Director, Andrew Massey from our County Council.

And of course, my chief of staff, Chuck Wilson.

Over here, we have Lori Cox, he's the deputy county ministry.

Is that right?

Chief Deputy.

And we have Joni Petillo.

Um mercenary on special assignment.

Okay.

Special projects and all things Joanie.

We have an official title of that.

So of course we all know Supervisor Miley.

Yeah, we did that, and he needs no introduction.

And we have members of the public thinking.

Otherwise, we have everybody staff.

And by the way, congratulations.

I didn't know five president.

Okay.

Thank you.

So again, the mission of the Alameda County Agriculture Fair Association is to ensure the long-term viability of the Alameda County Agriculture Fair and to present an exceptional annual fair which celebrates the heritage and diversity of Alameda County and to provide year-round opportunities for facility usage.

I was going to go into some other background on what's going on at the fairgrounds, but just in general terms, we generate about 30 million dollars annually in uh revenue.

We are a 21 member board of a 5013C.

We have six standing committees and uh five ad hoc committees, and we do all of our business primarily in committee, and that gets presented to the board for approval.

Um our model is that we rent space in buildings to vent holders.

We charge for parking and um food and beverage, and that's how we've been successful over the last 10 years that I've been on the fairgrounds.

Um again, we have uh generated about 30 million dollars in 2025.

Uh we're gonna have operating revenue of about five and a half million dollars, and Vivian may get into that a little bit uh closer.

We have invested over 20 million dollars on the over the last 10 years back into the fairgrounds, and if you haven't been to the fairgrounds lately, you should come.

I know uh supervisor Halbert and Sean are there quite often.

Um I think it looks pretty good.

We have over 2200 trees on the property that we've identified and uh set up for uh maintenance.

Uh it's a pretty amazing grounds, and we're very proud of it.

I want to just throw out a couple of uh issues that we have that have come up recently.

I think you've been copied on some of the correspondence.

I was introduced to Ms.

Gassaway last Friday at a uh Zoom call that we had about an issue that came before us.

Um we seem to have a communication problem.

You know, I we met in September.

Uh I thought we came away from that with pretty well a good understanding of how we wanted to move forward and what we wanted, how we wanted to interact.

I think Sean, you had a request at that point to work with the fire department on some housings.

And I think that occurred angel within a few days after that.

Seemed to be fine.

About a month later, we got a email.

Jerome got an email from the county.

Uh, there was a picture of a sign on a chain of fence asking what this was.

Well, what that was was the West Plaza, the West Plaza that's been on our vision plan for three, four years.

Uh, was on the budget last year when we submitted it.

It's gonna run us about $800,000, given that we don't run into any further plumbing issues on 15 whole uh 24 inch diameter footings that are that are drilled.

And we do have 100 year old pipes that cause us some issues on occasion, but all things look like it's on on keel.

Uh that was one issue.

I think that took a day or two back and forth with communication so that everybody understood that this was something that we had planned on doing.

This is something we report on doing.

We have uh building and grounds meetings three times a year as recommended uh things to the board.

It's it's well known.

Um, the other issue.

We got a basically cease and desist order.

I believe it was on the 28th burst of November from Ms.

Gasley, uh, to suspend activity on the track and then the grandstands.

There was some indication that we were doing something uh that was nefarious.

I bring this up for two reasons.

One, that was discussed in a closed session meeting of the Alameda County executive board.

It was not a closed session for that particular item, but it was a closed session, uh, because we were talking about personnel issues and uh salaries.

I have requested that we get an update on what we were programming for the for the grandstand in the fairgrounds because we're getting to the point where we are at a point of no return as far as what we're going to do there.

We got an update, and then we get a uh a cease and desist letter from the county saying that uh we were violating our contract and doing uh things that shouldn't be done.

On 1124, I believe Jerome, you replied, uh, and at that same time we asked for a public uh records request be uh addressed so that we could find out how first of all that the information was communicated to the county, and then secondly, Jerome went further and uh explains in an itemized reply on 12.2 about this different items that were mentioned, and none of them were happening.

So I mean, it was 10 pages of correspondence and hours on the telephones back and forth, and we've left it with Ms.

Gassaway as our reply.

We understand that the correspondence, you can't share with us how you found this out because of uh client attorney privilege, uh, but that's an issue.

That's an issue.

If you continue to get erroneous information, call us, pick up the phone, come see us.

We are pretty easy to talk to in general terms.

So uh I don't know how we can better communicate going forward, but I think it's something that we need to address.

I think um that would fit nicely, perhaps if I could suggest that under item six operations and governance, because I don't see a um item one is hotel and land surplus.

I don't see issues.

Do you want to bring it up there?

I think I think it would fit in that.

So let's let's talk about that.

Sure, that's okay.

All right, thank you for bringing it up.

And I especially like how you opened with, you know, this is our mission and preserving our heritage and our culture and all of that.

I see a lot of the fair as an existential protection of our Western culture and heritage.

I will fight like hell to preserve and protect our cultural heritage.

That's we do as well.

Yeah.

But as far as governance and working together, and and I'll also not to get into it too much because we'll talk about it then, but we have in the past had had staff to staff ongoing meetings.

We'll talk about how we used to do that, but we haven't done it in a while and how we can get back to that because I think most things should be staff to staff.

Item six, sure.

Okay.

So let's let's go.

Uh, Gordon, you're gonna take the uh hotel land surplus act.

Informational item hotel land surplus act.

I think that we have both sides.

Um, when I say both sides, we're all on the same side.

We're all same team.

We're all friends, we all know each other, we're all on the same team.

But the fair board and Kimberly has some thoughts as well on the hotel, I think, right?

You can talk about it, but Gordon can go first and Kimberly, you can go after Gordon.

Okay, so to um put the X exclamation point on for a team.

We spent uh considerable amount of time back in 2018 when I was president of the fair board developing a project for a hotel uh on the site, and we settled on uh the date you'll remember it was you and Supervisor Hagerty at the time.

We had countless meetings about this.

We attracted uh one of the top hotel develop developers in the country, the Ferrelson group, and they were excited to build a dual branded hotel on our property.

Um that kind of fell apart for a couple of reasons.

One was uh the surplus land act because the county owns the land, and you needed to take it through that process, and the other was organizing uh labor got onto it now.

A number of hotels were developed out in the Tri-Valley, none of them had project labor agreements or were built with uh union labor, but labor here uh in this project wanted not only to have the construction piece, but they also wanted to have the operational piece.

And the problem with the Ferrelson group is um they do everything in-house, so they build them and they manage them, and it's a private company, and they were not willing to um I tried to say, Well, can we do a partial POA?

Can we get two or three of the trades?

And and you know, they were kind of entertaining that, but I think the real deal breaker was the operational side of it, and they they pulled out now.

They ended up building that exact hotel that they were gonna put on our property uh about a mile north of us.

Uh, you could see it on 680.

And then subsequent to that falling apart, COVID happened, and the whole landscape of the hotel industry changed.

So we were gonna receive uh about 450,000 a year in passive income, which is something that we need to continue to maintain and do capital improvements on the project on the uh fairgrounds as we have been, and this would have been a great source of revenue for us to do that, that's not dependent on events and things of that nature.

So uh we were disappointed, but you know, we moved forward.

Well, recently uh we've been approached by a hotel developer about maybe doing a project, and so we met with them.

The world has changed, so we're not gonna get 450,000 anymore for hotel.

It's a it's a much riskier venture.

Um, but we could realize a couple hundred thousand dollars to do a hotel, and if it works, then they could actually expand on that later, and maybe we could get back up to that.

But in order to even go further with this, we would need your help again because we still have the land uh surplus act, and we had talked about this, I think, at this meeting a year ago, or maybe it maybe a couple years ago, that that's something that we would be interested in in getting a determination on so that we could if we wanted to move forward with another hotel uh development.

So that's kind of where we're at right now.

We would be interested in having that determination made on the surplus land act, and we'd love to have your help to assist us in trying to get a project together, another hotel project.

To at least create a process, yeah, that we can get from here to there, yeah.

Not knowing exactly how uh the surplus land act may or may not impact us or uh ownership of the hotel, but it the synergy for a hotel works very well with some of our other vision plans that we have going on uh on the fairgrounds, getting ahead of anything like that, having process identified early, it's on time, on time is late, get done early and have them have that.

Yeah, please.

So it's surplus land act, it's county property.

We still have to go surplus land, correct to build a hotel, correct?

And then that's irrespective of this property, it'd be any county property, like like the remote center, for instance.

We still have to go through surplus.

Okay, and just to jump in, I think to be very clear, we're all on the same team, but it's our property, we all make decisions and have a vision, but it's our decision, so just to be very clear about that.

If there's any ambiguity in that now, if a hotel would be going on there, we have to not only surplus it, but we have to go, yeah.

That's a good idea, just to be clear, because that might not be clear.

Wait, I'm sorry, but you just said our in both cases, yeah.

Meaning we are all working together, and you said our property.

What is our the Alameda County, the county of Alaska and the contract states that if we were to engage in a long-term lease of real property, yes, it would it must or shall be approved by the county board.

So we just want to make sure that's why we're having these discussions, right?

So Kimberly, what do you have to add in?

So um, thank you for the question.

And uh, council Andrew and I we talk on many real estate topics, but uh, this is definitely one of them.

And I looked back at some of his historic information he provided on this and uh looked at potential paths forward, so um and we're gonna continue to do that.

One of the things to point out is the length of term for a developer is typically at a minimum ground lease of 55 years, which exceeds the the length of a fair association contract.

So there's one thing to look at.

Second, as it relates to surplus land act, what potentially we we're gonna look at is the county could do a parcelization and then work with the developer and ground lease.

Maybe we would need to talk to state housing community development to see if they're gonna you know at least have a preliminary conversation with them because we could get a suit for surplus.

We've had other projects where lawsuits housing community cares a lot about housing in our county and the fairgrounds is regularly brought up at housing meetings with all the cities.

So I just want you to be aware of that that we have staff who work in our housing department and they're always asked, and I always take calls about the fairgrounds, you know.

You have all this land and we have this homeless problem.

So we want to look at how to approach a state and say, look, if we ground leaks that we would have to approve, and Andrew's reading all his notes, trying to channel my inner and no, good work.

Exactly.

He's welcome to kick me out of the table any time.

But um, you know, if if we say this is for county county purpose, and that's why we're doing this hotel and county business, and we're able to do that argument, there may be a path with the state to allow us to do that without surplus wrong, without that's correct.

And so that's what we're um we want to consider.

Now we may want to time, you know, because I was talking to Jerome the other day and said, you know, because the interest rates there may not be, so we need to look at that.

The business plan, I read through the documents that were done in the past, and you hired a consultant, um, and they talked about the occupancy and current hotels, the lack of hotels, but since then, several hotels in the Tri Valley were built.

And so we may need, yeah, three, one by the developer you were looking at.

And so we need to um refresh that or dust it off.

I don't want to spend a lot of money until we look a little further into this uh issue, but to demonstrate that there the business model is there, and it's probably why your developer saying, you know, the amount you would get annually would be less.

We also talked about what would the county this, you know, uh, be looking at as far as we if we're demonstrating this is for the fair uh the benefit of the county.

Um we could we talked internally only about putting that money in a designated fund to be used for purposes of the fair, and we'd be real clear of what those were.

We do that with other organizations right now in different scenarios, but we could say we put that money aside every year, we know what it's can be used for and not to benefit the fair grounds property in general, could be major maintenance, could be a future capital project, but that would all have to be uh also mapped out.

So those are um the topics that we've been discussing.

I don't know, Andrew, if you I forgot anything, you're my teacher here or no, just that this yeah, the surplus land act uh has been amended fairly recently and regulations as well, but they haven't put forward a clear path to doing these kinds of projects.

So it's still something where we have to engage with the regulatory agency and uh figure out the path forward.

So I I don't think it's obvious that this is going to work, but um it's obvious that there's a problem not just for uh this property, but lots of properties statewide.

So I I just think it's something we have to work with working here on, and there is an opportunity to engage with the regulator through a safe harbor process that if it uh doesn't uh get a favorable uh decision from the regulator, we could we can step back without incurring penalty.

I don't know if that's initially the path we want to go on, so I think it's still something we're strategizing.

I mean, I just I think it would be um we we would like it if you did took the time to get us into a position to do this, right?

So we missed that last market, and hotels were developed.

This was a high priority for Therrelson because uh although we had talked to them, it wasn't until the principal of the company came out to our fairgrounds and understood what we do there and saw the 280 plus events annually and said, Holy cow, this would be a perfect synergistic relationship with car shows and concerts and a place where people can stay overnight overnight.

So it became a high priority for them.

Um, when I said the landscape has changed because of COVID, it has.

So the hotel that was slated for us that is built is not even halfway occupied right now.

So it's not that that there was, you know, but three or four other hotels developed, it's that the whole industry has cratered it.

And so that's the main reason why we would be realizing less revenue from this.

But on the revenue side, you know, we don't get any money from the county or any government agency, so we have to make do with what we have.

So capital improvements, maintenance of the property, it's what we can bring in, and this would have been a great source of, like I said, rain or shine revenue, passive revenue that we're gonna get every year that could have really gone a long ways to the building B project or some of the other projects that we've contemplated, the farm and all that kind of stuff.

So we would love to again when the market changes and there is a viable project that's being proposed, we'd love to be in a position to to pounce on that.

Um we enter safe harbor zone with the regulator and have a discussion.

Well, we can we could have an informal discussion and put forward something formal and regulatory so we need to evaluate what path makes the most sense.

So we'll we check in rarely, so we'll check on this.

I will say that uh one second I will say that a couple years ago when this was before us.

Got a hold of HCD.

And even they said, wow, what a great place for affordable housing.

Service Lands Act, go for it.

Somebody, some developers gonna put a great affordable housing.

Really?

He goes, Yeah, can you see the ace train is right down the street?

I go, you do realize there's a fair grounds in between.

They gotta go all the way around.

Oh, I didn't as the pro flags is a nice little block.

You want to actually make the block.

So we have to level set Sacramento sometimes.

That's what our sort of say um I don't think uh residential development is part of the fair strategic plan.

So when you're developing the strategic part of housing, it's not contemplated, and I think the path you chose to try to do the hotel ratify.

But I think I believe there's a narrow path forward where we could potentially make it happen as long as we follow the narrow path and we don't end up getting sued.

Scotty's gotten sued in the past, but we haven't done surplus property.

We don't want to tie it tie that up, but it's gotta be a very narrow path.

And then the other pieces, you know, gotta be clear.

Yeah, so just gotta clear that.

Right.

I mean, tell us how you really feel.

So I'd say all of that sounds very good.

Uh, maybe for our next uh meeting, we could get some clearer idea of the process that you had in mind.

Uh, and I think you know, that as far as the board drum, this sounds all of those things sounded very good, I mean very positive, correct?

Yes, yeah, I would only add one is the market study.

I'm happy to dust that off, go back to the consultant, maybe get a refresh.

But the real market study is when hotel or hoteliers are knocking on your door, not what some study I can we could probably get a study to say anything.

I'm more interested in who's knocking on our door wanting to do business, and that's what was happening back in 2019, yeah, when we issued an RFP.

And the market study that we did do was costly and probably did not result in anything.

Yeah, I think it would be better to wait for that.

Like you said, so we have good what our concern is gonna be is if we do a development and then occupancy remains low, and you know, the developer ends up walking away in a bankruptcy and media handed on.

That's my first, those are some conversations I probably should be having offline.

Like what are the risks?

Because that is that is a possibility.

You've seen that all over, you know what's happening in San Francisco, I think in Oakland.

So uh, even though this is a different community, I think it's important for us to know what's there now.

What and the market's gonna change by the time we get this all right.

I think that's what you're alluding to.

So um, this is a great opportunity for the fair to market not only the hotel, but all of the other uh events that we have going on.

I mean uh Scottish games, uh good guys.

Um it goes on because those people have to stay somewhere, right?

Yeah, and it will stay right there.

I mean, it sounds it it's just very synergistic.

So the money part of it and the parceling, I think all of that can be worked out.

We certainly have dedicated uh plan or dedicated ideas that uh that money could go for.

We've got a building that we need to tear down and redo, uh, and that would be an ideal fit.

So I don't know that I think all of everything that you said on our side sounds very positive.

I do also want to uh sorry.

Um supervisor Miley.

So we um, you know, labor in all of our real estate deals is really important.

We also have other community benefits, such as our small local emerging business, and so when we put our peas out for ground leases, we do have uh project labor agreement requirements, yeah.

So um we would the other thing to keep in mind, goes back to something Jerome was saying.

I think even though you know the fair is kind of quasi-independent, you know, totally in arm of the county.

So if you put out an RFP, somebody might come back and say it's not really the county and challenge us on surplus property.

So we really have to be very follow the attorneys so we don't do anything that causes the taxpayers' association as right now saying this isn't really the county.

This is a private entity doing this.

Yeah, because we don't want to trigger surplus property, yeah.

We want to avoid that.

I totally agree with everything you're saying, and I I would take the lead from the county and Andrew.

Um, when we did this the first time, you know, the contract does say that the association will put out the RFP, negotiate so forth and so forth, and then brought to the county for approval.

I'm happy to do it anyway.

Last time we did it however we were told to do it.

I was working very closely with August at the time.

It was a great process, but when we got to the end, there was no labor requirement in that RFP and it's backfired on it.

So whatever you guys want to do, you let us know, and we're just trying to move a ball forward, period.

That's it.

It's on your question.

And can I propose something?

Because I hear you know the idea about discussing the hotel in greater detail, you know, kind of like a pathway for so what I would recommend to the governing body is that you task staff to come up with the blueprint or something, and then bring that back to the sketch.

