By CURT GORDON

Port of South Whidbey commissioner

Okay, I feel like I need to clarify the Port of South Whidbey’s position on the fairgrounds. What we were asking for was that the public be allowed, through an August ballot issue, to decide if the port should or should not own and manage the fairgrounds property.

Almost two years ago Island County Commissioner Jill Johnson came to a port meeting and asked the commission to please consider taking over the fairgrounds in Langley. Her claim was that the port would do a better job promoting and managing the aging property year-round than Island County could and that would allow the fair association to focus on running their fair event. A few weeks later Commissioner Helen Price Johnson came to the port with the same pitch.

So, the port commission agreed to run the facility for a year and at the same time do public outreach and financial research and modeling to see what might work and what the locals wanted there. We’ve spent the last year managing the fairgrounds and hiring and directing consultants and personnel and have drawn our conclusions.

Maintaining and improving the fairgrounds will take money and energy no matter which organization takes it on. Our research shows that with the right improvements the fairgrounds could be financially self-sustaining over time.  Our plan involves combining grant funds with port tax dollars. But this would require that the port own the property.

So in keeping with an old promise made to the fair association by Island County, the port commission’s plan includes letting the people of South Whidbey decide by vote in August if the port should own and manage the fairgrounds and if the public was willing to pay for that. We believe that the people of South Whidbey need to weigh in on an issue of this importance and that the ballot process would pull all the underlying issues into the open.

That is our plan. We developed this strategy for the fairgrounds over the past year in response to the request from the Island County commissioners.

At this point, any new agreement between the port and the county needs to be attached to a permanent solution for the fairgrounds. We’ve done our “due diligence,” now it’s time to start solving the problems. Whether it’s the port or some other agency carrying the load, it’s time to focus on this local historic jewel and guarantee a permanent home for the fair.