Fair Vote Nebraska plans to continue opposition to move of State Fair, even though petition drive fell short

The relocation of the Nebraska State Fair to Grand Island won't be an issue on the November election ballot -- but petition organizers said they have other plans to stop the move of the State Fair.

"We're not done yet," said Roger Yant, spokesman for Fair Vote Nebraska.

Neither he nor organizer Mike Donlan of Lincoln would specify what the next step might be -- only that some form of announcement would come in the next 24 to 48 hours.

"We're looking at some legalities -- looking at some options," Donlan said Wednesday.

The petition circulators, all volunteers, including several in Grand Island, hoped to place the State Fair relocation question on the November general election ballot.

The Nebraska Legislature approved a new state law this spring that authorizes moving the fair to Grand Island by 2010. That will leave the fairgrounds in Lincoln for development by the University of Nebraska for a research and innovation park.

In the case of Fair Vote Nebraska, the group not only needed about 57,000 valid signatures, but those signatures needed to represent 5 percent of registered voters in 38 of Nebraska's 93 counties, said Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Neal Erickson.

The deadline was 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Yant said his group missed the number.

"We didn't get the 38 counties," Yant said Wednesday.

Yant said the petition had strong support in Hall, York, Lancaster, Sarpy and Douglas counties, but failed to garner the needed 5 percent representation from the majority of Nebraska counties.

"If we would have had paid circulators, it would have been no problem," Yant said. "But this was all volunteer. I got up at 4 a.m. this (Wednesday) morning to see how many counties we had -- it was really bugging me. We had 53 counties, but didn't have the 5 percent."

A total of 5,500 petitions, each with the capacity of 20 signatures, had been distributed among 12 core volunteers in Lincoln and Omaha and hundreds of others across the state, Yant said.

He lacked a formal number of signatures gathered, admitting that volunteers quit counting when they realized the 38-county requirement couldn't be met.

"We came close," Yant said, noting that none of the petitions would be filed with the secretary of state's office.

Grand Island circulator Curtis Cellar said organizers told him that signatures were in excess of 60,000, but didn't meet the 38-county threshold.

Fair Vote organizers said no final petition paperwork would be turned in to the state -- something that's common when signature numbers aren't met.

Meanwhile, the failure of the petition effort seemed to turn a yellow light into a green for groups in Grand Island.

"This gives us the ability to move forward with the planning," said Hugh Miner Jr., vice president and chief executive officer of Fonner Park.

Fonner Park officials have been meeting with the Nebraska State Fair Board to determine the number and location of new buildings that will be needed to accommodate the State Fair.

Miner said consulting firm HOK is preparing a draft of the buildings. That draft will assist in the negotiations of how Fonner can continue to operate ongoing events such as the State 4-H Horse Show and Fonner's live racing season, while simultaneously undergoing construction or alterations for the State Fair.

Former Grand Island Mayor Jay Vavricek said besides the talks with Fonner and the State Fair board, the end of the petition drive also makes local fund-raising efforts more concrete.

"One factor's been resolved. We don't need to make allowances for the repeal of LB1116 or have any impact on our local private and public and community obligations," he said.

Vavricek said the petition drive and its potential for a November ballot question created uncertainty when approaching large corporations or foundations for donations, but that uncertainty is gone now.

"We just need to know the legislation will become law and we need to move forward for the Oct. 1 certification and finalize a plan to totally satisfy the legislative financial conditions that will be law in Nebraska," Vavricek said.

Cindy Johnson, president of the Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce, was also pleased with Wednesday's conclusion of the petition process.

"It obviously takes away a cloud that, consciously or not, was hanging over our heads -- the city's heads, the state's heads -- as far as relocation of the State Fair," Johnson said.

She's not surprised that other challenges to the Legislature's action are being considered by the Fair Vote Nebraska group, but she isn't concerned. Anyone can file a lawsuit, but that doesn't mean it has merit, Johnson said.

"We're happy it is was resolved this way. We feel the legislative process is very open," Johnson said, noting that the majority of Nebraskans obviously disagreed with Yant when he alleged the move of the State Fair wasn't known to people during the legislative session. "The democratic process played itself out."

A recent study by the chamber indicated the State Fair would create a $64.5 million economic impact for Grand Island. The move also has strong support from Gov. Dave Heineman, who reiterated his confidence in Grand Island raising the necessary funds.

"We'll once again get down to business and move forward," Vavricek said.