Because what I would hate to see, and I know that you guys would hate to see it is have this as a standing idle, but no impact people.

I think staff to staff is perfect, and it gets to my early comments about rejuvenating staff to staff with um any other questions on this.

If not, we the chair will recognize the final member of our ad hoc committee, which is no longer going to be called ad hoc.

Right.

We can move around and squeeze it.

You're you're okay.

We thought you might have been lost on the streets.

You know what's hard to have the factory and pick up and back over.

Lost part of the tractors of the streets of Oakland, right?

We'll move from item one.

If we're ready to go to item two, footsall complex update.

Chuck's going to take that.

Yeah, um, back in uh matter of fact, this is informational items so that's uh update where we're at.

Um back in May of 24.

Um, do I get one of these?

Yeah, do you can we have or it's on the screen?

Oh, I'd like to.

Would you like the paper?

I brought you one.

I just everybody have one, Nate.

Okay.

I might need one.

Okay.

Is it online too?

Is it on the agenda?

On the agenda.

No use curve.

So, right.

So, we will put it in so later.

Yeah, she has it all.

We will add this to the as an attachment.

Okay.

Great.

So, transparent.

Okay.

Okay.

Yep.

Okay, back in uh May of 2024, uh, the board approved a um a uh ballistic salt.

You's like Solk, United Soccer club, um, to come in and put together a um a soccer field to some extent in the um parking lot area off by the off-track betting.

And um they went through the conditional use permit process with the city.

Um the city conditioned it upon an inspection by the county, and uh when it went to the county, the county had to determine whether it was going to be a permitted uh item and they needed a set of engineering grinds on it before they could decide whether we needed a permit to move forward.

And um, only reason why we bring this up really is because um, and you can't unring the bell.

I mean, what's gone on has happened?

Um the permitting process took a fair amount of time and cost this particular uh customer or I call them a customer of ours, um, 25,000 roughly.

You get this engineering done by um Q and Wright, to determine that it was very minimal.

I mean, it was a fence went up, it was a concrete parking lot that gets right.

And um, so to the point where last week I asked Daniel from public works to come out to the fairgrounds.

Let's rot around and look at some of the projects and things like this.

And he was kind of surprised that this process went this far and cost this much money.

But really was important is that this particular uh entity serves the community, and now they've missed their opportunity or at least an opportunity window for their season.

So they will be ready to open up in uh February of this year, more than likely.

But it's just a process taken way too long and cost a lot more money.

And it seems to be, and and I go 75 grocery stores.

I was surprised that we had to get this permitted.

And I was surprised that when you go out and look at it, solid is the fence, and some nets for them to kick the ball into and some striping, and the bathrooms are portable, and there's really nothing to permit.

And uh, but yet we got this particular person delayed.

And meanwhile, it went on beyond probably a year longer than it should have gone, and we clicked half rent when we could have been collecting full rent, and we could have been serving the community.

So I'm just looking for maybe a way of, and we started this process a little bit with engaging with public works right up front.

You know, we come out and take a look.

Three weeks ago we had county fire up and um or fire chief willyop to look at a couple of projects last year that um we had a couple overruns, and because of some extra paving that was required or concrete work that was required for a fire truck when it was debatable what it really needed to be done.

So um anyway, uh only we only bring this up because we need to develop a process that's a lot quicker, a lot easier and um and serves the community better than what it I think it did.

Okay, do we have any thoughts on our side?

One thing that I have to ask is that it seems like this was something the city of Pleasanton asked for.

City of Pleasant asks for an inspection from the county, but when it got to the county, they said it's very typical.

Um, when we have large-scale events or we have certain tenting, um, county will come out and inspect.

Usually it's fire marshal, say, yep, this complies, yep, where your exits, your fire extinguishers.

In this case, we went through a process just to determine whether we should permit it or not.

And I think in doing so, it was just automatic.

Well, put it in the portal and we'll figure it out.

Well, to put it in the portal, you needed engineering drawings, can't just put sketches in.

And so that's where the current right engineering started.

It's like, oh my gosh, this is well, you know, for asphalt and offense, so that that's kind of the a little bit of the frustration in uh when most of us that do a lot of construction recognize what does or doesn't need to be permitted.

Um, so the inspection would have been let them go set up their temporary courts, do what they're gonna do, and then we'll get Bonnie out or I'm sorry, the fire marshal or somebody out to bless it and say yes, this is safe.

And yes, the ADA parking stalls are there.

The agency on our side would have been the public works agency, which isn't here.

Is that right?

Um, that's correct.

Yeah, I would say so.

Yeah, one our agreement has certain requirements around any projects making sure whether or not they need permit.

So you and I I called you know, and I think Rachel Johnson, my staff sent you a hit.

Did you go through this permit process?

So then it goes to public works, they determines yes or no.

We do a large number of building projects, and no one though we have feelings, their authority has jurisdiction over us, just like they are in any of your projects, and so um, no public work public works, that's correct.

Committee, and so it's up to them to say yes or no.

If you feel that that's taking too long or something, we could talk about an escalation, but you know, and you're yeah, I know you don't know that.

This was on our agenda prior to even getting to talk with Daniel about it.

So I think this is behind us.

So it's not a they have a you know process like any of us, but the same thing happens to GSA when we submit our projects.

I may think it doesn't, but it's not like you may none of we all know it doesn't need a permit.

We we don't have it's so well that would require every single thing that we do at the fairgrounds to go to planning for an opinion of whether it needs a permit or not.

And I don't know their language is in the our contract about uh I'm saying this is not a project, this is not a construction project.

This is an event.

So there's cement, right?

No.

There was no cement, nooring asphalt asphalt fence building.

Two inch asphalt was laid over gravel and a thing.

I I don't think you and I should debate the definition of reconstruction okay because of concrete versus asphalt and building a fence.

So that's a legal term.

Um, fair enough.

I uh I understand what you're saying.

Yeah, so um, I think there is a way for us.

If you have there was a couple things around communication, uh maybe that's good when we have our staff meetings.

Johnny's good and I talked about that.

So we're how we can approve this because this came to our attention also in a roundabout.

Right.

When I talked about that, so I think I'll defer this matter, and we can certainly invite Daniel from public works, so that we're not you're right.

And it was a I think a lesson learned.

Yeah.

Because we backed up and said it.

Let's get Daniel come on this route around the fairgrounds and talk about some of the projects going forward.

What do you really want to see?

What are you necessary to see?

And this was gender was put together a little bit before.

Yeah, we had an opportunity to spend some time with Daniel and as well as Safari Chief.

Um, different things.

So I think we have a better relationship on it, but um yeah.

I talked that we used to have quarterly staff meetings, so this would have been one where John could have brought this up.

We're gonna talk through it, um, and we're all being reactionary instead of proactive, right?

Resuming those staff to staff meetings, deviate exactly this.

This is a good example.

Whoa, I we'll save it for six, okay.

But I just had one of those meetings about two weeks ago, but perfect.

So I just want to point out this has been on our buildings and grounds uh conversations for well over a year.

Uh all of our minutes from our meetings are sent to the city clerk and to whoever needs them in the county.

So I I mean, I I agree.

I think that it would be a great idea for you to have staff to staff uh meetings, conversations, but it's not like this was uh something that we decided to do while we're uh weekend and started doing.

I mean it okay, yeah, improvement will be staff step.

Right.

The permit authority is fairly complicated for the fairgrounds.

Yeah, I agree.

There's some correspondence that the uh county GSA had sent to the association to try to clarify.

Clarify what the process is for different kinds of projects.

Uh it's curious the city's conditional use permit requirement.

The county conducted inspection.

I don't think that's something that the prior correspondence contemplated.

I agree, and uh maybe that's something that's worth exploring.

Yeah just to give this whole body some good credit is the process was being followed because uh Rodrigo is the one that looked at this first in planning and said okay because this is in Pleasanton and it's a new use you guys need to go to go to Pleasanton.

We did they determined their process and added in oh and get it inspected they didn't say get it get it all permitted or whatever you know but make sure it's safe gonna go do that that that's how we took that and then but I'm with you that we'll work on this process and communication.

We see applicants mostly private people right through their own development projects that equally frustrated time okay anything else on foot so seeing none we'll move on oh I should ask as I should have asked in on item one and two any public comment and I know we have 22 people online is there anybody wanting to comment on item one or two public comment?

Seeing none no hands raised go ahead I would like to speak on it two.

I did see or I can see the application come through the Solomon of City Plusington planning commission.

Okay got it okay you are pleasant and planning all right did you guys hear it yes we did and then it went to the city yes council okay any questions or comments uh we were worried about the lights and uh we thought we well we were concerned about them wanted to run from eight in the morning till 10 or 11 at night lights because our trailers and people that live in our campus nearby but we agree to let them try if we get mistakes or excuse me not mistakes but if we get some people that complaining it's too noisy then we'll pull back okay and those were expressed at the meeting well one more they've had the place uh areas for handicap people or use for governor people footsaw yeah I mean that agreement with the ballistic united soccer yeah that's kind of around full of stuff handicap ramps I'm assuming it's ADA compliant yes the parking lot and all that when it's complete yeah any other public comment on item two seeing none we're moved item three 2025 capital improvement slash marketing plan informational item so this was identified as a supervisors what is it so I think it would be uh in my mind just in a nutshell it's a matter of let's review the 2025 plan that was communicated to us sometime in 2024 and what was the plan and throughout the year how did it go real simple not meaning to be too much what was the plan originally presented to us and what was the action so I believe you have next page here you have those numbers there in front of you and these were uh submitted I believe in 20 in November of 2024 yeah budget and the expenses to date are the next item and the percent of the budget is identified there so you want to walk us through it somehow step i i can help um this document right here is a document that we track our projects on so when we submitted this we submitted all of our projects to during the budget cycle.

But this is a a more in-depth, you know, um tracking process that we meet with our own board members on every every couple weeks.

Um what happened in the middle of this year, if you remember, is um we submitted a budget, which is you can you can see the projects on the left and then the budget line items.

And when we got ourselves in a mess with GSR racing and we were bleeding money, we had to put a hold on a vast majority of these projects last year until we had a successful fair, and then we turned back on our uh capital campaign.

So if you look at this, this is actually quite unusual to be at the end of this one we're looking at, or the one in my package.

Which one?

Well, that's kind of why I didn't want to give you a packet.

Okay, so this one you'll okay.

Um, so uh you'll see some gaps there that there's no money spent, it's because we pulled back on things half in the beginning of the year when we wanted to get our finances back straight, um administration building roof, no money spent.

That's correct.

That's a good example of something we wanted to do.

Um, and then you see the projects that are complete um and how we track things.

So it's kind of straightforward, and then there's a lot of things that you didn't spend any money on, and we will have moved some of those projects over to 2026.

Got it, and that would be the next document if you want to move on.

But if you have questions about anything on this, I'm happy to talk us through it.

One of the things that triggers a lot of this, so there's our visioning plan that we have, and every year we're renew our vision document, it's a five-year rolling plan.

So if it doesn't fit into this project this year because of finances, it'll roll into the next one if this when the document comes out, okay.

This this was 2025, and it doesn't have grandstand plaza, for example, but this says 2025 grandstand plaza, and so this is 2026.

So if it's on here, did it get added somewhere during the year of 2025 and didn't get done, that's why it's on six because it again, this is what you submitted in 25, and it I'm looking at some grandstand plaza A and E like wine courtyard admin expansion, roadway 12.

None of these were on the original 2025 list.

Okay, no, and and they're not really that okay.

Okay, and really those are just uh engineering dollars.

That's not the project itself.

That's just hey, we got to get ahead of it.

Yeah, okay, reconstruction.

So that's what that list is, and then the list that I just handed you is the 2026 proposed list.

So you got to see some repeats of these projects, yeah, on there.

Some of them, you know, if something comes in way out of whack on quotes and budgets, we'll we'll push it to another year with a number.

Um, sometimes uh so that that's what the new list is.

And um, but all of these are prioritized on the back.

You'll see when we go through a budget cycle.

Things are prioritized based on safety and liability, asset protection, revenue generation, customer experience, operational efficiency, or it's something legal or compliance, you know, like ADA, we need to do this or that.

Um, so that's what is uh before you uh coming up.

Uh this list of projects.

Yes, I think you gave it on Friday.

Um, they did we uh last last uh last week.

December first.

Yeah, but you got it.

You got who's this included in the subtraction, you said last month.

I think the list of projects are attached in there, but I don't know if our working like dollar amounts and uh this this is our our tracking document.

So I thought it would be easier to understand.

So I think that for um the it's the same project.

Sorry, Kimberly, yeah, yeah.

I think again, as we have more a regular staff to staff meetings, we will all be not a surprise to anybody because they would have seen them throughout the year.

I think also as we contemplate our annual submission of capital and marketing plans for the year, that it is something that would be bringing in presentation format to the ad hoc committee.

Maybe even to the full board, because these end up being, if it's done, um one way is end up being an attachment to an agenda with a hundred and fifty items on it, and that's that's just not work for us, but to be presented, go through that so that Nate and I understand.

And or if any of our colleagues have questions about that.

Okay.

So we're up against some deadlines as far as the state, correct?

The state has their deadlines, right?

But so I'm just trying to uh to figure out um when then it is that you're gonna expect this presentation.

Yeah, ideally it would be back when you need it by done by and back it up to a point that our board historically has approved the following years.

In November, yeah, that's the third Tuesday of the month.

Yeah, so the third Thursday of the month can be the ad hoc meeting.

Sure.

How about that?

Because it's hot off the press, doesn't take any extra time.

Don't want to upset your timeline, but then it's presented, not just here's an attachment to a board agenda.

It's presented to the committee.

It's easy enough to do, especially since we've gone through the process with the fair board.

We can come right back here, uh, have a discussion about them, make sure everybody's on the same page, and then um, so related to 2026.

If you want me to, I can give us a short presentation on the bigger hitting items.

You want to change the so um we've been doing sound systems on the fairgrounds for the last six years in faces.

Uh the Agventure that I've circled here uh in red or squared up in red.

Uh that's our next phase for next year.

So when you see every single year, there's more sound system.

Last year uh the money was put towards the grandstand, so it has permanent sound system.

We did that last year, though, um, because of GSR racing.

So we wanted to make sure we had good sound uh for crowd control.

Um next one, please.

Um, building A, it's our largest building.

Um, it's about 28 years or 30 years old now, and the fire suppression in there uh has to completely be replaced.

All of the um it's all old copper and we get pinhole leaks during during events.

Um so that's on our schedule this year.

Next one, please.

Um, we're gonna talk about this more during the water compliance, but this particular project right here is to disconnect or I'm sorry, to connect bona fide wash racks in the livestock area to the sewer, so that there is no or less chance of pollutants getting into our storm system, which was part of our uh project that we're working on right now, uh, but more detail on that.

Uh next one, please.

Um, there's always you're gonna see a plethora of new golf carts or uh equipment like this and trucks.

Um that's kind of a usual thing, we're always replacing the fleet.

Um, we generally don't buy brand new um, at least trucks, you know, usually because they never leave the campus.

So we don't mind buying trucks that have 40,000 miles on them, and then you know, but they're upgrades to some of the other stuff we have.

Run them into the ground, yeah.

Yes, next.

Um, now pardon my crayon drawing, but um, this was the best I had that I could explain.

If you're um down here in that hat quarter circle, that's that fountain uh courtyard.

Um, this coming year, we would be planning after fair the grandstand plaza.

You see these little gold tick marks that run through that, we're planning kind of a historical walk so that it's a um history of the fairgrounds and Alameda County and the events of the world at those times.

Uh it will start all the way back um with the Aloney Indians and come through Bernal creating our race track all the way to GSR racing in 2025.

Um that's in engineering, so I didn't have any color drawing, so we literally colored it for you.

But it's a concrete layout.

Please do.

Is our historic commission involved?

Not at this moment, it's just a concept of what those look like.

And and it's mainly mostly around the fairgrounds, but we're pulling uh, you know, what happened at the fairgrounds at certain times, so you can line it up with, oh, we landed on the moon, and this is what happened at the fairgrounds.

And oh, President Kennedy, which is assassinated.

Oh, this was what it's that kind of a thing.

So we're excited about that.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Um, but we're excited about this project.

Well, not showing in this is also massive shade uh canopies.

We're working with engineers to figure out which what we're going to be allowed to do or not do.

So where exactly is it again?

Um, is the grandstand itself?

You can see the ADA walk uh ramp up into the grandstand.

So out your front door to the left is what this is.

Outside of the not inside the grandstand, outside, outside.

So this whole white area that is the grandstand.

These are the stairs that come out.

This is the uh walkway.

Um, you know, And the meetings being reported.

Thank you.

Sorry, no.

That's good.

No, we don't have to take it.

We're all normally take roll to make sure we're all back.

Rose will be back.

Or she'll be back.

You know, check them.

We can get it.

Jerome, you want to finish up item.

Yeah.

Or I think you had a question about the farm project.

Oh, so it you mentioned extra concrete needed for fire.

And is that why the farm phase one foundation is up by an extra couple hundred and five, six hundred thousand dollars?

Is that the cost of that?

No, um, partially.

Um, that's a working document, so we could track for the board how much things were costing.

But the one point that the original budget is the actual construction budget.

Um, but then for the board, we put in all of the other items like pre-construction is in that line list as well.

Um, and then we are showing our uh PGE credit that we will be getting.

So in reality, that entire project all said and done is about a hundred and forty-five thousand over budget of what we expected.

Um, but there are two major components.

We had to put on a new roof that was unexpected, and we can build a fire road through the farm.

Um, so those were two major components.

The solar, correct?

The solar on the right.

The solar, uh, we removed the roof and then re-roofed it and got rid of the old solar.

