EATON — On Wednesday, Sept. 30, Preble County Commissioners Denise Robertson and Rodney Creech met with Kevin Conley, the contractor for the ongoing fairgrounds project, for an update on renovations at the facility.
Fairgrounds Manager James Mays and Senior Fair Board member Mary Bullen also attended the meeting.
Commissioners spoke to Conley about renovations being done on the grandstands. They questioned Conley for having started work on the grandstands. Conley informed the two commissioners he had begun power washing to start the early stages of the painting process.
However, according to Commission Clerk Connie Crowell, numerous discussions had been held about waiting to begin the project on the grandstands until a final cost had been provided.
Conley informed commissioners he cannot give the final price until the engineers provide him with finalized plans, something they currently had not done. Conley told commissioners once the plans are approved, he will be able to give a final cost.
Commissioner have yet to determine the amount of renovations to be done on the grandstands.
“We were under the impression the grandstands is the last project to be taken care of,” Creech said. “And I was over there yesterday and they were working on it, those grandstands weren’t supposed to be touched.”
According to Conley, he started the process on the grandstands, only cleaning about half of the structure before the meeting, in fear of not making the June 1 deadline for the contract.
Conley explained to commissioners the delay created by multiple buildings requiring different paints has delayed his progress on the project.
Commissioners originally planned to paint a group of buildings, but the type of paint being used would not stick to the roofs and therefore would receive no warranty.
Commissioners asked Conley to estimate the cost of replacing the roofs in question, which he estimated to be around $45,000 for each building. Commissioners elected not to move forward with replacing the roofs, but will choose a different paint to place on them.
Conley explained the delay in those buildings meant he needed to make progress on other parts of the project, like the grandstands, in order to meet his June deadline.
Commissioner Robertson told Conley the reason for the indecision about the grandstands was to have money set aside if needed later. “If we need to pinch pennies and do something over here ,we can forgo the painting of the underneath of the roof on the grandstand,” said Robertson.
“I’ll do whatever you guys tell me to do, but just keep in mind I may or may not make June 1st,” Conley said.
The rest of the project appears to be moving along smoothly, as Conley reported at least four buildings had been completed since the last update and other numerous buildings are in various stages of completion.
