DuPage might dissolve group that doles out fair funding

In a move that could free roughly $240,000 to help repair out-of-code buildings at the DuPage fairgrounds, county officials might dissolve the agency that collects state money for the annual county fair.

On Wednesday, county board Chairman Dan Cronin said he is planning to eliminate the DuPage Fair and Exposition Authority, which was created in the late 1980s to receive annual payments from the Illinois Department of Agriculture to help pay for the summer event.

Since the county already has the DuPage County Fair Association - the nonprofit entity that plans and runs the five-day fair - Cronin said the authority is "an unnecessary layer" of government.

"It was supposed to provide some sort of oversight and accountability," said Cronin, adding the authority is responsible for distributing the state money it receives to the fair association. "I don't believe it ever really fulfilled that mission."

Cronin said it always was his intention to someday dissolve the fair authority. That's why it was included in a 2013 state law that gave Cronin the ability to eliminate up to 13 local governmental entities. DuPage used that power to eliminate a fire protection district.

Plans to dissolve the fair authority were stepped up, in part, because of the discovery of more than 600 code violations at the county-owned fairgrounds in Wheaton.

The fair association - which uses the 42-acre site along Manchester Road as part of a lease agreement with the county - is working with Wheaton officials to correct the violations inside multiple structures so the fair can open as planned in July.

But Michael Formento, the fair authority chairman, said last week that he didn't think it was appropriate for the agency to use the roughly $240,000 left in its reserve fund for additional maintenance and upkeep of the fairgrounds.

A call to Formento wasn't immediately returned Wednesday.

If the authority is dissolved, Cronin said, that money could go to the fair association so it can fix some of the structures.

"I want the association to have the tools it needs to make the fairgrounds safe," Cronin said. "It must be safe if they want to have a fair. If it's not safe, nobody wants to have a fair."

Before the fair authority could be eliminated, multiple steps must be followed, including the scheduling of public hearings. There's also a process for voters to save an agency if they protest.

One person who has no opposition to the idea is county board member Grant Eckhoff, who also serves on the fair authority board.

"The fair authority was set up because the county board at the time thought that the association might not be using the (state) money properly," said Eckhoff, whose district includes the fairgrounds. "But as far as I know, all the people that the county board had a problem with are long gone."

County board member Jim Zay is one of several board members who say the time is right to dissolve the fair authority.

"The fair authority is just a separate board that really does nothing and is not needed anymore," Zay said.

Last year, the fair authority received about $204,000 from the state. It's expected to get a similar amount this year.

Zay said it simply makes sense to have those payments go directly to the fair association. In the meantime, he criticized the fair authority for not giving the fair association more money to fix the fairgrounds.

"They have done nothing to help the fair association," Zay said. "The fair association is having issues out there because they've got one hand tied behind their back."