So those are the two major change orders that we dealt with.

But um, so that that's why that's spelled out the way it is.

So that's what our own board had questions about it, and so we tried to give more specificity on that particular project as to how the cash was flowing.

Question for you, do you um if you are going over?

How do you have cash flow shortages?

And I say that because we may have already got the solution for it ourselves.

Or, because we are saying, the same thing.

The county has come up.

Okay, that need the no commitments, no problems.

But if you were to be over on one, you don't want to stop something else, you want to keep going, you can pay us back later.

That maybe an opportunity to process the price though.

Turn on the switch.

Bring in the resources.

Write a line of credit.

Interest rate.

Well, don't go through that.

It's possible.

Yeah, that's fine.

If it's possible, it may not be much different than uh agency agreement.

Transfer.

Is it possible to do that?

Do you charge me interest?

Oh, charge you.

It will be whatever we charge her.

Okay.

Andrew it's more of a legal question, I think.

Yeah.

But then it's possible.

Okay.

Come back.

Let's put on the list.

Okay.

Okay.

That's a good idea.

We do that.

No, that's excellent.

Also, because it it goes back to our previous relationship where, for example, we have a four million dollar note with the county related to the solar project that we built.

And we're paying over 14 years.

And the partnership was so robust that when we hit COVID, the county was willing to just payments on hold.

Sure.

And then we refinanced it when COVID was over and we resumed our payment.

So similar things could be um done in the future.

Um I will I'm proud to say though, right now we're not in a cash crunch.

Um, we had a very successful fair, and Vivian's gonna be talking about that in a minute.

Okay, good.

Well, we'll put that on the burner to think about in case you do.

But it's time to have a process in place.

I would totally agree.

Uh and beyond the crisis cash flow, there could be other opportunities that we want to engage in.

Uh bigger vision projects that you know literally are big big projects that cannot be funded right now with our resources.

And we've gone through grant writing processes and stuff for some of these vision plan projects, unsuccessfully.

So in the future, we can talk about some things.

We got item, we got a public comment on items three and four.

Questions in the room, seeing none of the five stormwater compliance.

No, I could be a thank you intro.

Um, stormwater compliance.

Um, most of you know that um the one we took on GSR racing as a project.

Um what came up um uh after we were well into the program, um that we were a CAFO, and it was kind of ironic because we had um and I participated in the meeting, we had the water board out, we had the planning department out, and at that particular time there was no discussion about it, and um the only discussion was they can show your washwax or covered and that um stormwater uh area would be addressed.

I think they talked about governors in them, and then shortly after that we found out um that we were considered our KFO if we had more than 500 horses more than 45 days, and um eventually that portion of the um challenge went away when uh the um uh 500 horses left and no longer than 45 days, but it left us with some challenges that were on site still, and um uh anyway.

Um what has happened is um we've identified the areas that are where wash rocks would be, and that was on that one slide that um Joel met up for a few minutes ago.

Uh, next slide.

Well, well, before we move on, let me just give the status of where we are today because I'm mostly reporting this with Kimberly and I.

Um, the water compliance plan has already been sent to the state regional water board to have it.

Um, there's been no response.

Uh, they've had it for about a month and a half, two months.

Um, all of those documents went to GSA County Public Works City and uh Dublin San Ramon Service District, even though they're not overly connected to the storm side, but they wanted it.

Um we the site has been inspected by the state regional board, they came out twice.

Um the only thing now we are waiting on is two qualified rain events to show to get test results from a lab, and um, I know that one of them we're already getting better, so that's we're moving in the right direction, but those test results, I believe, are gonna be a base, and we're one of them's been completely we got one more to go, right?

Yeah, we have another test to go and before regional water board will completely relinquish the authority over us, you know.

Then we'll go back to draining the MS4 and working with the county and city.

Um, but so um at the same time during fair, we ran a sanitation uh study that measured all of our sanitation waste because Sam Dublin San Ramon wanted that.

Uh, this whole effort was to figure out how much affluent was potentially being repiped from the storm system into the sanitation district.

I I think they realized it was minor and negligent, and now um it's in their all, it's in their court right now to recalibrate our feeds because they realize we've been paying overpaying for a very long time.

Uh so any help with um Stephen Delight would be uh great.

He's um I think very busy at this holiday season right now, but he has that document.

So that's where we stand today.

Um, so what what's in the what is in the water plant?

If we can go to the next slide.

Um, first and foremost, we have to um our existing animal facility where the kids do their shows and so forth, it's called the Amador Pavilion.

This area has to be separated from the storm drain in a um bona fine sewer.

Is that where the FFA exactly occurs?

Uh huh.

So you can see in that picture actually, all that little grid of those pins that are you can see, those are the wash racks for the kids.

Well, when they wash down, that water trickles to the storm drain.

So our project is to come inside of the pavilion, that blue square there, and pour concrete, plumb that directly to the sewer system so we have wash racks for the kids that are not contaminating the storm system.

Um, I don't want everybody to be alarmed.

Anything that did get into the storm system in the past was being bypassed with the valve to the sanitation district.

So um not a creek, not a creek.

So, but uh, so that's the game plan is to build covered wash racks for the kids underneath the pavilion.

Uh, this has already been engineered, it's already been sent to the county and stands with planning or not planning, but public works as we speak.

The public works out last week to review it, right?

So that's step one of our entire uh concern.

Step two, this is an image or a cab drawing of the equestrian center.

Those long boxes are barns.

All of those black dots are inlets for storm drains.

So step two was to purchase and install Triton filters.

These have carbon filters on them as well as another scientific thing that goes in them and filters um the contaminants out before it could ever get to the storm drain.

Um, one of these for every blue dot.

Every single blue dot has one of those.

This was about a $50,000 exercise in getting these installed.

That's for installation.

No, for all of them.

Uh, and we're putting them in some other areas of the fairgrounds just to test and see if we can do even better.

The boxes are already there.

Yeah, the underground box is there.

What we put in was the carbon filter and the uh inside of it.

Um, and there'll be an annual maintenance and fee for this because they're gonna have to change them out and so forth.

Um so that's step two, and that's what's in our plan.

And now that it's all installed, we're waiting for the two qualified rain events.

And if we're good, we're good.

But we want to plan a system that can comply for up to 500 horses for up to 45 days.

Uh, and so if this barely meets the mark, that's not gonna do it when horses are on property.

So if we go to the second uh number three, um, that is where the engineers now are working on downstream on our storm drains.

These two red boxes are where the storm drains leave the horse area.

Uh and we would be looking at putting in bio swells, bioretention, or a very large box like the one on the bottom right.

Uh it's a biofilter um into those two locations if it's required or needed once we get our test results back.

Those are on the order of another, you know.

That that's big money, and we currently have money in the budget in case we need to do it.

What's big money?

Uh we have 500,000 budgeted at the moment for those units, okay.

And if that doesn't work, then you go downstream again, and you do more and more, but right now this is what's in our plan.

So you can go um conceivably above 500 as long as you keep going downstream and adding bigger cleaners.

Uh no.

If you go above 500 in more than 45 days, you are you've entered the classification as a KFO.

And if you do that, then you have to put in holding independent retention ponds.

And that is what uh public works strongly emphatically said, do not do that out there at the fairgrounds.

I just want to mention Daniel's not here.

Yeah, yeah, Daniel says, Daniel's not here, so that's your signal.

Oh, but I just want to be careful.

Okay, that's our uh so we can, yeah.

Yeah, it's the only he was invited though to the okay, but is that the only way to let me let me say this?

We've been having internal meetings, Jerome, Daniel, and I.

Right, and it's always important whether it's my staff or him or me to be careful.

Absolutely, I'm just gonna be careful.

I was in a meeting where he gave a different opinion, and so I don't want to disagree, but I just want to be careful what we're saying down the I need to hear if there's a different opinion, and you can ask Daniel, okay.

So we'll have our follow-up.

Okay, yeah.

Drop it.

Well, so this is the first time we've heard that there would be even a consideration of uh building a retention.

Retention pods sounding and not meeting so I I think it's good if we have this in staff meeting.

I was in a meeting with Jamal and Daniel, and there was discussion of whether or not to do retention ponds.

Daniel did provide some alternatives, right?

Options, he never said emphatically I would not do that in the meeting that I was in.

There was a different way.

Now he may have come out to the site and said that.

I don't know, but I do know my staff have been quoted.

I've been quoted, and it wasn't exactly the context or what was set.

So I want to hear it from Daniel.

Absolutely.

And you know, he's a great guy.

We have a good relationship with three of us.

Um, yeah, that's important.

And John, I you have a tape from the last time we were.

You heard it, you heard it.

Okay, so I'm not trying to put him on the spot.

I just wanted to reference this.

So they heard it.

I'll follow up because we're keeping really good notes.

Yes.

I think can I just interject for one second?

Um, when there's kind of clarifications that need to be made, doesn't need to be half half offline.

Yeah.

Yeah, because I think it's not constructed for collectively.

So I so it's good to hear that there is a possible conversations.

So John, um, I sense that you were asking about the cost code.

And in the last meeting, we had Fed routes, I was sus and now than asking, what are we planning to do?

Where will that get us to?

And what would be contingency plans for above the yard?

Be very clear that if it's possible, I would like to be able to step the process in place if we would want to go above.

To know what we want to do, yeah, yeah.

We'll get it together, we'll we're all on the same team, but I don't want to foreclose something that may be possible.

And that's why we just asked the question: like, well, what would it take to how's more than 500 for more than 45 days, whether it's year-round or not whether it's okay or not whatever we just want to know I just said that what what it was right so I just want to be clear Jerome today are we clear to have less than 500 horses for 45 days on the property today today no I don't have a qualified rain events yet right so we have to get that qualification from state water board yes okay so just so we haven't we haven't cleared the first hurdle and doing the second hurdle is something that I know uh we've talked about we've heard about and everything that I am aware of is that we can't go there now if it's going to be something different than that we need to know that we need to hear that agreed okay and these are all installed and you're just waiting for the rain event they don't have to be installed as of today is my understanding okay yeah so that's great for rain so for the bio yeah this bottom right uh biofilter um is not that's a contingency yeah exactly plus the 5000 would get us more so we get the people water yeah well the second I just got question because there's a lot of people here that don't understand the fragrance as much as you and me.

Well those blue dots are there's another blue dot that it's not there those dots represent the wash wrap water or the horse parts those wash that's not on there and that water goes directly to the sewer system correct so for everyone here at the table that understands this if you're washing your horse and has a roll curve that water goes directly to the sewer this goes to a pipe that goes underneath Brunell into a bioswell that goes into the Reno Gate row it royal gaily which goes out to the bank so that's just clarification for everyone in this room that doesn't quite understand what goes on.

Thank you.

Any other comment on storm you want to weigh in on storm one no I mean I I think we had just uh want to compliment Jerome's team and engineers and the meetings we didn't have any going well check ins and it's been oh that's the current right people the engineers top notch very good sizzle real oh this is item seven um that's the end of item five any other questions or comments I public comment yes sir uh David representing Bernard um where are you David David Elliott L.

Representing Bernal Park okay where's the testing water testing collected when you have this right event where's it where's it going to be tested is this public comment or do you want me to answer questions it's public comment it's a good point a public comment is generally made then we will allow for a comment to be responded to so if you want to ask a series of questions if you could do that would be great.

Yeah but yeah well I just want to know public comment I just want to know where the testing is going to be collected when this rain events is there any other public comment anybody online wanting to comment on this public comment on this item is closed Jerome would you care to respond?

Does the county want me to respond to that well you have specific collection points we do it's in the plan yeah which is a public document uh to the yes I believe so you if it was requested from uh state water board yes yes I don't have any issues you don't have an issue issue so we test in five locations on the fair grounds uh during no during it's during a qualified rain event um they are in three locations here on this map uh two of them are about the red boxes, and one of them would be current storm grain that heads out this way, which would be severed in our plan.

This is the a third location, and then way down here on Bernal is the water entrance burn all we we test those two locations.

Five different locations, five locations, yeah.

Great.

Any other public comment?

Seeing none, I guess, right?

Seeing none, we'll move on to the item six fair association operation governance information.

So um, is this where you want to talk about how we can patients through the ongoing meetings of the ad hoc committee?

Sure.

I mean, they sound good to you.

I believe what we discussed was having at least four quarterly or quarterly meetings on for the ad hoc committee, and I think we're open to that.

What the issue is is when we get hit up with incorrect information that has been provided to the county, and then we spend days and time and energy replying to that.

Yeah, it's an issue.

One of the things that my staff mentioned to me when they received public records request act, and the letter stated that information seemingly conveyed to the county was information that was disseminated in a executive closed session, and it was now the because the topic described would in our world, no way, shape, or form be a closed session discussion item.

And because removal or that any modification to race track isn't a closed session topic.

Now I heard you say that it was in a closed session, but it wasn't a closed session topic.

Correct.

And so I guess it may be a leading question, but I think they know the answer.

Anything discussed in a closed session.

How was last night?

How would what are you doing tomorrow?

Not closed session topics.

None of that's confidential.

It's in a closed session.

Doesn't mean it's confidential if it's not related to the items that are on the closed session discussion and isn't privileged confidential information.

And so I mean uh we're in closed session.

Are you going to bingo Friday?

Yeah, I'm going to bingo Friday.

Hey, he's going to bingo Friday.

That's not confidential.

This is a little different than going to bingo on Friday.

This has led to information being conveyed that is incorrect.

And it happens to be information that was directly related to projects at the programs.

If it wasn't anything just not, well, but it was in a closed session.

Doesn't mean it's confident.

But it was intended.

Well, it wasn't the topic.

I'm sorry, I disagree.

You have bylaws and we have committees, and our county contracting agreement says that we can go into closed session for anything.

It does not, we are not subject to the Brown Act in the way obviously the county is.

And so this group can go into closed session for anything.

So it's not the same standard.

Now you are absolutely correct that the actual information is not very confidential, or I'm sorry, it was not very precious.

Um we're more concerned about the process of our own board and our own bylaws.

It's not a legal issue.

This is a matter of the board's um processing systems.

It's not the county's um uh problem.

Um, the nature of the public records request is only to help the executive committee understand the nature of how this information came to be.

That's all okay.

So we're not trying to compare to the county, and we're not suggesting anything illegal.

It's happened.

It's merely editing or if you recorded policies.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

It's kind of adequate.

When you have a group when you're on a closed session.

You expect that group to keep the.

Yes, yeah.

Um, it's also why, you know, my letter to um Kimberly.

Uh I I never want to send a public records request because I know how much work that puts on her and her team to go deal with all of this.

But at this point, we're we're in a searching for what is going on with our own board.

And the fact that this came up in this manner with absolutely no um reference, just a demand and in a cease and desist letter was interesting, and it invoked um the language in that letter, that we were in violation violation, potentially, you know.

So it's a little bit disturbing that it went to that level.

Because it's not um confidential, we've already have you discussed removing repairing, altering in any way, shape, or form the rails of the racetrack.

Yes, yes, absolutely, so uh in certain areas, yeah.

But it's not what the it just that my mind peaks an interest of it's a 120-year-old facility.

That is in your care, and if anything were to happen to an historic racetrack for any, I feel compelled to ask, just ask the question, walk across the screen.

So, hold on.

It's just a second.

Kimberly are is the supervisor in uh does he have this 12-2 information that Jerome replied to?

She sent it to me, okay.

But you haven't seen it yet, correct?

Or no, I I read it, no, which is why and she's pointed out these are things that on our world wouldn't be confidential.

So that's where that explains it.

The confidentiality uh I will give you uh it is not necessarily confidential information, it was confidential, it was during a session of a closed session, and the problem is not just that it was conveyed, it was in conveyed incorrectly correctly.

Yeah, our fabrication.

I think the letter to you said, Can you stop what you're doing until we have a chance to talk in accordance with our and we and I asked for meeting times, so I think I want to make sure we're characterizing what was in that letter, it was much softer and may have felt, and I appreciate it.

And Jerome called me immediately, so I appreciate that too.

Like we're trying to work on that, so um, it was like whatever's happening, I just want to talk about it.

And so, and here's the dates, and we do have to legally say where in the contract that those requirements exist.

So there was contract language in there that says, you know, otherwise we go to the next step.

But anyway, he called right away, we met right away, and then he sent a written response.

So I think and that was shared with our board members, so um, I understand it felt a certain way, just like the public records request felt a certain way on this side as well.

So, and then the second public records request.

So I just want to I want us to be able to do that, uh, improve.

And it might be my fault.

John, I am asking them.

I mean, you got he said he said he that chain of events when I hear anything related to the rail, which I know is an integral component of a racetrack, and I just assume that it's a hundred and twenty-year-old racetrack that um uh anything associated with it, you know.

Historical preservation is like all inclusive.

You can't even change the doorknobs on a door of a historical rated home because it's historic.

So I'm like, hold on, time up, maybe I overreact.

Okay, so let's let's just talk about the way that that happened.

It sounds like then that it was the information was conveyed to Kimberly by you to from you.

Is that correct?

Yes, okay.

Uh why in the world would you not have to climb up and call to me or call Jerome?

Yeah.

Because we could have that could have ended the whole conversation pretty quickly, I believe.

So I I just that's the point.

That is the issue.

It's not necessarily that I I don't think that our staff should be talking or that uh you should be talking to someone else on the board.

I'm the president of the board.

Jerome is the chief executive officer.

Yes.

We have been pretty successful at operating the fairgrounds.

We there should be no reason that you can't pick up the phone and ask me what's going on.

The only things that's true, John, for this, I thought it was that staff needed to know.

And if we had well, if you want to have amazing, if you had a apologize and I and I said yes, we're tearing down the the building.

