Grounds For Scandal At Fair Investigation Uncovers Allegations Of Favoritism, Theft, Unsafe Labor Practices At Fairgrounds

Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds has operated for years on handshakes and favoritism, with managers often disregarding safety rules and county policies, a recent investigation shows.

Employees and others linked to the fairgrounds told a private investigator that:

Theft is common. But the investigator did not substantiate rumors that fairgrounds employees stole some equipment and supplies.

Some people stored their RVs, boats and livestock for free, while most must pay hundreds of dollars to rent stalls or winter storage space. County policy requires that everyone pay, and state law prohibits giving away county services.

Safety complaints sometimes went unheeded, and safety rules sometimes were violated, increasing the risk of electrocution or injury. A Geiger Corrections Center officer complained of retaliation for reporting a safety concern.

Crews of Geiger inmates were made to do work that county employees refused because they thought the chores were dangerous.

Fairgrounds operations manager Jim Cotter, who recently resigned, became angered that Geiger officials wouldn’t let an inmate wear a security guard’s uniform to direct traffic. He was angered again when a Geiger supervisor wouldn’t let inmates do janitorial work in a building where gun-show exhibitors were displaying weapons and ammunition.

Either situation would have put the public in danger, said county Corrections Director Gary Oberg.

In recent months, county officials have written new policies and are searching for a person with business and management savvy to replace Cotter.

But assistant county administrator Fran Boxer acknowledges that problems persist. Just this month, about 40 cows kept at the fairgrounds for free caused nearly $1,000 in damage.

“Trying to correct 25 years of the good-old-boy system out there can’t be accomplished overnight,” said Boxer. “It’s deeply ingrained.”

Boxer has been in charge of the fairgrounds, among other duties, since Sam Angove resigned about two years ago as the long-serving director of parks and recreation. The resignation came after 11 of Angove’s employees complained that he verbally abused them.

For more than a year, at the direction of county commissioners, Boxer delegated most of her fairgrounds duty to manager Paul Gillingham. He was accused of mismanagement and was forced to resign last November after sinking the fairgrounds more than $200,000 in debt.

When Gillingham left, Cotter took over management duties.

Boxer suggested the investigation after hearing numerous employee complaints against Cotter. According to investigator Ron Graves’ report, many of the 18 people he interviewed laughed when asked whether Cotter ever lied to them.

“You can’t trust what Cotter says,” concluded Graves, who also found Cotter to be “a very likable person.”

Following the investigation, commissioners gave Cotter a list of allegations to answer. He quit in February without responding to the allegations, saying he had “other opportunities” too good to pass up.

Later, when he learned The Spokesman-Review had requested a copy of Graves’ 39-page report, Cotter wrote county officials a one-page note, calling the claims “exaggerated … or taken out of context.”

“I generally deny all allegations of inappropriate management,” he wrote.

Cotter has an unlisted telephone number and was not home when a reporter went to his Chattaroy mobile home Thursday. He did not respond to a note left on the door.

Angove and Gillingham have moved from Spokane and couldn’t be located for comment. Graves did not return a phone message from a reporter.

Among the questions Graves asked Cotter during a December interview was whether anyone lived at the fairgrounds in a trailer or pickup camper. “No,” Cotter answered.

Three months later, Boxer evicted a group of carnival workers living on a remote corner of the fairgrounds. One couple lived there year-round, in a travel trailer decorated outside with a wooden sidewalk and potted shrubbery.

Officials for Rainier Shows said Cotter, Gillingham and Angove knew for years that workers lived at the fairgrounds, a violation of county regulations and Rainier’s lease. Boxer said she learned about the carny village not from Cotter, but from a newspaper article about one of the workers being charged with raping a girl on the fairgrounds.

Rainier’s founder, Andy Andersen, has benefited from fairgrounds favoritism.

To raise money during slow months, the county leases space in its massive barns to people who want a safe place to store their boats, motor homes and other recreational equipment during winter. Depending on the size of their vehicles, customers pay up to $500 for the service.

But Andersen paid nothing this year, county records show, even though his 40-foot Royale travel trailer was the largest rig stored in the swine barn. Cotter told Graves that the arrangement had been set up by Angove, who “handled Andy specifically.”

The Rainier Shows carnival is on the road and Andersen couldn’t be reached for comment.

Two fairgrounds employees also stored recreational vehicles at the fairgrounds for free, employees told Graves.

And Boxer confirmed Thursday that employee Bert Hughes kept his horse at the fairgrounds earlier this year without paying the $70 monthly fee. Cotter told Graves that Hughes, who could not be reached for comment, would tend the animal during his coffee breaks.

The Spokane Community College rodeo team paid nothing to keep horses at the fairgrounds much of this year. The county normally charges non-profit groups $35 a month for each stall, said Boxer, adding that the college now is paying that fee.

Geiger officials were the most vocal in their criticism of Cotter and other managers. To help earn their keep at Geiger, inmates pick up litter and do other chores at the fairgrounds.

Work-crew supervisor Darrin Marion told Graves that Angove once had an inmate use a jackhammer, even though the inmate was not wearing steel-toed boots. If true, that’s a violation of state labor laws.

Another day, Cotter ordered the work crew to clean a concrete floor with an acid wash. Marion told Graves that he later learned fairgrounds employees had refused to do the work without respirator suits.

Depending on the type of acid used and how it was applied, the work may have violated state law, said an official from the Department of Labor and Industry.

Marion said he complained for a year about a circuit box with exposed 220-volt electrical wires. Inmates entering a dark break room could only turn on the lights by reaching inside the box.

“When I made a safety complaint about an exposed power box, Jim sent my crew out to pick rocks for a week,” Marion told Graves.

Cotter told Graves the rock work had been planned long before Marion’s complaint. He said he meant to take care of the problem, but “we have two power boxes in the break room and I got the wrong one fixed …

“Then, when I heard more complaints, I thought it had been fixed.”

Boxer said that when she was shown the box, which lacked even a door, she ordered it repaired within five days.

Neither Marion nor his boss, Don McConahy, would comment about the accusations.

Corrections Director Oberg said that while he knew there were “differences” between his officers and fairgrounds managers, he hadn’t heard about any specific incidents.

“We always want to assure that inmates are working in a safe environment,” he said.

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