LAWTON - The board of trustees of the Comanche County Fairgrounds Trust Authority has scheduled a special meeting for 6 p.m. Wednesday to discuss the fate of Executive Director Richard Pool and Chef Todd Fischer.
Agenda item #3, after the meeting is called to order and roll call is taken, is a motion “to move into Executive Session to discuss employee matters regarding Richard Pool and Todd Fisher.”
County Commissioners Ryan John and Josh Powers have appointed new Fair Board members who have been asking questions and uncovered, in their words, “some disturbing information.”
The fairgrounds chef, for example, allegedly has used a county purchasing card to buy cigarettes at a Lawton convenience store.
And Pool signed a lease that he had no authority to issue.
Last month an RV parked at the fairgrounds was not only in violation of city codes, records indicated the occupants did not pay any rent, utilities, nor any other costs associated with living there. The occupants were living on-site, using county washing and drying facilities that are intended for use by fairgrounds officials.
Several sources told Southwest Ledger that the freeloaders consumed electricity and water - at no cost to them - and had their trash collected at county taxpayers’ expense.
When law enforcement officers began asking questions, Pool presented a lease that he prepared for the employee and which he signed as the supposed landlord.
Pool is not the landlord. The Comanche County Fairgrounds Trust Authority is.
A “Tenancy Agreement” governing a “mobile home” at 920 S. Sheridan Road clearly states at the top of the document, “The agreement is made in duplicate between Comanche County Fairgrounds Trust Authority, the Landlord, and Chris McGraff, the Tenant.”
The agreement provides that the tenant will occupy the mobile home during his employment at the fairgrounds. During that time the tenant will live rent-free and receive electricity, gas, water, parking, trash collection, and all appliances.
Condition #7 of the Tenancy Agreement decrees: “The premises shall not be occupied lay any person other than those designated as tenant, with the exception of the following named persons: Chris McGraff, wife, and three minor children.”
Any additional] person(s) “will be allowed to stay at premises ONLY with written permission of the Landlord” - the Comanche County Fairgrounds Trust Authority, not Richard Pool. (See paragraph 9 above.)
And in yet another matter, questions remain about how a trailer on the south side of the fairgrounds was remodeled presumably at county expense - without the Fair Board’s approval.
These issues are expected to be addressed Wednesday night during a closed-door executive session of the fairgrounds trustees.