Okay, then you could have gone to staff and absolutely a cease and desist might have been in order.

But this was not uh that this was not that.

Well, and by the nature of the request, it sounds like you were receiving erroneous inaccurate information, which tells me by what you just told me.

What when I said are you planning to do anything with the rail, and you said yes, that alone we repaired rail that was damaged last year from an event we had, and then occasionally we have an event, we'll take down a rail and put it back, isn't it?

And the the rail itself obviously is aluminum and not the historic, and actually we've found that there's actually nothing historic about it, the racetrack, um, except for its age, yeah.

But that's a new rail in the 90s.

Um, it's aluminum.

We take take it down, put it up.

We have lots of spare parts designed um send photos of.

Uh it's something we do all the time when a horseman might tumble and ruin a rail.

We've that's the business word.

And it was uh reference to a monument that we were removing.

It's a plywood.

Why would it be built?

So that's that's the nature of an erroneousness of the information that we would love to just have a better global community.

And I think the staff meetings and our quarterly meetings move us off.

So we're talking about.

I made all the years it was, but um, so what else on this?

This was your idea, so your item.

So I do want to say that um I think members of the public would benefit from some changes and changes that I hear relate to things around transparency, and I wasn't here in 2017, they was but the last time we went through a big review of things, now almost eight years ago, had to do with the feeling that we should have more transparency.

Is that Steve?

Were you here then?

No, I was here.

I was here, I don't remember that.

Otherwise, what so what do you what are you reviewing?

I don't want to have more transparency when this thing happened seven years ago.

That's what I did thought.

But Scott signed a contract, yeah.

That led to a lot of review, a lot of good stuff.

That's some changes, yeah.

So um changes.

I won't say that I think your board should should be a quote unquote brown acted board, but I do think the community would benefit if your meetings were open to the public on Zoom.

I would think that the community, as I've heard from would be appreciative if the minutes from your meetings were posted on the website along with the recording of your meeting, just the way hundreds of bodies do are acts to the books.

So it may be uh some people have suggested maybe the website could be better navigated, but I'll leave that.

I'll leave that part to you guys.

That's not really governance related, but having more open, and then with regard to your bylaws, I just need to I need to consider and think to myself whether it's more transparent for the public to know.

When you go into closed session, the topics you're going to talk about in closed session, and the ability to comment on them before you go into closed session.

Now I have to talk to Andrew and Kimberly offline to Joni's point that should be an offline conversation when we have maybe disconnected, sounds like it might, because I've just realized that it might have failed for me.

Because I've heard from the community, we don't know all the things that are being discussed.

From what I understand, there may be times when you just go in to close session and kick everybody out and then talk about things that nobody knows what you're talking about.

And then come back into open session and it seems very fluid.

And it gives that feeling of maybe how maybe how supervisor meetings were run 50 years ago.

I don't know.

But the well I started to ask.

Those don't have to be here that long.

Those don't happen.

So I know more transparency is all I'm advocating for.

I think that we can work on that.

I think we can look at it.

I think it's uh certainly something that we can try to be more transparent.

But I will say our meetings are planned a year in advance.

Uh they're published.

Uh we document our minutes, we send our minutes to the county, we make those minutes available.

So and our meetings are open to the public.

We do have a portal you can go on to.

No, no, no, that's not a public portal, yeah.

Right.

I'm just saying for go ahead, Nate.

Yeah, I was just gonna say, Mr.

President, I can't really work supervisors.

I know you come from the private sector, you've been practicing for a long time.

Be careful what you ask for, just you know, way the two, because often people tell me things work better in the private sector than the public sector.

So be careful what you have.

Okay, so we can we can certainly work on a motion, being more transparent.

Sorry, yeah.

You wouldn't say so.

I would just caution all of us in this discussion that you like what Nate said, yeah.

But this is a private nonprofit corporation registry with state of California, it is not a commission of the state or the county.

Uh you happen to have the privilege, uh and the fair has the privilege of managing this facility, but in no way are is it a commission of the county, and so I don't I don't want to overlay that.

I don't I wouldn't recommend anybody overlay the the commission status that the county has over a private nonprofit corporation.

That's all.

And um, I think one of the reasons it's extremely successful because the format that you already have, but uh it doesn't mean though that we don't try to always be very transparent.

We have a full website, uh, we have open meetings, we take public comment, um, all of our minutes are transcribed and sent over to um the county for so if anybody ever needs minutes, boom, they're in the right repository.

Can we clarify so to join me?

So I don't administer the contract, and none of those documents are sent to me.

So, I'm not.

It's the clerk of the board, clerk of the board.

I don't think so.

So here's here's what I hear from everything.

The good next steps, proposed part of this consideration.

Is if you come up with a robust communication improvement plan, right?

And bring it back for the group to to adopt.

Because I think there, I think.

There's a lot of really good intentions, it just keeps on missing, right?

And then people are reacting, and because to be honest with you, the first rule of in local government is never surprised your elected officials, right?

That would be never surprised your electoral.

Get them informed.

So we can come up with something that we'll bring back to the next uh committee for your consideration for everybody's consideration.

Is that sound like a plan?

Well, as long as the staff to staff is implemented for them.

Oh, absolutely.

We don't have to get permission.

No, here's here's the thing.

I had a conversation with Kimberly this weekend.

It had to do with the fact of we have these quarterly meetings.

Let me kind of give you the genesis of why those quarterly meetings happen.

Prior to the adoption of the new contract, there were no regular staff to staff.

There was something happening, people reacted, all that kind of stuff.

And I'm a fixer by nature.

So I said anybody that touches this contract needs to be part of this meeting.

And I can tell you that for the first couple of years, I was heavily involved.

I pulled away there were different staff changes.

That's the other thing too.

The reality is that as we have turnovers, people lose the essence of why the meetings were established.

And then it got to the point like, yeah, it's on the calendar.

We might talk about it.

So we get real specific about what needs to happen and who needs to be at the meetings.

That's the other thing too.

Then I need to talk internally with the staff is who needs to be at that meeting.

You don't have your friend and a friend attend the meeting because they don't understand the nexus of the importance of the information they share.

And the other thing too is, you know, I really do appreciate the conversations that are happening, you know, you know, as far as you know, calls a topic.

Because I always want to give my colleagues or a heads up.

Just like here, here's what's going on.

Can you clarify or whatever?

But I think that the logical next step is for us to come back with something that you guys can react to and say, does this work?

And there's always going to be fine-tuning that occurs for them.

So that's a weird thing.

So supervisor, and also I had that the quarterly meetings are on the calendar, still exist.

Some of us still attend them.

For example, Vivian and myself and the fire marshal are very well acquainted.

We're always on those calls on occasion, share function with us because they have something on occasion.

No, no, these are staff to staff.

Okay.

Um, more recently, since I've known Kimberly, we have uh great meetings, and there's another person on Kimberly staff that I think uh that's the contract requires a is it every six months?

The one I have with Rachel.

Once a year, once a year to officially document that and make sure it's in the books and we go through, I don't want to speak for GSA, but we have those meetings.

Yeah, so we just gotta be more robust about what we're talking about, and then the other thing too is that we can do follow-up as far as the minutes and things that were discussed, sure, and those can be shared with the ad hoc members as an additional step of relationship, so you may get redundant, so I do would recommend that if I can have an internal conversation with staff who needs to attend the reestablishment of an agenda, and then knowing how we can keep that back out to the group at large, Joni.

As long as it includes meetings, as long as it includes agendas to those meetings posted to the website, it's just isn't this?

That's that no, uh um, well, I would like to discuss at some point, maybe not today, but transparency to the public.

They have a website, they're a nonprofit.

I don't want to give the impression that we should be marching toward the minimum.

Is there is there a it's not required, but is there a barrier to having your meetings and your agendas posted?

They aren't a barrier.

No, no, they're already done.

The recordings of your meetings, the zoom ability of people to zoom into your meetings, not required, but is there is there a barrier?

Is there a reason to not?

No, there's not a barrier, but we just witnessed why.

That becomes a problem all the time with people trying to.

We don't have the technology where we can hold people in a room and so forth.

Um, so usually we only allow excused board members to zoom in, not the public unless they are a guest that we need as a speaker.

Um we've done that.

If you comply with the minimum requirements, I don't know what the minimum requirements are for the county.

So I think the I think the idea here was that you're gonna come back with plan communication, right?

At two levels, as far as to make it clear that you guys are aware that staff meetings are happening, and then possibly notes that come from that if we share.

I'll put it this way, Johnny.

You and I will take if it's okay offline, you and me as you go to drive that process with everybody so that when it comes back, I know what to expect.

So and I hope it would be above and beyond the minimum requirements of state law.

Governing nonprofit organizations, be transparent.

Um, yeah, go ahead.

I'm lost here.

You're you're saying that we need we're not meeting in the minimum course of a state law right now.

We don't have a state law.

We don't have a state law.

So I'm not saying that, Chuck.

I'm reacting to Jerome's comment that you are not accounting agency.

I agree, right?

That you don't have the same rules and regulations that you have to play by, governed by state law, right?

Sorry, yeah, so somewhere you have to.

I get it, you're probably complying with state law.

It doesn't mean you can't go above and beyond that.

Okay, and be more transparent than what the state requirement is for you to comply with, and you can choose to do that, yeah.

So you're we can also rearrange the terms of our agreement.

So as we go through the exercise, you're looking for us to be more compliant than is required for the private nonprofit.

Yeah, you're not asking us to be more compliant than the Brown Act.

Correct.

Got it.

I'm not even asking you to be as compliant as the Brown Act fully requires because those rules are that being crazy agreement.

As I might first comment was, I don't want you to be as fully compliant as what the Brown Act would require because I hate it.

But I do want you to get closer to it, even though it's above what you're required to do, Lemo.

And I think we can get there.

Yeah, I know you can.

Good, cool, because we'll see.

So are we good?

Is there any public comment on item six?

You do online speaker.

Well, anybody in the room always comes first.

Anybody speak?

Okay, anybody else speak on item six?

Go ahead.

I just want to say it's difficult for me to find when the meetings are online.

It's also difficult.

When the timing when the well, when the data is okay, I've had to text people and call them and say when's your next boarding, they say who are you?

And they push me through to somebody else's answers.

Which I think is kind of crazy.

I think we're answering to be able to tolerate the public when your meetings.

Uh also um when I'm in a meeting, I've been in many meetings this last year and the last two years, I guess.

And many times they leave in a closed session.

Then you're picked out, you just feel like you're not even want it.

When you walk in, nobody creates you, you came in as a device, and shake everybody's hands.

Nobody does that from the board.

Maybe the few people that know you will like look at you, the other ones don't look at you, and when you're talking during the meeting, they look at each other, talk to each other, and then eat their dinner.

I find it horribly rude and very unprofessional.

That's all I want to say.

As a resident of president.

You are allowed to be coming.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Okay, I should say something about this.

Yes, I think that if you want to get transparent, when this board goes in closed session, we don't have a clue what they're going to talk about.

Most organizations that I've ever been associated with, they go in closed session.

They have an agenda, and that's what they talk about.

I witnessed one day at one meeting, the vice chairman of the California Horse Racing Board being thrown out of the meeting.

And a bunch of consultants and lawyers were left in there that had nothing to do with board.

They work for the CDFA and for other people.

That kind of stuff really becomes an issue for public people that are watching us.

I mean, to watch what's the vice chairman of the board have thrown out and told you can't be in here, but a lawyer for CDFA who's talking about horse racing is allowed to stay.

And that's what that's in a closed session, and you have no clue what went on in that closed session.

That's no good.

Thank you.

Any other public comment in the room?

If not, we'll go online.

If you're online and want to speak on item six, raise your hand.

Chuck, the first chuck, ready to go.

Yes.

Uh, I've been out pleasant in the resident for since 1980.

And I'm uh always interested in the fair and the whole area.

I think it's fantastic if it's run right.

But it seems like the public has very little input with this board, and they run it like it's their own private little company.

So that's my feeling from the time I've been on this now for two hours.

I've listed before, listened before, but wow, the public doesn't feel like it's getting its fair share.

I'll just say that.

Anyone else?

Next.

They're muted.

Are you allowed to unmute them by yourself?

Call or unmute yourself.

What do they have to press?

So I mute button.

There they are.

There you go.

You hear me now?

Okay.

Uh, I've been listening to this meeting, and I'm really appalled because what I hear is a great deal of indignation on on the on the part of Jerome and the chairman of the board at the audacity of a supervisor to question their motives and their the their management.

This board is is largely self-selected.

What is it?

11 out of the 20 members are are uh self-appointed, and yet you are sanctioned by the government of Alameda County, um, by the state of California to manage a very public uh facility, uh a facility that has a lot of effect on a lot of people's lives.

In that March 18th meeting that was already mentioned, you made a decision in closed session with no no input from from the citizens.

You made a decision that basically sabotage the whole industry in Northern California.

Now, why did you feel compelled to do that in in closed session?

Obviously, you didn't want to have to answer any questions to it, but the but people have questions, and the only people that we can get those questions through to you are the supervisors.

So when that supervisor in the meeting there is questioning you, you need to treat him with a lot more respect than you are, and you should do anything that he asks, otherwise, they really should change the whole method of selecting this institution that's supposed to be supervising a public entity, a fair ground that's that's there for all of the county.

I can see the the chairman right now.

He obviously is totally pissed off at me.

He's playing with his pen, he just wants me to get off the phone.

But you know what, Mr.

You need to pay attention to the constituency, you really do.

All of you do, and I applaud the supervisor there for calling out calling you out on it.

And I would like to see a lot more transparency.

Why do you ever have to have a closed session?

Why do you ever have to hide from the citizens of the county?

Okay, thank you for your comments.

Time is up.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Next speaker.

Donna.

Donna, you're up.

Oh, we should have asked the last speaker from Pleasanton.

Was that my district of Pleasanton or your district?

I just want to know.

Hello.

Go ahead, Donna.

Hi.

I just want to say for the last two years, I was at every single fair board meeting fighting for our mine and my husband's life to leave horse racing there.

When we walk into the board, they'd been served dinner, and we had we went through the agendas, and when we had our chance to talk, I look around that board, and there wasn't one person that would look up at you like they listened to you.

They were picking at their food, they were on their phones.

Talk about a demeaning experience.

And we were fighting for our life, our jobs, our livelihood, our homes.

And they acted like they couldn't be bothered with any amount of time to talk to us and try to make any kind of resolution for us.

Do you know how much our business helped that fair?

And then I hear Jerome saying how well they did.

We drive by that fairgrounds, and half the time I thought it was closed.

I didn't ever see hardly any cars in the lot.

You get way more cars for a car show or those um uh night night shows that you do.

You're trying to say how much money you made.

We had one friend that went to the fair that always goes when we go.

We didn't go.

He texted us a picture and we he had a picture, a panoramic picture.

We counted five people, and you're trying to feed everybody a line saying how well the fair did.

They ought to do a some kind of financial audit w on those books because there's not a shot that that anybody was there.

I know more people that didn't go because there wasn't racing.

My time is up.

Paula, you're on the line.

You're muted.

Hi.

Um, you know, I I've been going to the races since 1980 when we moved to Pleasanton, and um it was such a special thing to be able to do to have horse racing in your backyard.

We had lots of family and friends who would come and we'd always take them to the races.

But last summer when we went, uh like Donna said, the parking lot was was bare.

I mean, there were lots of places to park, the fair wasn't crowded.

That's a plus for attendees, maybe, but not so much for the vendors or the county who gets the revenue.

And you know, Alameda County has lost a lot in recent years.

The A's are in Vegas, the Warriors are in San Francisco, the Raiders are in Vegas, not to mention, you know, just down the street.

There's the Sharks in San Jose and the 49ers in Santa Clara.

What is Alameda County have to offer for sports fans or even vacationers wanting to experience something special?

And horse racing is special.

Have any of you recently done an internet search for things to do in Alameda County?

I did this morning, and the top three listings were the Pinball Museum, the USS Hornet, and the Antique Fair.

Now, those are great things and fun to go to at least once, but what is the county offer to compete with neighboring counties?

Apparently, you know, not a lot.

Um, well, I'm sure those things are really great and interesting.

They don't set Elamiti uh County apart in the Bay Area and it's special, it's a great place to live.

And horse racing just brings such a wonderful family entity to the whole experience of summer.

Um, please bring back horse racing and make Alameda County unique again.

Thank you.

Chelsea, hi.

Um good afternoon, everybody.

Uh, my name is Chelsea Lang, and I'm a long-time community member and supporter of the M.

Alameda County Fairgrounds.

Specifically the horse racing venue.

I also did 4-H there when I was a kid, so a lot of really great memories.

I want to address three issues directly.

Attendance reporting, board transparency.

Thank you for addressing that earlier.

And then the urgent need to bring horse racing back.

As others have stated, the attendance figures presented to the public do not align with what many of us have observed on the ground.

I drive past the fairgrounds sometimes multiple times a day, especially throughout the fair season, and the parking lots were consistently lighter than prior years.

Again, this is not anecdotal.

This is repeated and direct observation by myself and multiples.

Like many horse racing supporters, I personally did not attend the fair because without live racing, there's really no compelling reason for me to go.

And if large segments of your historically loyal audience stopped attending for that same reason, then the reported attendance numbers deserve independent verification and public uh explanation.

The transparency of this board is deeply concerning, as um is the way the members of the public are treated when they do try to participate.

You know, we're given more minimal time, often dismissed, and rarely are we provided follow-up on any substantive concerns.

So this is not what public governance is supposed to look like.

And when the public feels managed instead of being heard, that trust erodes.

And once it's gone, it's extremely difficult to regain.

And I think you're feeling that now.

This venue exists because of the public and the board works for the public.

