The rodeo arena at the fairgrounds sits empty most of the year.  Now someone wants to put it to use year around.

The Red River Parish Police Jury has given preliminary OK to a proposal to lease the arena at the fairgrounds by a local riding club.  Final OK will be made after details of the proposal are worked out.

At the October Police Jury meeting Dustin Halbmaier proposed that the jury lease the arena for one year.  He said, “We will do everything, including maintenance, inside the arena.”

Jury Vice President Ben Taylor said, “We have turned down other people wanting to use the arena because they did not want to provide insurance.”  There was a consensus among jurors that they were not interested in renting the arena for various events.  There was also concern about a conflict with the annual parish fair and rodeo.

Halbmaier proposes a lease that would allow the rodeo to go on as usual.  He also proposed to form an LLC for the (so far unnamed) riding club to use the arena for their events and playdays.  Halbmaier said, “The facility is quite large and there is plenty of parking.  We would not interfere with the livestock show in the summer and the rodeo in the fall.”

The main point Halbmaier made is that his riding club would provide liability insurance that would protect the police jury from any liability for events held by the club.  Another point of the proposal is that the riding club would take care of all maintenance in the arena, including preparing it for the rodeo in the fall.

The jury members talked it over and decided informally that they were in agreement with Halbmaier’s proposal.  He is to form the LLC and complete the other parts of the agreement and present it to the police jury at a future meeting.