Time is now for fairgrounds project

Barry Porterfield |, Pauls Valley Daily Democrat, Okla.
·2 min read

Jan. 3—One Garvin County commissioner strongly believes the time is now to get started on the next phase of a complete makeover for the county fairgrounds in Pauls Valley.

District 3 Commissioner Mike Gollihare was quick last week to support the idea of accepting the lowest of two bids for a full renovation of the fairgrounds' east building, which is known by some as the "ladies building."

Fellow commissioners Randy Chandler (District 1) and Gary Ayres (District 2) also agreed with the motion even though the county doesn't quite have enough of the funds they intended to use to pay the bill.

The low bid for the east building renovation is just over $2.1 million, which compares to the $1.9 million Garvin County still has from the federal relief money it received after the pandemic.

"We're going to accept the bid as it is," Gollihare said after being asked about rebidding the project or making changes to some of the alternate items added. The actual bid opening came back on Dec. 18.

"If we go out and bid it again that will just take time. Matt says if we go out for bid again (the price) will go up or stay the same and that's going to waste time," he said, referring to architect Matt Graves.

Initially, Gollihare listed a county use or sales tax in place to help make up for the difference in paying for the county project.

Instead, County Clerk Lori Fulks said the likely source for that additional money will be the county's general fund.

Very early in the process all three commissioners made it clear their top project was the fairgrounds when it comes to the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money coming to the county.

Garvin County wound up receiving just over $5 million in the federal ARPA money, meant to help with efforts to recover from the Covid pandemic.

So far most of the fairgrounds' buildings have received a new roof, siding and insulation, including the show arena.

The next phase calls for the east building's interior to be completely cleared out as upgrades include a full teaching and serving kitchen, a community room, restrooms and storage rooms.

A new look on the exterior is also planned, along with new doors, a sprinkler system and insulation.