So we the public uh deserve clear financial reporting, honest attendance data, and really a respectful engagement, not a procedural deflection.

Thank you.

Before we go, do we have any other hands raised?

So I want to make sure that the public speakers are conditioned to understand.

We're on item six, which is fair association operations and governance.

I note there's another item called 2026.

If you want to talk about what should happen in 26, that would be item number eight.

But right now, comments are being taken for item six, governance and uh opera.

Six if you're online, thank you.

Um you're muted, you could unmute yourself.

We could hear you.

All right, we can hear you.

Not anymore.

Can you unmute yourself again?

There you go.

Okay.

So I like everybody else has said, speaking at the meeting uh in the summer, I too felt felt the same, you know, disrespect and um just the the people that were there, uh, the the workers that were fighting for their jobs.

There were hundreds of people there that took the time out.

And um, just looking around, they just felt deflated.

I can see it.

I felt it uh with people eating, looking at their phones, talking amongst themselves.

Um that was an issue.

My main issue that I had, I actually applied to be um on the Alameda County board of Directors, and uh as well as as somebody else that I know, and we both had the same experience.

Um I applied, it was quite a process, quite a process.

Um, and I got nothing once I hit submit, that was it.

No thank you for applying.

No, we will be in contact.

No, no, nothing.

I ended up calling a month later and left a message.

I received an email the next day stating that the board had completed their process of selection and I'd be notified by mail.

Within two days, I received a letter.

Thanks, but no thanks.

And uh my uh the person that I know that also applied got the same thing.

He also had to call and receive the same email and received the same letter.

And for this type of um for what you have to go through to apply, and not everybody's going to make it, but to not even be acknowledged that you have applied, not to be acknowledged to even get a letter, just that you had even gone through the process until you were being told that the process had already been completed.

I thought that that was unacceptable.

Oh, are you fabulous?

Thank you for your comments.

I'm hosting.

You're on, you're muted.

You're on mute, Sandra.

We go just go to the next speaker from that.

The last one.

If you can unmute yourself, we can then hear you, but we can't hear you now.

Okay, um, let's bring it back then.

Any comments?

The other comments in the room.

Okay.

Any response?

Okay.

Um I'll thank the speakers and uh move on to item seven.

Um I will note that uh I take the heart's comments.

Not on the board, or it's a separate independent board.

So they have their autonomy, but I it wears on me when I hear that.

I know it was on that too.

So we'll move on.

Item seven, 2025, Alameda County Fair review actual performance attendance information.

So we'll just go ahead and quickly do uh review on community and danger for this year's fair.

So can you hit the play?

Hopefully, it'll be where you need to be, but it's not.

The video, it is a video, but we don't have technology.

I think send you the video if it doesn't get it right.

I don't know what there we go.

So the most fair every year, we put together um a video, some of the highlights, everything is bad, next year is calling, everything is bad.

Everything is the one that colors of no shape's family.

Everything is big.

So quick highlight of all things fair this year.

And if we can go back to presentations, we can go through some of the numbers and what that looks like.

You go on to the next slide, please.

So we started there.

You might have a stand up to prevent the loose movie.

Um we kicked off there this year with our uh opening of the same way farm, so our educational farm that is meant to educate um the county on the importance of agriculture.

Uh, we kicked off with our garden party fundraiser this year, and um, we have our special speaker, the California Secretary of Agriculture, Karen Gross, attended that the event.

We can go to the next slide, please.

Um, the garden party event this year was able to raise uh nearly 390,000.

We had about 2090 guests, and we sold almost 300 tickets this year.

I mean it is a great fundraiser to be able to raise funds for uh phase two of the educational barn.

Um, this year we opened the same play barn, and we were able to have animals, many local animals from Alameda County, but we also partnered with Cal Poly, their Ag Education Department to bring us some animals in this year.

And then we had um demonstrations over at the at the barn this year, and you can just see we have um demonstrators and then as well as we had students from Cal Poly as well educating the community.

Uh, we did one more event for the foundation, which raises money for the farm, and it was a power tournament, and so we were able to raise ten thousand dollars in one easy.

We also partner um with many local community organizations.

One of them that we partner with is the American Red Cross.

So if you donate a pint of wood, you'll get a free pass to the fair.

We're trying to make the fair affordable for all in our community.

Uh, we had 14, nearly 15,000 pythons donated this year.

Um, and we had sixteen hundred of those tickets redeemed, so we're looking at more ways to be able to promote that with the American Red Cross.

One of my most passionate about this, I started this back in 2008, and it's in partnership with the Alameda County Community Bank.

I'm so proud that we're the largest summer food drive in the county.

Many people give right now the holidays, but in the summertime, there's a real need for children and seniors.

So we're proud that we can get about 5400 pounds of food donated.

And that food bank tells us that they're able to distribute that throughout the county within about 10 days.

So that's a real important promotion for us.

For pets that are uh that need homes.

So we work on that.

It is also a really great way for community members to get into the fair at no charge.

And then they're able to ride the carnival rides for a dollar.

Wait, you bring a pet food and you get in?

Yes, you bring a bag of pet food.

For each ticket to ride.

A dollar for each ticket to ride.

So if the ride is five tickets, you're only buying one for a dollar until 5 p.m.

That's something that we work on.

Every Wednesday, we try to have a really a day that's truly affordable for families in the county.

Wednesdays, we also did something on Thursdays this year.

Um we are looking at, so this is our last Wednesday where we did five dollars to get into the fair.

And so that's cheaper than a bag of dog food, right?

And so we were able to get um 20,000 tickets were purchased for that.

One Wednesday we did this.

So 18,000 people redeemed that uh for on that day.

So we had a 63% redemption rate on that promo.

Our exhibits department, which is a huge part of how we're involved in the community during the fair.

So this year, our exhibits department, we saw a 26% entries to the fair, educational entries saw an 85% increase.

That means that schools are really participating in the fair for us.

And we started a new program, which is called the Trailblazer Award.

So teachers actually, we picked three different teachers that want got received money for having like the most entries at their school for schools that's children who had outstanding art.

So they were able to earn money back, and that helped us build up our educational entries program.

Um to our junior lifestyle option.

I mean, in 2024, we thought, wow, that's amazing.

We we were able to have an option that raised over a million dollars for youth that are raising agriculture in our community.

And then this year we hit almost 1.3 million dollars.

So just an incredible opportunity for the youth that are raising animals in the community.

So that was at 23%.

And then small animals were down because we had some issues with the avian bird flu this year.

So we were not able to have that show.

Um, and then this is just an average of what our lots have sold over the past few years.

We can go on to the next slide.

Um we do what we call a ticket to summer learning, but it's a program that uh we are really proud of.

So every elementary age student in Alameda County has the opportunity to get a free ticket to come to the fair any day.

Not a Wednesday, not if there are any day you want to come to the fair, you can just download that ticket.

Um, we work very closely with all of the school districts in the county.

Um, this year we were back to 2023.

Last year we hit we're at 202 schools in 2025 where we were at 193 schools, um, and we were up, we we uh 13,750 were redeemed this year, which is up over last year.

So we're really proud of that program, and we try to work um with the county offices to make sure that everyone um gets information about that.

We post on social media, we we push it out on radio stations.

All righty.

So we're the school county go back to that slide.

County school tickets went from 10,000 one eighty-four to 13,753.

Redeemed redeemed and then attendance for children under 5321 above to 27 that's up by decent number and then children age six to twelve kind of flat and where's six to twelve under five school tickets okay what is it what is do we have a total total um i can get just do the math it is one is flat one is up by about six or five and a half thousand one is up by half okay all right on the any other questions what's the total revenue well this these are all attendees this is all the free admission so the revenue for them is zero okay because we want to make sure we're giving back to the community and making sure the fair is affordable uh for all families right okay so we can go ahead and these are just some wrap up pictures of those educational displays and those entries that we talked about um so you'll see those entries in the fair along with the auction some of the art exhibit and then a really great partnership that we worked with uh supervisor hobbert's office on to get these BART uh ticket displays so that was that was a great partnership for us we can go on to the next um in 2024 we started doing fields of gratitude where we represent um local farmers in alameda county we work really hard um to make sure that we are representing the entire county so we have farmers from Livermore we have farmers from Oakland we have farmers from Hayward that are doing great things out in the community and these are tall like 12 feet tall displays at the fair um I'll go back one more go back one more edibles from Berkeley it's a good thing you qualified that all right we can keep going forward here um and if we do a wine fest this year um we did move it into our gardens our professional gardens this year so that is our attendance um the admission revenue that comes out of that the festival revenue our expenses and then our profit from that event we can move forward um our amphitheater um we had many sold-out concerts this year um it was it was a very strong year in 2025 for concerts we can go forward um and then just around the ground how we work with our different community partners to make sure that we are really being inclusive of the entire community and we are representing Alameda County at the fair being covering um different exhibits and shows that we did in Adventure Park we can go forward um things that were new this year we had monster truck rides we had a hot air balloon which the wind did not really was not our friend this year we think we only rode actually the balloon went up maybe two or three days um we had camels we had a blacksmith and then we also had a new cantina on the every night we had Bonda music we can go forward um these are events that were held at the racetrack this year um we had all access which was kind of an aerial show um we had tractor pools we had rodeo and then we had the ever popular monster trucks can ask a question about that yeah um I think monster trucks are great or when I saw the race track it was modified quite a bit but I also am hearing that it really wasn't modified so helping again is it customary or typical or happens a lot that you can just take a horse racing track like that and I don't know dirt from dirt specifications for specifications, whatever, whatever, whatever.

But I mean and and California has some real funky rules, like sometimes dirt, if it's used for something even innocuous, gotta be thrown away from somewhere else.

Analyzed if it can be put somewhere.

I mean, that stuff I don't understand much, but are we?

Do we have any concern that oil leakages are contaminating the dirt in any way?

Are we compliant with the people that care about dirt that know that this is going to be okay if we want to ever have horse racing on it?

We put ourselves in a position where if we ever do want to have horse racing, we got to do something special now all of a sudden because of this.

Do we know?

I'm asking questions.

No, absolutely.

And I'm I'm as you're talking about, we have the perfect guy in the room for that.

Because I think Jerome can answer these questions in terms of dirt and track and and taking.

Did we we didn't modify the track?

Did we for monster trucks at all?

No, just the dirt on the track.

And horse footing.

I wouldn't make the assumption that we don't care about the dirt or the oil or anything like that because we all care about the quality of the pudding, and maybe I just don't know, and maybe I'm a horse owner of 30 horses, 25 horses, and the question center.

I know putting pretty well, yeah.

So they can go run on this, probably they can go run on this again, no problem.

Absolutely.

And two one can probably like ask more on that because uh when it gets rid of the rain, we run a roller with the track to pack the track so you get a shield.

And the water runs off, you know, trackers grab on the track all day long, room in the track, and water, this is not an unusual thing, and when we bring in dirt for the jump, the dirt goes out, and the state requirements for the quality of your track when you get ready to run them.

I mean, look at all the horses down south right now, are going lame and they're putting them down.

I mean, take a look, you know.

So the tracks get a lot of scrutiny, and uh okay, so I'm just asking the question because we got a lot of regulations in California.

I want to make sure we don't want to foul.

So you're the dirt expert?

Actually, I am, yeah.

Yeah, okay.

And no problems with multiple.

I nearly have a minor in dirt or soil science from Cal Poly.

So if you want any discussion, let me know.

Yeah, I can take you out there.

Show you no problems with um not at all.

Okay, and in fact, this isn't the first time, even when we were actively training, we've uh had episodes where we put vehicles on the track all the way through uh PGE being their um their base camp out there.

Uh we've had concerts, we've had rodeos before out there or motor rides events.

Um, so I have absolutely no concern about it.

What we did not do, I will tell you, uh, because I didn't want it to happen, was we did not import other dirt onto the track, so all the dirt there is the top level uh within one foot of the soil that's there, and um then we rebladed it out, goes back to where it was.

Okay, um, but even when we were um actively engaged in horse racing, it's a constant science of bringing in silt, sand, fur bark, and those kinds of things to get the right mixture.

Um, and we are one of the safest racetracks in the nation.

Uh, had a great crew.

Uh, we had great equipment, but um, to that extent, the asset is gonna keep performing for us.

Okay, I just have to add.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Um, so drone shows and fireworks.

We had a drone show every night.

Is that a Jerome show?

Not a drone show, a drone show.

Sorry, uh, drone show every night, two fireworks shows this year.

Every night, two fireworks show.

No, every night, a drone show every night, and then two fireworks total throughout the year, also, and then this is just an image of all of our interns that we have and help they help come and support the fair.

That's recording.

Oh, sorry.

I want to interview mean our CFO who's not been to one of these meetings before, but she was going to give us some of our numbers that we're going into because specifically we wanted some financial attendance numbers.

So go for it.

Well, we got everybody.

Just hold on for a quick second, or angel.

We're doing something different this year.

We're gonna have fireworks on the fourth of July.

Right.

That's coming up.

Oh, okay.

Sorry.

Oh, it's it's a it's a big deal, but anyway.

I don't know if this video will play though because of the bug for anything.

It's uh one of my favorite videos for the fair and the system.

T intern and accounting for everybody.

Oh there we go.

Through my internship I got hands on experience.

I learned a lot by working with others and I had a fun time doing it.

And I'm especially thankful to work for such an awesome team.

A big takeaway for me is really to rely on others knowing how to work in a team and finding each other's strengths and weaknesses.

That was a big part of my experience.

I learned a lot about leadership and managing a team of working at the Safety Barn this year.

I really hope to come back next year.

My biggest takeaway is to just enjoy serving other people because there's nothing better than seeing a smile on somebody's face when you're able to help them with something.

Well I learned a lot about how to take care of animals and work with the team while we're going to say if we run this year.

Through my internship experience the biggest thing I've learned is learning how to take criticism and feedback in a positive way as an intern, you're always going to make mistakes and taking feedback as a way to grow and learn will help you excel in your internship a lot faster.

My biggest takeaway is learning how to care for every animal no matter how big or small feeding all the calves and picking the names for the goats that we have at the safe way barn.

My biggest takeaway was learning how to take care of all the livestock animals and everything like that and getting to help out there at the same point is that it's hard work that makes it even more satisfying when everything comes together and you see your finished product and it's just great a little bit there in terms of this to support that video.

Last year and people like it so much about 37% of return higher so 136 of that 346.5 volunteer engagement statistics 872 volunteers versus 834 so about 40 more and then the hours from these volunteers are 7,400 volunteer hours versus 8,000 hours volunteer hours in 2024.

So it was down and then future charitable donations at the time of this slide it was 42000 but here today it's actually 44000 still lower than 4700 last year any questions on this slide where did charitable donations come in where do you have where do you have the trivial oh you give to the chair yes they're a nonprofit organization but the volunteer works for the pause we get a contribution to the control got it questions next one okay so this is the uh these are the assumptions for the 2025 we'd buy stuff budget so it was updated in January 2025 post GSR we knew that we were not going to have any force racing for 2025 we revised the budget which is different than the November 2024 budget submission to the county because at that time the county budget included force racing um so it's a budgeted number.

These are the assumptions.

And I'll show you the budget numbers in the next next yeah uh the function uh of how we arrived at the revised budget is uh fair time revenue is up by 8.4% versus the the uh 11 or 12 percent comparing to the original budget.

So it's actually a three per 3.6 percent down from the original budget, and why is that?

That's because no fare racing, and the attendance is going to be down by 30,000.

So originally we thought it was gonna be the uh total attendance was 420, so now we're budgeting at 390,000 by 25 fare attendance, and then the impact of that reduction of the 30,000 fare attendance will give us 450,000 less admission and parking revenue budget, yes, and of course the normal racing um net operating loss and then stable expenses will go away too because there would be no scene.

Of course, GSR, we will not be able to uh have the receivable anymore.

So that is about 2.5 million for the entire year.

Now that was um that was a contracted amount that yeah, we just for rent and whatever we expense on their behalf put on the horse choice and but payroll and not payroll insurance property insurance and all of that.

So these are all assumptions.

These are assumptions.

So like one B says we assume we're going to lose 30,000 partners at 450,000.

That's what we said.

So eight thousand fair attendance will absolutely not come because normally they will only come if we have uh horse racing.

Likewise, if you have it, you would assume that you would get it, right?

Yes, that's correct.

That's correct.

And then lastly, our V revenue is only by 1.6% comparing to the original budget that was going to be up by 15.6 percent because it gives our race of occupants will now have to be installed, and that's gonna cost us the 260,000 total a year in RB revenue.

Okay, next slide.

So I just want to clarify these were the adjustments after we recognized GSR was going away, and racing was there was a demise of racing.

We had to make conservative estimates, and the board really had a lot of robust discussion on well, this happens, what's gonna look like so these are the assumptions ultimately we put into the revised budget.

Okay, yeah, we're always very conservative.

These are the five-year fair financial comparison from 2019 to 2025.

Why's 24 so bad?

Why is 24 so bad?

Yeah, seven days, yeah.

Seven days during the fair that were uh higher than 100 degrees.

Yeah, seven.

Wow.

Okay, that's higher than yes, that's days.

Whereas this year we had um perfect one.

Perfect one.

I thought it was any day that was over 100.

It was close to one, but it's not over.

I think we're close, but it had maybe three warm days by the we were thinking we'll take them any year.

Okay, I take that one.

Great.

Okay, okay, fair revenue comparison 2019 2025, 2025 admission and parking, we were at 4.86 million, and that is 12.7 percent higher than last year in this category.

Food and beverage, this is our commission revenue 2.478 million, that's nine percent higher than last year.

Uh carnival, 2.4 million, is seven percent higher than same pent last year.

