City Beat: Ozark Empire Fair seeks alcohol sales permit

Eighteen months after gaining permission to sell alcohol at events other than the Ozark Empire Fair, organizers of the annual summertime celebration are calling on Springfield City Council to allow fairgoers to purchase spirits in select areas.

The Agricultural and Mechanical Society of Springfield, the governing board of the city-owned fairgrounds, which is home to the annual Ozark Empire Fair, said the request is a business move designed to allow the fair to compete with others events in the region.

Fair board member Kent Hyde was one of eight speakers July 1 asking council to approve the proposal for the July 25–Aug. 3 event. At the public hearing, no members of the public opposed the ordinance, which would amend the society’s lease agreement.

Hyde said the board wants to allow sales and samples of wine, beer and liquor from vendors at the E-Plex, alcohol in the grandstand area for concerts and in an invitation-only VIP area.

“We are not going to serve alcohol up and down the midway. We are not going to serve it throughout the fairgrounds. We do not want that. We are not asking for that,” said Hyde, an attorney at Hyde, Love & Overby LLP. “I know there has been a lot of thought during the years that this is a family event, and it is, but at the same time … our goal really is to serve all of our customers.

“We have people who come and enjoy the fair for all of the events we have, and would they like something to drink when they come enjoy a concert or do other things? Yes, they would.”

Fairground General Manager Aaron Owen said many regional fairs including state fairs in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Arkansas already permit alcohol sales.

“We need this modification to assist us in being competitive,” Owen told council members.

Owen said fair organizers haven’t estimated the revenue potential from alcohol sales.

In January 2012, council approved alcohol sales for nonfair events on the premises, in part, because Rock’n Ribs BBQ Festival proposed moving its annual barbecue festival to the fairgrounds. At the time, Councilwoman Cindy Rushefsky was among those expressing concern about opening the door to alcohol sales during the county fair.

“We don’t want to see the fair changed from a family event to a temporary beer hall,” Rushefsky said last year. She was absent from the July 1 meeting.

The fairgrounds, which had been owned by the Springfield-Greene County Park Board before February 2012, was not permitted to sell alcohol because voters turned down a 2002 proposal to allow alcohol consumption on park property.

Rock’n Ribs Chairman Steve Scott said there were no alcohol-related incidents reported during the Sertoma Clubs’ April fundraising event, which drew an estimated 30,000 visitors.

PFI Western Wear owner Randy Little, who said he has been involved with the fair for years both as a visitor and exhibitor, said the time is right to allow alcohol sales at the fair.

“We’ve got to be competitive,” Little said. “Having concerts like we’re trying to promote and staying competitive, we need to be able to have that economic advantage. It just seems to be the natural thing for us to progress into.”

Fair board member and residential property developer Tom Kissee said fairgrounds staff, Springfield police and Greene County sheriff deputies would be in place to handle any issues that could arise from those drinking.

“We have a great security force, and we really think the time is now that we can handle this,” Kissee said.

The proposed amendment to lease terms is scheduled for a vote July 15.

Energy neutrality
The city’s Department of Environmental Services is seeking guaranteed energy cost savings agreements with Milwaukee, Wis.-based industrial technology firm Johnson Controls Inc. and Kansas City-based energy consultants Burns & McDonnell. The companies would work to develop building and process energy-efficiency measures at the Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant, according to Springfield Assistant Director of Environmental Services Errin Kemper, who presented the proposal at the meeting.

The two agreements would cost the city more than $150,000 and would result in estimated savings in the millions of dollars.

“The city’s Southwest Wastewater Treatment facility uses about $1.5 million worth of energy every year. These agreements with Johnson Controls, partnering with Burns & McDonnell, will allow us to take that first step toward analyzing our energy usage at the plant, so that we can come up with alternatives to create some efficiencies,” Kemper said at the meeting. “Our primary, long-term goal with the project is energy neutrality at the plant where we would produce enough energy through our methane production to offset any of our use from the grid.”

Ronnie Box, operations supervisor at the Southwest treatment facility, said the city currently captures methane gas from decomposing materials and uses it to heat digesters at the treatment facility and to operate a 16-cylinder blower, moves that save roughly $600 per day.

“We don’t fully utilize all of the methane we produce. We use everything we have the ability to use, but we canít use everything, so we are flaring some of it off,” Box said, estimating roughly a third of the methane produced is not used.

Phase I of the agreement allows the companies to look at ways to improve the building systems, he said, while Phase II encompasses an examination of treatment systems and allows the companies to perform a study related to energy-generation potential. Phase I would cost $34,860, according to information in the ordinance, and Phase II would cost $116,670.  

No members of the public spoke at the bill’s public hearing. The ordinance is scheduled for a vote July 15.