County and Fair Board Clash Over Terms Before Renewal
Negotiations center on permitting, public access to board records, governance changes, tighter oversight of major capital projects, increased financial transparency.
Overview
- County staff and the nonprofit Alameda County Fair Association are in tense talks to amend the long‑term 2017 management contract that renews every five years.
- Supervisors say they do not want to terminate the agreement but want amendments that give the board a formal role in approving major capital projects on the county’s 267 acres.
- Board president David Haubert has pushed to link negotiated changes to the upcoming renewal and has proposed shrinking the fair board from 21 members to 15.
- Transparency concerns stem from the fair board’s private nonprofit status, which is not subject to state open‑meeting or public‑records laws and limits public access to minutes and meetings.
- The fair association says it brings in about $28 million a year, reinvests roughly $3 million annually, and is raising $10 million through a separate foundation for an educational farm while past issues like treated well contamination and former sewage problems shape supervisors’ oversight demands.