Is there a question?

No, I think we're just saying um it's great to look at being ahead by 12.7 percent of last year where it had heat wave, but if you look at it just eyeballing it, you're down maybe five percent in 2023.

Um 2023 admissions concerts up though by double.

So that means yes, we're rocking concerts.

Yeah, but it's um yeah, 23 must not have very good concerts.

Well, 22, yeah.

Attendance to answer your question, you're absolutely right.

Fair attendance, 425,000, it's higher than uh 2025 fair attendance, and therefore revenue is a you know proportional in energy.

Concerts is the biggest change from 22 that I see 148 all the way up to 813.

That's just better acts.

We all look here to talk more about a lot more tickets.

We are yeah, yeah, we allocated more money for acts of the sure.

Okay, better acts, better acts.

All right, we we changed our ticketing pricing where we didn't have tier pricing, we had straight across the board.

Every every seat's the same price we sold them.

No, not all, but yeah, we did very well.

Yeah, all right.

The new model, yeah.

That's the reason.

And of course, we have more construct attendance.

Okay, so I was at carnival, yeah.

Parking 7.6 percent higher, sponsorship 7.6 percent higher, commercial vendors.

I don't have a percentage here.

Sorry about that, but it's 50,000 after last year.

In total, it's 9.4% higher than same time last year.

Wow, and then the the attendance is 12.9%.

Any questions on this?

No, okay, next slide.

So these are just visually easier to see, you know, because all that numbers, the orange bar is this year, but this is fair.

I'm sorry, because it's an emission and leverage commercial vendors, other okay.

All right, next slide.

We have that include the F4H animal auction stuff that we talked about earlier.

Uh yes, and it's well, okay, let's go back.

That's full.

So that's its own account.

That's not fair as much.

Yes, it's not.

Okay.

I was thinking that it might be in the other, but it's not okay.

Okay.

All right.

Fair financial this year for uh income.

So income is 5.28 million for fair, fair profit, and then last year was 4.5 million.

Last year was just weekly.

Okay.

Okay, next slide.

Okay, this is gross.

This is gross revenue by category, and then our portion of course is emission from the food and beverage, our commission from the butler, right?

So this is gross, just to give you a like to like comparison.

Attendance, we've already meant uh talked about is 12.9 percent higher, and then the admission per fair attend attendance, attending attendance, is about the same, 11.86, 11.86 for fair attendance, like last year was 11.89.

Food and beverage, this is non-fair first, fair gross sales.

We take about 25 percent of the non-fair first food vendors.

This is their gross, it's higher 7.4 versus 6.8 million last year.

Fair for food, it's not impressive, 160,000 versus 260 million last year.

So it's about is about 100,000 lower.

What hurts them is the 2.6 to 8 million alcohol versus 3 million in alcohol consumption last year.

Obviously, we would attribute that to the racetrack because that's the grand scan alcohol.

Better drink, yes.

Okay, butler, uh, so our emission arise from 4.68 versus 3.95 million last year.

So they're a 4.2 percent increase.

Parking is hours because 1.49 million versus 1.39 million.

So it's about three dollar and 64 cents per uh per attendance.

Okay.

And then parking, we have 120,000 park vehicles versus 10,000 park vehicles.

So that's about 9.3% increase.

It's about 3.4% of the park in the vehicle.

3.4 bodies.

So the fair first food from 23 to 24 to 25 is because didn't do much in 23 or 4 or 5.

Fair first food.

Like 16.

Last year it was not fair first.

It was OGG spectrum.

This year's fair first, right?

So the label is needed to be more clear.

And then this.

Is there a question?

It's the totals on those three years you need to look at.

Yeah.

The total.

At the time that I was doing this slide, I didn't have time to break this out between alcohol and food.

And I'll go back and break this out.

Okay.

So this is the total of these two numbers from me this year, this one, that all consumption is important, watch because it's a lot of pressure on less alcohol being sold right now.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Are we just so that gives us the bare?

I think I think a lot of them.

I think you've got to probably be versus 54.38.

And then the difference mostly comes from the alcohol consumption.

Okay.

Next slide.

Okay.

So just the observation from this, the very bottom line, 21.3 million versus 19.8 million, but versus 23, 23.6 million.

Yes, that's correct.

Okay.

Because 23 had 445 bear pendings versus 20.5 million.

Nathan, question.

Are they finished with their reports?

Well, the first part.

Yeah.

I think she's done with the finance part.

Number seven.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

The next slide is uh item eight.

Yeah, but are we finished with that?

Yeah, so that would be the final slide.

The presentation of item seven.

Okay.

So we'll bring it back for discussion.

Okay.

Go ahead.

So um first of all, we heard some speakers say the numbers faulty or lying with um given with we haven't taken public comment, I don't think yet.

No, they were talking earlier.

Oh, the speakers from the prior.

So I'm gonna try and understand.

Yeah, what's the disconnect?

Why are people saying these numbers are not right?

Yeah, they just like the public people just confused.

Maybe uh or I'll just weigh in.

It's a subjective thing.

If somebody drives by the fairgrounds on a day, it's hot at one o'clock in the afternoon and sees nobody there.

That's a big difference than if they drove by eight o'clock at night when it's cool or and it's packed.

So the only way to be objective with this is for the callers to have been there on the fairgrounds from opening to closing every day to say, okay, there was nobody at the fair.

The numbers aren't fake, they're the numbers are what the numbers are, but I appreciate that.

There were times that I went to the fair, and I'm like, wow, there's nobody here.

What's going on?

And then as the day progressed and the sun went down, I'm like, oh man, that's packed.

Okay.

Yeah, I just wanted to represent Gordon responding to that because I don't really want anyone to think you folks are cooking the books.

No, these numbers are accurate.

From and from my observation, even though things were better this year, uh over last year.

But it's not better than 250.

The point is, you didn't cost the county any money, did you?

No.

We're gonna talk about that later.

Even from the county, because I'm a county supervisor.

The county is safe and services.

You didn't come to the county saying county, bail us out to the tune of a million dollars, bail us out to the tune of three million dollars, bail us out.

Because we didn't have horse racing, bail us out.

We need help from the county, take money from Medi Cal, take money from food food and security, take money from the jail, take money from whatever safety is.

You are operating the fair within budget, right?

Yes, and you made money, right?

Yeah, despite horse racing, right?

Right.

Okay, I just need to understand that because I'm a county supervisor.

I need to understand that in terms of my due diligence.

So just just for over five million dollars in operating income for not 2025, so gross receipts versus expenses over 5.5 something.

So so some people can be pissed off that just had horse racing, and we all love would have love to have horse racing, but the point is you manage the fair judiciously, and you did, and as the quasi entity that's in contract with the county, you didn't come to the county and saying what was us, help us out, right?

That that's for me what we thought.

We came to the county and you and uh supervisor halbert uh specifically were for support for the foundation, and you both have been very grateful to that.

But other than that, I don't think that we and we wanted horse racing, and the folks who didn't have horse racing, we had social services get involved to help them out, etc.

So we struggled around all that, but the bottom line is you didn't come to us and say, give us more money, because we have CBOs that need help, this that the other you're not a CBO of the county, but you're in contract.

One of them's called the Coliseum, Nate.

That's exactly.

We have an we have an ongoing operating subsidy that we provide to the county to help the county.

I mean, provide to the JPA, help with the um the operation of the Coliseum and the uh arena uh the county in the city.

So I'm just saying, I don't want, I mean, the public is weighing in, at least those who call, weighing in on how bad you are.

I just want to paint a different picture from my perspective, looking at it comprehensively, because I know what I have to deal with as a county supervisor.

So I just want to make sure I'm not if I'm missing something, please enlighten me.

And there's five million dollars will go back into the fairgrounds.

Okay, you're not missing anything, and I I'll just I'll just tell you as from my perspective as board member.

Um, when Vivian went through those early projections, I thought that they were even maybe a little conservative.

I thought that the loss of horse rating racing would be a bigger be devastating.

Would be more devastating, but as you can see, it wasn't.

And now, if fair first was in the room, they would probably say, you know, I don't know, we we lost a lot of money in alcohol sales, and I directly attribute that to the lack of horse racing.

So it's not all you know, roses and chocolates here.

I mean, there was a a gap that has to be addressed with alcohol sales and what we had, but overall we did very well.

You manage with make the thing work, yeah.

The thing is, Supervisor Halbert and others, and I don't disagree with them, want more transparency, and you're gonna try to work on that with Joni and staff, etc.

But the point is, okay, that's all I need to know.

So all I need to know.

20 million dollars over the last 10 years have been reinvested by the fair association into the grounds.

We plan on.

I just need to fire you guys.

We don't need to fire you.

Probably we should probably report those.

Like I would like to see if we could go below total revenue and get down to net um operating income of some kind, and uh then include because I'm hearing five million and then two million invested back in.

So let's show all the way down to the it's in the submissions.

I know we got them Friday.

There's a lot of numbers in the spreadsheet.

Well, we're gonna get to that in the 2026.

Okay, um, this was only the fairs review.

Right now, we just finished, yeah, right.

Just a fair, okay.

I add that totally it's about 30 million.

We do go or something.

We do have an external audit every year, so of course, 2025 is not over yet, and all the prior years they're on the audit.

Yeah, we sent it to the county about November, I think.

Okay, so the public can look at the audit financial, and it's an independent audit.

Yes, very expensive independent.

So the going to point, I also went to the fair stands.

I saw five people in the stands, but there were other times when they I didn't see that, but I saw it in the video, and I know it was there.

Okay, so we're on closer time, yeah.

Yes, come on.

And when you say the stands, you're talking about the grandstand.

Well, during the monster truck and the tractor pull, the stands themselves were.

Yeah, again, I was at a day of monster, not truck pull, but monster going up and down the thing, you know, five people in the stands.

I must have been maybe it was trials, I don't know, but I was there five people's stands and things going up and down the drums, but then other days they were doing that.

Maybe it was just a bad day.

Maybe it was too early.

Yeah, during the day they were getting monster truck rides.

Oh, I saw that too.

I guess but um I think everything is gonna be even more robust this year because we've had more time to plan.

If you remember last year, the action sports arena got planned in a matter of two months, and so we lost out on a lot of acts that we would have wanted, and he said we had Togo jumping in the that first weekend that would happen again all.

Yeah, I just want to say, you know, Gordon, I would have thought without horse racing, you would have flop.

It's I'm just very surprised and delighted to because you know, I wouldn't have run amongst trucks, right?

Big big F and deal, excuse me.

Yeah, I'm not gonna go there, but the stuff you were able to come up with really all said the fact that you didn't have horse rate.

Now, if we can bring it back, great, but if you you can't, you're still making it work.

Oh, so that's what nice segue to the next item, which is 2026.

That's what Joel does.

That's what is paid.

Is it come up?

Oh, before we go to 26, the next item.

Is there any questions from public comment on anybody else uh from the board want to question?

Um, thank you for this.

Big takeaway 21.3 is bigger than 19.8, not as big as 20.6.

Yeah, okay.

Um, public comment.

This is now members of the public wanting to comment and they can make a question during public comment.

I recognize I forget your name, you know, but you are David first, and then George, anybody else in the room have public comment on this item?

If you're online and want to talk about this item, raise your hand on mine.

We'll go ahead, David and then George.

I just want to clarify, forgive me that your net from the 2025 fair was 5.5 million.

Is that correct?

Operating income.

What you put in the bank?

It's a net of 5.5 million dollars for the 2025 fair.

So the five point four million based in that option for this year.

For 2020 for the entire fair.

I mean, sorry for the entire year, not the fair.

Or I can five work on discussion.

And there it's alright, didn't we?

It's easier for her to answer it now.

So the net or the 2025 fair.

No, it's the operation of the entire year.

Yes.

Okay, but she just said four million for the fair.

That's what she just said.

For the summer for yes, yes.

Yes, it would be over a number.

Yes.

Net automatic income.

That's five.

Yes.

Okay.

That's your question.

George?

Comments?

Yeah.

Um, Richmond.

John Harris and I were.

What's that?

Horse racing.

Became an issue at this fair and a couple other fairs in the state.

John and I put up a million and a half dollars.

Told the fairs we would cover losses of horse racing.

I went to this fair board along with the other fair boards in the state that have horse racing.

And I told them we do common cost accounting.

We pull the revenue, we pull the commissions, and everybody gets the profits split up by the number of days that they race.

Why did I do that?

Because the Hama County runs in May.

What's important about May?

Triple Crown races are in May, too.

Everybody agreed to that.

This fair board said, in spite of what it says of Section M, if you want to run horses here, you can, but we don't want anything to do with it.

And here's the we want to run in May.

Of course, that is not possible because you can't have horse racing in two county fairs at the same time.

And common cost accounting is the only way you can pool revenue, pool money, pool profits and pool expenses, and come out with a fair answer.

What we had in our MOU, which every I believe the board received, but I'm not sure they did.

Um, the MOU said 15% of your admissions, 15% of your uh parking, and whatever is spent in the grandstand area on food and beverage gets applied to your cost accounting for horse racing.

That's not acceptable to the Allen B the County Fair Board.

They came back with another proposal that said you gotta run in May.

We don't want anything to do with horse racing during the fair.

That is not an acceptable proposal to make because the way it was set up and the way the accounting would be done, I lose a million dollars playing around.

Well, the fair made a couple million dollars of horse racing.

That's the way it would have worked.

Hey George, is this related to last year 2025?

Are you talking about a proposal for 2026?

2026, that'll be the next item.

We oh sorry, and when we get to that point, we should talk about the proposal in 2026.

But we're now focusing on 2025.

Well, we did the same thing in 25, but that didn't work either.

All right.

And also the reason I say that is because when you do get to that time, um, and the time for this public comment is over, and I can ask you to keep going.

I can give you as much time as I want to, but I think it's better to give you that time.

I'll I'll very helpful because I can process it.

More public comment on this item before we put it online.

Yes, I wasn't there twice to do concerts, both times you could shoot a can for it.

I went the first time it was dead.

Then Tesla, I think they brought in more people than the Elton John did, but parking I went right in front of East Train both times, and you can never do that typically at the fair.

And I drove by every day, all day long, kind of right here, and it was always hard to make sure the last media that's the only time it was trafficking into your facilities, right?

Certainly, so I don't buy.

Just wanted to share that theme for president.

Uh just one, I don't want to jump into numbers because that's no well, what we're here for the mining those numbers, I mean, they will be exponentially high, don't we?

So we have we figured out how to come up with the ideas to throw a better business, it's working.

Coming along will we want to I just want to stop you from in and think about why the numbers would look with horse racing.

Horse racing is so well, Chris.

And the reason, amount of people that will come will be we don't have to go.

When she's talking about, I agree with it.

You know, we there's not many people on this on the premises during the food difference.

But in reality, if you can do what you just did this year, we're going to racing in arms.

Okay, thank you.

Anybody else?

Is there anybody online?

For 2025.

Carlo.

Unmute.

There you go.

Yeah, hi guys.

Uh, my name's Carla Cipellina.

I'm a uh a vendor that has attended as um uh Cutco sales representative for the last 10 years.

Um, and I just want to express that my time working at the fair, I've worked every single hour of every single fair for an entire decade, and obviously I spend my time in the booth.

I don't go outside and be amongst the people, unfortunately, but um I can tell you that my numbers were down sales-wise as far as number of orders, uh 60% from previous years and uh uh or excuse me, uh 40 percent down, yeah.

No, I got that right.

Uh 60% less orders and 50% less revenue.

And I attribute that greatly to the quality of the customers as far as the ones who want to spend the most money, are typically those coming for the horse races.

Um I had lots of conversations with lots of other vendors like the Vitamix guy, the kitchen craft guy, and I can tell you not anecdotally but uh factually that every single one of us uh felt a massive difference in attendance and people's uh you know revenue uh uh generation at the booth.

So um I I know you guys don't keep track of those numbers uh just because we don't report them.

Uh but just want to let you know that those of us in the uh booth at building B and building A felt a significant significant difference uh in revenue generated.

And um I would love to uh let you guys know that uh because I think it's important information that you guys take into consideration because if we can't make a profit for spending four weeks of our entire year there at the fair, we're gonna go find other things to do with our time that's uh more valuable use of our time or just take a vacation because it's a lot of time and energy expended, and uh I don't want that.

I'd rather be there and serving the clients, but I have 2,000 customers personally in and around that area, and so I can tell you that that's uh a conversation I had with a lot of people saying that uh they didn't even know the horses weren't gonna be there that year, and if they hear that they're not gonna be there again, they certainly won't come back.

So thank you for letting me share.

Next, you're on the line.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, uh okay, I'm just a short comment.

Uh I think you're asking the wrong question.

You're asking yourselves, how well did we do this year at the fair without horse racing?

And you did well, no doubt about it.

But the proper question is, how well would we have done if we had also had horse racing?

Thank you.

Lucy, go ahead.

Hi, can you hear me?

My name is Lucy Grasto.

I'm a resident of Alameda County.

I've been going to the fair for over four years, and you know what?

Every year I bring family from all the other uh counties around, we go and enjoy, and we're very disappointed there wasn't any horse racing.

Um, we'd love to have it back.

Um, and I really wanted to come here today to express my feelings for that.

And I know I've spoken to many other people in Alameda County, who would really love it back.

So I just wanted to attend this meeting and share my opinion.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next figure.

No more speakers.

No more speakers.

Okay, that closes item.

Any comments back from the board.

Item seven, the 2025.

Thank you.

The next item is item 8, 2026, Alameda County Fair.

So is um it's meant to be a proposal.

No, it's what's coming up at the so the presentation of so again rather than submit something online to us that we put on a consent calendar item.

Can you present to us the great things coming for 2026?

