County hires interim fair director

MOSES LAKE — The Grant County Commission has hired a former Columbia Basin Herald advertising director, Jim McKiernan, as the interim director of the Grant County Fairgrounds.

McKiernan, who currently works for ITC Services, which sells tarps for agricultural use, will be overseeing the fairgrounds part time through the end of the county fair.

“The county commissioners appeared to have their hands full,” McKiernan said. “I have lots of experience in marketing, management, budgeting, staffing, I offered those skills to the commissioners, and they said we’d love to have you come help us through this fair.”

McKiernan, who also served on the fair advisory committee in 2010 and 2011, said his only aspiration is help oversee the fairgrounds until the end of the county fair. Right now, he’s not angling for a permanent job and he’s not been tasked with anything more than the job at hand.

“We’ve not talked about issues that may have caused prior directors to leave,” McKiernan said.

County Commissioner Cindy Carter said McKiernan’s experience means he will be helpful and knowledgeable in helping run the fair, and that it wasn’t fair asking fairgrounds staff to take over from the manager this close to fair time.

“He’ll just be a strength,” Carter said. “This is just to get us through the fair.”

McKiernan’s appointment follows the May resignation of Mickey Webb, who was hired in late 2016 to run the Grant County Fairgrounds.

“Today (Tuesday) will be my first day. I want to get to know the staff and find out what their priorities are,” he said. “I’m there to support the staff.”

Carter said the county commission will be taking applications for the fairgrounds director position once the fair is over in late August.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com