Sioux Falls, S.D. (KELO AM) – With the Sioux County Fair comes an interesting group of people who are employed as fair workers. People who travel with the fair are generally from out of town and measures are taken to explore their backgrounds.
“Fair workers go through a background check by their employer who then gives them to the county administration for their review,” said Gerald Beninga, Chairman, Minnehaha County Commission Office. “The person in charge of the security for the fair is part of the Sherriff’s office and he does his own checks. The backgrounds of the fair workers do get checked twice before they are allowed to work here.”
Beninga said, The two fair employees who were caught with drugs did not have prior records. There was no indication that these two were going to be trouble.
“We received a letter from a taxpayer who said to turn the fairgrounds into a city park while the fair is here,” said Beninga. “State Statutes say that we cannot call the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds a park. With the county owning it and the fact it is donated land from the Lyon family brings a lot of restrictions to the place. Those restrictions are in place for 75-years and that will be up in two years so discussions will be made with the Lyon family heirs.”
“In review, we have been working with the fairground management and the Sherriff’s department to see if there is anything we should have done differently,” said Beninga. “At this time, we don’t have an answer to what needs to be done. We are going to talk to the legislature about the potential of making it a park which probably won’t happen but I feel we still need to discuss this internally.”
Gerald Beninga was a guest on the Greg Belfrage Show August 16, 2013.
To hear the interview in its entirety, please click on the following link: http://kelo.com/podcasts/greg-belfrage-show/742/county-commissioners-reviewing-background-check-procedures/