And I guess that is what this next slide is.

Now, I have to preface it.

So you know there's the fair six months.

Uh we're not exactly sure what it meant, but uh Sean clarified for me that's just looking for whatever we had so far and some assumptions.

So yeah, you know, don't be clear.

It should be for the fair grounds period.

We we don't think about just the fair, maybe not.

We think about our asset, the fair grounds.

So feel free to comment on anything, Rob.

But the fair is the biggest part of it for sure.

45%.

Absolutely.

So we'll kick off on our current plans for the fair.

We have to pick it quickly in the event business when that's necessary.

Um, so for the 2026 fair, can't believe I'm saying that.

Um, we went with a blue ribbon theme for this year.

We can just kick it off and go forward.

The 19th through the 12th.

June 19th through July 12th.

Great.

That's the same number of days.

Yes, same number of days to Monday, Tuesdays.

All right, yes.

Uh we kick off uh selling over Thanksgiving with ticket sales.

So we really started that trend in the fair industry.

Um that's something that we're really proud of is we have an in-house marketing team, um, and they're kind of the leader in the pack in the fair world.

Um, if you want to go forward, and when I say that, we are one of the only fairs that don't run with a traditional ad agency.

We actually house that within the organization.

Um this year, I'm sure you're aware that we are partnering with Supervisor Halbert's office.

Um, we've been working with Melissa and Camp Parks um to really own the 250th anniversary of the United States.

So we are working with the city of Pleasanton as well.

And for one year only, we are going to bring our fireworks show back on the 4th of July.

So we're really excited um to bring that back this year.

Um, we're working with uh first responders and camp parks and different branches of the military.

That should say slash I.

Yes, if you want it, you want in on that?

All right, I'm gonna put Ashley on my email list.

You got that for this?

All right, we can go forward to the next slide.

But I think it'll be it'll be you'll notice it as soon as you come through the gates because we're really working on some branding for the entire fair to celebrate the 250th.

Um, in the grant stands this year, from what we know today, um, we are kicking off with arena cross.

Uh no, we're kicking off with monster trucks.

We're going to do arena cross, tractor pools, and monster trucks.

That's our current plan.

And demo derby with and demo derby with the Hayward Fire Department.

And it is a fundraiser for Alameda County.

So the Hayward Fire Department brings in fire stations from across the state, and they utilize this as a fundraiser.

So that goes up and guys.

That's sure.

It's pretty extra scenario.

I go every year, I know exactly what it is.

We can skip forward.

Um, the dirt's gonna be the same dirt, but okay.

America's band is going to be at the fair this year.

So the beach boys, we were able to secure them.

They will be their tickets are going on sale this week on the 10th.

Anybody wants to purchase tickets to the beach boys?

They're also celebrating.

But they're still a lot.

I think it's 60 years.

I know it, but I don't know it right to the end.

So let me let's think.

Beach boy.

We can go forward.

Oh right here, July 1st.

See, I knew I knew I knew it.

And then we have Tower of Power coming on July 2nd.

We can go forward around again.

We have twist on Taylor.

You know, we've had twist on Taylor two years, but now that Taylor's engaged for us tells me we decided why not bring her back one more year.

And then we have a tribute to Metallica on July 11th.

We have lots more in the Humper, but we are fighting against music festivals that happen around the Bay Area for artists.

So we can go forward and then we're back to bid.

Okay.

All right.

So this is a 2026 fair budget.

Um, this gentleman is asking me the fair that operating profit.

Here it is, 2025 actual versus forecast because we have not closed out November and December, but we're forecasting to generate 4.3 million for fair profit.

Total revenue was 14.8 million minus 9.3 expenses.

For that in 2026, we're being conservative.

As you can see, revenue we're only increasing with like 4.1% with the total uh attendance goal of 406,000.

How do we arrive at the 406,000?

Normally we get three years of prior year attendance average, and that's how we come up with the 406.

So it's it just coincidence that this year we ended the bear at 410.

So it's very low to this year.

So for reference, this is free overhead.

So when I look at page 42 of the previous presentation, 1308 nine was revenue, and this is showing 138.8 as revenue, which page 42.

This one that you just presented.

That was done right after fair in August, and this was updated after all.

Okay, so the actual actual for 25 was not 1308 nine, it was 13818.

Yes, okay.

All right, this is a screenshot from a dated uh probably in September, September, October 10th.

Okay, but this this is most recent right here.

Yes, 23 is still that's that didn't change because that was a couple years.

That's August.

Okay, all right.

I don't know if I think that's helpful.

No, I know, but the 23 that you presented before wasn't a number that would be adjusted because that's two years old, right?

But this number for 13089 did change.

138.8.

Oh okay, great.

All right.

Okay, this uh 2026 fair, we're um budgeted at a 4.566 million.

I guess that we're being conservative revenue is only up by 4.5%, expenses are up to three.

That's just for the fair, just off the top of your head for the total year is how much next phase got it.

Right, so uh a lot of messers.

So um events revenue, this ELI when we did the copy pasting, so you'll see that event starts with uh expenses.

There's a line that's even what we've got six point five million that's in the budget for next year, minus expenses.

So, event that operating income is 2.5 million.

This year.

We'll end at 2.3 million, so we're about 9.4% up, and then RP, we're increasing the price uh two dollars per night.

So that's a three percent increase.

So that would give us a little bit of of the jump in the commune, and therefore for RB, we will generate an income of 2 million versus 1.9 million OTB 726,000, but a little bit lower.

And this year 782,000, it comes with adding a janitor.

We have one more janitor that's in the budget for 2026.

Golf, we're doing quite well with the golf revenue, and then the operating profit, we probably will end the year more favorable than the 400,000 that's here, a little bit higher, not much higher.

Next year we're budgeting at a half of a million operating profits per ball, stable, um, no stabling expenses except for fixed expenses budgeted for next year, because although we will not have stabling, but we continue to have fixed expenses like property insurance, um, non-ops, anything that's not related to operating or business, like interest earning and um a little bit of the capex reserve revenue.

So we're budgeted at an income of two hundred and sixty-seven thousand versus three point nine million for this year, and that's mostly because of the ERC and for year employee retention credit that we receive, and also the car payment that we receive based on this negotiation with car 3.9 million versus 3.8 million, it's a 4.7% increase.

That's all expenses.

This is a share service that's important.

So all these revenue, family and business security is an expense.

It's a little bit of actually 10.5% higher next year at 882,000 versus 798 this year, because we have two additional part-time personnel budget for security next year.

Maintenance is at a 7.6% because we have four additional positions budgeted.

Those are one carpenter, two landscapers, one total revenue 27.3 million budgeted next year versus this year at a forecast 30.08 million, and then you know, the uh the difference between the revenue is the year, the car payment that we received this year, expenses 2.8% higher budgeted next year compared to how we'll end this year profit 1.9594 million budget for next year.

1.594, and that's the county submission that was in the ground, December 1st versus the forecasted profit of 5.11 million.

Questions?

Not for now, but could you send offline net income slash loss?

And operating income and capital expenditures, those three lines for 24, 23, and 22.

Yeah, we already have that.

Okay, sure.

Yeah, thank you.

Yeah, okay.

Uh, we got a next slide.

I think that's fair.

Maybe go ahead.

So we can use two point, two three.

So that's we'll actually spend that next year.

That's the budget.

Yeah, you will actually spend that.

Yes, that's that next year.

Yes, so our capital uh it's not something that we're reporting on.

We are well, our capital reserve is what?

Oh cash cash cash.

Cash on hand as well.

Uh cash on hand as of um the end of October, it was uh 8.4 million.

So that's why we can afford the capital expenditures that we're gonna do.

Yeah, that's what I figured.

Another thing is our our liability for our health our return plans pensions, so our pension plan pension plan is completely over 100% funded, 100% funded.

Yeah, we're over funding so we're supposed to we'll like me we're supposed to plan 2000 is what I think we have funding that question go ahead and I'm just curious is some of the um is it designated for capital expenditure is it kept in designation cash on hand we have some restricted funds yeah very few restricted funds now um anything that was raised by the foundation is uh in a foundation account if it was specifically raised for a project such as the farm I don't know if you've heard about kind of um by a child then absolutely it gets restricted yes it's very low as probably a hundred around 1500 okay any other question of these uh capital projects if revenue doesn't come in as expected or if you have another X factor which of these projects could be prioritize as lowest on the I think that'll come from the visioning state we have next week or in next month and lowest on the total bowl that would be significant to Nix would be something like asphalting the um we call it a sheriff's party lot but it's a parking lot of rabble right now that we'd like to asphalt so we'd get some maybe in there uh you know a nicer nicer space but that's an example of one that's it doesn't have to be done but we like to have it done this grandstand in the south staircase yes I think I was reading somewhere tear that down and rebuild it correct and it's listed here as a budget of 2000 so you can tear down that staircase and rebuild it for 2000 actually 142 thousand it's being done it's not tearing the whole thing down it's removing the concrete cutting out the the steel pans rewelding the steel and not tearing the whole yeah and refurbishing it because it had a basic okay fair enough any other questions on this public comment on what item we're eight this is public comment on the 2026 Alameda County fair proposal so in a nutshell I think what I heard was that um you have great bands coming for reach boys you have 250 year anniversary of uh our country god bless America fourth of july forward fourth of july fireworks which is something we don't do every year because we haven't done it since 98 that's happened in the history that we repeated except for next year usually the sheriff is right over and we get counseled from the sheriff on on the dopper sure okay okay and then um and monster truck saying that are there any other big changes to the concert lineup or the attractions for the year you're still gonna have the big races you're still going to have the people flipping up and around in the motorcycles and blah blah blah cross yeah okay nothing else we've changed well are you gonna have drones every night so we will have two firework work shows still this year opening night and the 4th of July um additionally we'll expand programming on the safe way farm so to keep in alignment with our mission to um, you know, with ag education, uh, we're continuing to work very closely with all of the schools in terms of uh throwing our exhibits program and making sure we're engaging future generations.

Uh so those programs may shift, but we're still doing that.

Okay, they're still very important part of who we are.

Thank you.

And because of the success we've had in the ample theater uh we're working better acts, and a lot of those won't come available right now.

I mean, as much as you try, you just know you got the beach boy, yeah.

No, so far.

So there's a lot of that's okay.

Um public comments on proposal for 2026.

If you're online and want to talk about this item, please, George, you raise your hand first, David Elliott.

You're second.

Okay, go ahead.

Okay, um, try not to repeat everything I said a little while ago because it's about the same for 2026 as it was for 2025.

We have told the fairs, county fairs in Northern California that want to do horse racing, that we will cover any losses that are incurred as long as there are any incurred, as long as there is common cost accounting across the fairs.

And that is because of the ways of the money tell me that in horse racing during the year.

Pleasant, it's frankly at a bad time of the year for betting down outside of our meter county, and the way horse racing works is any bets made anywhere in the world on a horse race.

In California, goes to the county fairs and body for the running fairs.

I've gone through that with the board.

Um, I read your contract with the board and section M of the contract with the Alameda County Fair is supposed to apply for horse racing days.

And we're on horse racing.

Yes.

During the fair, yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

Um Harrison, John is now dead, but I have money in this venture with me, and we'll continue to do that.

The chair can't move money.

There's no reason for them to decide to not do what's in their contract, in my opinion.

And then contract has in section and then you will apply for dates.

And if you get them, you're gonna run horse racing.

Um, the money is there, we've got a management team together, the other fairs that are going to run.

Horse race, we'll degree to the cost of counting.

And it is for me, 15% of the people that come to the fair are they that a crazy number for people coming just for horse racing.

I don't think so at all.

Or the admissions that come with.

In fact, believe that most of the seats get sold, and those people aren't coming to go to carnival.

I'm gonna stop you there because the time has expired.

However, I want to let everybody have equal opportunity, and I will come back to you to finish.

But from what I highlight is I think you've presented a proposal to the fair board.

It's been denied and talked about it.

Yes, that's right.

Let's let everybody have a chance to talk and then I'll come back.

Yep.

Uh David, you're next.

Um, I look forward to seeing the audit that you the outside audit that you guys have for the 2025.

Is that a public document?

Well that we can just okay.

I look for it to go to the number one.

So, number two, I can absolutely understand why this fair board would have a bad taste in their mouth for horse chasing because the numbers vary.

You lost 250,000, you lost 400,000.

I don't know what the number is with GSR.

I don't know what it is.

Here's a fun fact.

You generated, you generated 2.8 million dollars a day in all sources handled for your 2024 fare.

That generates about a hundred and twelve thousand dollars a day in commissions, number one.

GSR, GSR, you generated about 2.89 million dollars a day in all sources handle, which also generates between 112,000 and 115,000.

You're raised 25 days with GSR.

You're raised 13 days for Alameda County Fair.

I'm gonna be nice here.

I don't know what happened with GSR, but it sounds to me like there was a lot of overspending because you obviously made money with the Alameda County Fair in 2024 at a hundred and about 112,000 a day in commissions.

112,000 a day in commission for GSR.

There's a lot of overspending.

I'd love to see that PL.

Um it's not available to me, obviously.

I've been in the horse industry since 1971.

I know my numbers, I know how to operate race meets.

I can do it in my sleep.

That's a great facility.

I went over there today.

It's so awesome.

That grandstand and the racetrack.

It is such it is such a jewel.

And I think it's underserved.

I think it's understood when you put monster trucks and you put those because obviously you're not going to gain the attendance from those events as you're gonna get from horse racing or the commissions, depending on how it's operated.

I firmly believe horse racing at the Alameda County Fair can be the absolute golden jewel of Northern California.

It's an awesome facility.

Thanks.

That's your time.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Next.

I'm gonna read what I wrote.

I can't believe there's not horse racing in 2026.

If this is true, the Board of Supervisors should hold the fair association and reach and threaten litigation if the fair is not provide horse racing pursuant to the paragraph M and the 2017 agreement.

I'm just I'm shocked.

I can't believe that no one even brought it up.

That is the oldest one mile dirt track in the country.

How is that just forgotten?

I just I'm standard.

Next, um, this one add up to the point, like what is on the thing.

This is our only the oldest one mile dirt track in the United States over 100 billion years.

So we don't go early about observing the pressure from the culture of the community.

All I see in these are plans to extract and do uh whatever it is, that's going to be my keyboard.

But I mean, I didn't I didn't see a plan for reading fixing at all.

He wasn't, I probably need to completely shut down.

That's the reason why people were calling and saying we tried we tried to be part of it last year, and we we were here and people use nodding, not even paying attention.

We're out.

Take away when we were out now, but I'm not even if you think that you continue thinking about conserving your heritage of my community, you need to continue with racing, at least the no doubt that horse racetrack.

All that is you drive the tracks, right?

The rail, you strike the needle, the stand area, you drive every single way because they don't want to race out.

I mean, so I just want to be sure that you hear here my thoughts on this think about keeping the heritage in the uh Anthony Cornelar.

Uh my dad was a trader there in the 80s.

I spent uh many summers there sleeping in the tap room.

I know every inch of that race practice I exercise my ass horses when I was a kid.

You know, horse racing right now is such an opportunity.

It's it's one of the biggest sports in the world.

There's never been more interest in the breeders' cups and the derbies and everything.

It's not the time to walk away, it's time to double down.

Uh, horse racing is a lifestyle business, it's entertainment.

I come from entertainment, concert production, big concerts, you know, a lot of corporate clients.

It's a data business.

There's a lot of, you know, everybody from Palantir to uh Snowflake, be interested in the data that can be generated there.

There's a lot of partnerships.

I just haven't seen um a lot of great uh innovative marketing.

What this could be now with Golden Gate gone.

We know that an action in Northern California with who knows what's gonna happen with Santa Anita.

This is the place.

And this is as David said, this is a jewel.

This could be a crown jewel, it could be it could be a beacon up here.

And the jobs, everything that it's created, the people that have gone away, sadly have gone away.

The people that'll come back, the trainers, the people who've already signed up, raise their hands, and I'll be there in a hot second.

Just say yes.

It's the time, and the thing is this is a great group of folks that can make this work and you know, profitable in perfect, you know, cohesion.

Everybody can play nice the sandbox together, and everyone can make money.

So I just think it's a golden opportunity not to be overwhelmed.

Anyone else in the room before we go online?

Yes.

So go ahead.

Um, they'll bring in, you know, multi trucks.

Or horses, of course, pool.

You can just speak up the boop.

You think so?

The exploit or sitting that would be one company.

At least something we can send it to me offline.

I can't read it right now.

But oh, you know what we did.

I can send it to him, yeah.

Sure.

Do you have a sea mail?

Okay.

Okay.

It's got to be sent to everybody.

Okay.

Um, is there anybody else in the room online?

Do we have any hands raised for online?

How many asked we have race?

Three.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Sandra, I have these on you.

Yes.

Can you hear me?

Okay.

I started attending Alameda County Fair in 1978, and the main attraction was for the horse racing.

Um, I didn't go last year because racing was suspended.

Um, and I drove by, and it looked like you know, there was less cars in the parking lot than there normally would be when there was horse racing going on.

Um, my good friend Bobby Gonzalez, it's a retired jockey, he sent me a video.

His daughter took while attending the fair, and she was documenting the low attendance.

And she also spoke to some of the vendors there, and one was pretty upset because he said he had only done about 20 in sales that day.

Um, because of the low attendance because of no horse racing.

And he his opinion, it was a bad move to not have horse racing there.

Um, I know everyone wants to come back.

Um, and I have to agree with the caller that made the statement earlier that you're looking over the numbers of how successful you were without horse racing.

How much better would it have been with horse racing?

It's a great attraction, it's great entertainment for people, and it provides a lot of jobs.

So I um I really think that's something you should consider.

I can't imagine any reason why you wouldn't want horse racing there.

Um, this is the first year after having Golden Gate closed, all of a sudden these fair tracks didn't want to have horse racing, and that just seems very odd to me since there was a thousand horses there at Pleasanton to fill the card and uh keep people going and provide great entertainment and revenue for the community and uh Alameda County Fairgrounds.

So I hope you'll consider having racing there again in 2026.

Holder, please on you.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, go ahead.

Okay.

Um I'm speaking with regard to the re-establishment of horse racing at the fair, and I think to understand the situation where we are in, we should review the meeting from last March 18th, which was convened to consider the future of horse racing at Alameda County Fair Grounds.

This was an issue of enormous consequence to many local citizens, and it was a very large turnout of concerned individuals who wish to influence a decision, which could have critical negative effects on their well-being.

Citizens jammed the hearing chamber to overflowing with many people left outside.

The fair board fielded cursory statements by those in attendance.

They made no response.

They did not address any of the issues which were presented.

They abruptly cut off the vice chairman of the California Horse Racing Board who was attempting to negotiate the issues at stake.

They then adjourned to a closed session during which they relied on the advice of individuals who were apparently handpicked and who had no local interests, an associate of the California Department of Agriculture, who made no attempt to hide his contempt of the horse racing industry.

Several non-local private citizens who were aggressive in attacking the horse racing industry, and the so-called California Authority of Racing Fairs, which lobbied endlessly against perpetuating horse racing, and whose incredible mismanagement had precipitated the crisis to begin with.

Who decided that these individuals spoke in a closed session for the best interests of Alameda County Agriculture?

Who ignored the concerns of local citizens and disrespected the input of the vice chairman of the California Horse Racing Board?

The Alameda County Fair Board.

No private citizens have voted for the members of the fair board.

But the fair board certainly voted against the interests of Alameda County residents.

The fair board voted to eliminate an industry of vital importance to many Alameda County residents and to the Alameda County Fair itself.

This decision should not be allowed to stand.

Horse racing should be returned to the Alameda County Fair.

Thank you.

Uh-huh.

Go ahead.

Yes, can you hear me?

Yes.

Go ahead.

Just closing it.

I want to speak under potential litigation.

I heard or was told that the fair is not having horse racing in 2026.

That violates the contract, and the board should sue or litigate them.

I also want to talk about the historical significance.

Just because it's an aluminum rail, like Jerome said, everything had to be updated for safety regulations.

So of course it wasn't the old original rail, which was wooden.

Everything throughout the history of this racetrack has been updated for safety regulations.

But the historicalness of the one mile oldest one mile racetrack in the state still stands.

Having different events on the track where you do manipulate it and change things, that does affect the historicalness of it.

Do you think that those historical houses people pay several uh 20, 30, 40 dollars to go to or through?

If they have a leak in the roof, they leave it.

They have to repair things and update things, but they keep things as original as possible, and that's what the Pleasanton racetrack has always been.

Don't ever shough off the history of horse racing in California in Northern California at the fair.

The fairgrounds were donated for horse racing.

That was the agreement that Burnell made was to keep horse racing there.

Thank you.

Are any more speakers?

Okay, to bring it back for any more questions or comments before we go to the next item.

Anyone else?

I will say indeed, um, everybody else.

No surprise.

I love horse racing at the fair.

As I look around the room, a lot of people do.

Seems to me that a tough decision was made to not do that instead of pivot and do the best we could without it by other things like monster truck.

And to the point made about what could we do if we had it's kind of either or you got to take away the monster truck and put back horse race, you can't have them both.

But the point being that um there's a lot of passion for horse racing.

I don't know why, and it's not to be litigated right now, unless they want to talk about it.

The fair board decided not to do that.

This is the first time I've seen this.

The fair board seen this, right?

That's what they saw.

I haven't seen that.

Okay, I was assuming that the fair board evaluated this as an opportunity and turned it down.

If that's not the case, then they might have something to think about.

My position is to, as always, and I'm just one board member to include horse racing, if at all possible, because I agree that it's consistent with the spirit of the contract that we have.

And with the letter of the contract, that's not to be litigated now because we all know there are nuances with language in the contract.

But I would like to advocate on behalf of board racing that we consider this, do it if at all possible.

But as we've already noted, they are at this time a separate nonprofit organization under the rules and regulations of the state of California and under Zippin contract.

I think that's a topic of discussion for the near future.

If I could just get an understanding of a couple of questions, so you're not having eliminated horse racing for 2026.

Correct.

Basically, and why have you done that?

Why did you do that?

We can look at uh there's a lot of reasons that we've done that.

We can go into some of them if you'd like to.

Um, do you have another question?

You will maybe answer that first.

So let's let's start with.

I don't think there's anyone in here on the board that would not like to have horse racing on the Alameda County Fairgrounds.

Uh, we've heard a lot of comments, we've had a lot of accusations, and it's it's insulting, frankly.

It's insulting because we have had to live through it.

We had to live with the failure of horse racing that we had.

It was not something that was easy, easy for any of us, and it certainly wasn't easy for our CEO.

We made a decision that we had to pull the plug or the association was going under.

We could not continue horse racing.

It was that simple.

We separated from horse racing.

We went through the human toil of listening to the people that were on the in the back stables, and it was it was wrenching.

I don't think it rose, it was terrible, right?

And to say that we were sitting there thumbing our nose at people, that did not happen.

But we haven't seen that.

We have had four different proposals from Pernal uh park racing.

Those have been in committee, they have been rejected without, and frankly, the last proposal was a takeover of half of the fairgrounds, which was absurd.

So we have talked with the the applicants.

We have I've asked them personally to sit down with our CEO with me and talk through this.

Nothing.

What we get is this at the 11th hour, and we're supposed to react to that.

That's not the way we're going to run our business.

If you have something to come before us, it goes to committee.

We fed it at committee.

If it gets out of committee, it comes to the board and we pass it or we don't.

Nothing that we have seen.

Gordon, have you seen anything on any proposal that we we could accept on the area for horse racing?

But I'm gonna, I just want to say this that uh I think a couple comments were made that we decided to not have horse racing.

We didn't decide to not have horse racing because we don't put on the the meat.

Carp puts on the meat.

We're the host track, we get reimbursed by the operator who puts on the meat, and they deal with all of the expenses of putting the meat on.

Guess what?

They were going broke.

They weren't paying us anymore.

So we had our employees, our expenses that we were incurring and not getting reimbursed from the promoter.

That's why there was no more horse racing.

We had to put a, we had to stop it now.

Now it happened at the worst time.

I think strategically by a stronger, they closed Golden Gate Fields at the worst time for some other track to pick it up and start horse racing.

Who's going to horse racing in October and November?

Right.

They didn't close Golden Gate Fields in March on the verge of all these, you know, the horse draping events like Kentucky Derby and the prevention of the Belmont.

They closed it in September when you know we stepped in.

We saved horse racing.

Yeah.

We didn't try to kill it.

Yeah, and I understand.

I think I understand all that, but I'm trying to look prospectively.

We've got folks that are saying that horse racing can have can be um profitable and occur out at the fair route.

I'm trying to understand.

You said you got proposals, but they haven't gone through proper vetting, not all of them.

It I'm trying to see, is there any way we can bring it back next year?

Or you've totally ruled it out for next year, and if you totally ruled it out prospectively beyond that.

Well, I I offered to George at the last meeting when you were there.

If we could get those dates in May, just flip it with Tehama, you weren't willing to do it because you had the plan set.

But that would work for us to bring horse racing back.

But remember, there's so many entities that uh are overseeing horse racing.

This isn't just Alameda County Fair can't, fair board can't just go, yeah, we're gonna have horse racing.

It still has to go, the dates have to be approved.

You've got state agencies.

Um if the state of California wanted horse racing in the north, they could have saved it, right?

Because we were asking for help, nobody was offering to give help when we were hemorrhaging money.

Where was all the help then?

But if the secretary of agriculture stepped up and said, We're done.

Remember, we're out.

Exactly.

And so I don't know what else we could do.

They said we're not going to pay anymore for losses in horse racing anywhere.

And to think for a minute, this board doesn't love and want horse racing, it's an insult when Golden Gate Fields closed, we stepped up to the plate to a tune of about five million dollars and buyouts and putting things together to keep horse racing.

I mean, it was a significant loss to this fair grass to a point where when GSR closed, it could not pay the bills.

A lot of people don't understand.

You can sell a lot of beer, you can sell a lot of hot dogs.

But if you don't have the acronyms for betting across the country, who are controlled by the people who close Golden Gate Fields and move south.

So when you look at the whole picture of this, there was a massive plan to get rid of horse racing in the north.

We're little players.

These are big guys with big dollars, and they decided.

Horse racing was going south.

To Nate's point, we're not talking about GSR.

We're not talking about yesterday.

We're talking about the program, and it was shot so full of holes that uh it was you wouldn't open a business based on what we saw.

I to be clear, I don't know what you're holding.

That should probably be made of the part of the family.

You never ever responded to drones.

Yeah, and we're never.

That looks like a color slick.

I don't know what it is.

I have your MOU, and the board did address your MOOC, and we gave you a counter-offer.

Yeah, and I gave you a counter offer.

Right, and it it's so so we've got back in counter offers.

So gone anywhere.

We we that's why we have these meetings.

The direction of the county, I think, is in the contract.

It is very clear that the spirit is to have horse racing.

Do whatever it takes, other than lose a bunch of money to get horse racing.

Now, we can have that discussion here, we can have that discussion offline, we can have that discussion as was recommended in court, but that's the position of at least one supervisor, and perhaps others.

All I'm saying is we got to figure it out together, and it's not going to be just we don't want to, without the understanding that it is the express intent of the county boards of one to offer horse race.

And to not offer horse racing is a detailed explanation of exactly why you can't, in my opinion, what I'd like to see.

Again, I'm just one board member, but I believe that's the expression of our contract.

I believe it's consistent with our cultural heritage.

And as I said before, I consider it an existential threat to Western culture to not have it.

And I will push that we would have it.

And we're so close, we agree on so many different things here about how important it is to our culture.

That I don't know what else I can say.

I want to see it done if at all possible.

And if it's and if there are real reasons why we can't, real substantial reasons like the existential threat to the organization, let me hear about it.

If you're telling me that you're gonna sink the team by having three weeks of horse racing, then show it to me because um I don't understand that because I got a guy over here saying he's gonna cover the losses.

We're not going to lose money.

We may not make as much money, but I'm hearing that we can do it and not lose money.

So if you're gonna swear on a stack of Bibles that you can't do it without losing money with his proposal, then swear on a stack of Bibles that you can't do it without losing money with his proposal.

Because that's what I see.

That's where I see we're at the crossbows out.

That's where I see where we're at.

Well, let me just say this.

That we were we did try to save horse racing, and we we gave gave it our best, and at the end of the day, it would have bankrupted this organization.

GSR would have, I get it.

No, so we have a fiduciary now.

Let's pivot to this contained in there, and there's a we can get into this and we could be here for five more hours, but there's revenue from parking, there's revenue from uh food and beverage that they're asking for in their proposal.

That is not our model.

We we do not give food and beverage and parking to good guys to Scottish games to anybody else.

We uh at least about our property, right?

We're happy to host it and give you a rate, but you we can't start talking about revenue share on food and beverage and parking because that's not our model.

I get that so we're at there.

So you guys isn't in the contract.

Who's gonna non-card when they know that we're when they're getting parking revenue for some other activity?

Who do you think's gonna come?

If you own good guys, you would come and go, hey, we want some of your parking revenue too.

So it upsets all of our revenue uh projections, everything that we've built our association on, all of our revenue streams become jeopardized.

Now, if George and for now racing want to negotiate something different that doesn't include shared revenue on parking food and beverage on all ears, I think our board would be all ears.

I think we offered something, we offered, we did a counter proposal, and I don't think that it was acceptable to you.

Timeout, you never offered to do horse racing during the county fair ever, ever.

You kept saying no, not during the fair outside of the and that is what your contract calls.

No, it doesn't, no, it doesn't.

No, it doesn't.

Oh, the last time, well, doesn't matter.

It's not, I don't think we fully litigate this right now, but I might suggest that a good next step is a small group discussion where everybody not now, but everybody gets in the room at the same time and tell us about this.

There are a lot of ways that we can figure out how to do this, a lot of ways that don't I think that don't upset the apple cart with the good guys or with um the Scottish games that uh I mean again, I don't want to talk out of turn, but um option that we haven't explored.

Supervisor Howard, we we sat out and looked at this.

We wanted horseworks okay we wanted when you started looking at the losses we were incurring over the over the period of the racing deal and you looked at the program that was put together and understanding where that revenue comes from and how long it takes to get it and you look at the business plan that was presented to you.

I'm telling you it was said what is the CHRB say this hasn't even been met with success to get it on a CHRB agenda.

Let alone be discussed at length.

Yeah so I don't know if we're gonna get anywhere today no this has been informative no for me but you know I feel like for the board to have county council close session let us know the contractual obligations that would be helpful for me also I need to understand because I'm doing my due diligence I don't know if I would be very concerned about pushing the fair board to do something that upsets their model and then bounces back on us and cost us money that we're then gonna have to take out our general fund from safety net services totally agree totally agree we we cannot lose money I'm going we're going to discuss the legal ramifications but also the business applications of how to get this done and if there's a way possible forward we'll talk about it in closed session we'll get it done yeah because I just you know I don't want to disparage the fair board because I think you know obviously if if we had horse racing then it would have been better we didn't have horse racing did a good job point is at the moment I don't want to second guess them in terms of their analysis of this stuff without having maybe um a peer review or something like that but fair enough I need to do my due diligence around the one of the bushes and look yeah in earnest so I I want to be clear if if in fact that is the MOU that has been previously presented to us it was analyzed it was and it was replied to and turned out I don't know if there is if there is a new proposition on the table please give it to our CEO we will sit down and take a look at it.

We have asked for the last year for someone to come in and sit down and talk to us I'm the president of the board that's the executive no one else is going to be presenting proposals to the board so that these are the people that you need to deal with if you want to talk to some other people feel free to we are the ones that are gonna come in and talk to us and he's gonna come in and talk to Kimberly he's gonna come in and talk to our lawyers great you kept telling me you'd give me a response to that MOU line by line and you never did and I'm still sitting there you had it since September you cannot sit here and tell me you responded to that you gave me a speaking proposal that you knew I couldn't take gates in name yes so again we're not going to get to these Mr Supervisor if I might yeah I told you I have sort of of essence because if we have to be at the worth racing board for dates for this fair in January so the decision has to be made in the next couple of weeks about whether or not they're going to go forward.

If they don't I'm not gonna bother along the county ever again even though I've lived in Pleasanton for 49 years I'm gonna go take care of the rest of the of Northern California.

They'll make plenty of money and the fair will do fine.

And the parking lots will be empty in the afternoon, just like they were last year.

They did great at night.

And they did horrible during the day.

They can make another million dollars if they use their heads.

And if they don't want to, I can't help.

George thank you thank you sir if you.

Thanks.

You already had public comment.

I want to do it again.

And one more.

I will allow you.

I'll be quick.

I understand it.

The bad taste you have in your mouth from GSR, as I said before.

I get it.

But you guys also were the operators of GSR.

So I heard somewhere that we lost money and it was a bad organization.

You were responsible for that loss as well.

Number one.

I don't see, I see it being a win-win if you offered horse racing during your fair.

We can work out a deal.

You're obviously going to receive more admissions, you're going to receive more revenue.

There's no downside for you guys.

George is already publicly stated many times that the risk is on him.

I'm telling you, I can operate a race meet along with this team.

What you guys did with GSR.

Sorry, sorry.

The GSR race meet was operated poorly, and hence you guys got hit to the tune.

I still don't even know the number.

250 to 400,000.

I understand the bad taste in the math.

We're offering you an opportunity to increase your revenue during the fair with no risk, no risk.

You said it already.

Okay.

Okay.

This item.

Any other more public comments?

Do we move on?

Tom Nintendo, sorry for chiming.

You haven't spoken yet.

I have not.

Tom Dentrich, Plant's in the resident.

Uh, I had a pleasure of being a racing secretary for the last 16 years for Carl.

I was a race secretary for GSR.

That blame can go on me.

Let's raise Secretary of Bay Meadows for 2002 2008.

Let's raise secretary of holding fields.

I got 45 years in the industry.

Fair racing never lost money at all the fair size.

Person accounts went up and down, losses, terrible, but the fairs did very well.

Some better than others, but fair racing work.

There are challenges, but fair racing worked for 16 plus years, and 35 years I met.

So fair racing does work.

I understand the pain.

Believe me, I understand your pain.

But fair racing has worked 100%.

I'm sorry.

No, don't apologize.

You're a member of the public talk.

That's fine.

Thank you.

Now can we move on to the next item?

Because we have only one more item and then public comment.

Are we good?

Move on to the next one.

You want to say anything?

No.

Okay.

That was a real quick no.

That was a no way.

No, sir.

All right.

Number nine is a 2025 to 26 budget update.

We already did it.

We have nothing left on the agenda except for public comment, which is meant to be public comment on items not on today's agenda.

Is there any public comment on items?

Not on today's agenda.

Anybody online that would like to make a public comment?

Items not on the agenda.

We kind of sprayed for that already.

Gloria.

Take yourself off mute.

Aria, please unmute.

Gloria.

There she is.

Go ahead.

Aurea, you have two minutes.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, thanks.

So they can be here.

You can hear it.

We can hear you.

Well, I guess I think it's just a good thing.

I just moved it.

Anybody else on public comment?

We can't, you're not talking, so no more other no more speakers.

Gloria, going once, twice.

Three times a charm with uh no other business before us.