Gonzales holds off on rodeo finals ... for now

Rodeos are synonymous with J.B. Wells Arena and Gonzales, but it’s too soon to expect the city to compete for a national finals event.

At least that’s the message city leaders sent Tuesday night at the monthly Gonzales City Council meeting when a proposal to try to bring the 2016-2017 Junior High National Finals to Gonzales died for lack of a motion.

Steve Hendershot presented his views on the rodeo during the public comments portion of the meeting, and while Hendershot likes the idea of Gonzales hosting such an event, he would prefer it not take place until the community is ready.

“JB Wells is one of the great things that has come to our community in the last few years,” Hendershot informed all in attendance. “Unfortunately, we’ve been through some tough times out there in terms of management. With that in mind, it is my understanding that there’s going to be an expansion of the park with the idea of entertaining the 2016-2017 finals.”

Hendershot expressed concerns that the JB Wells Arena doesn’t have the capacity to accommodate a crowd that would accompany such an event, and brought forth other issues such as cooling, space and how local traffic would be affected.

“One requirement would be roughly 60,000 square feet of air-conditioned pavilion that allow for vendors to come in and promote their goods,” he explained. “All this is a great idea and something to look forward to, but I don’t see any way in the world that our community could prepare in that short amount of time. Also, traffic alone – adding 8,000 people to our community – would double our population. We have a traffic issue already south of town in which numerous accidents have occurred. Add [all these new people] to that, and we’d really have an issue to deal with.”

Hendershot continued by saying that, in his opinion, the worst thing Gonzales could do right now is to bid on and be awarded the event, but not be ready for it.

“I would love to have this event come to Gonzales one day one of these days,” he said. “But to entertain the idea of constructing an arena, I don’t know how many millions of dollars you’re talking bout, but it would have to be an enormous amount. I don’t know how much we spent to get our current facility built, but [it’s size] is nowhere near enough to entertain this type of undertaking. Gallup, NM can do it can do it ‘cause it’s up in the mountains and cool in the summer.”

City Manager Allen Barnes offered the council some thoughts of his own on the matter, and in many ways seemed to concur with Hendershot’s assessments.

“I know the spirit of this community, and I think we could have the rodeo grounds ready by 2016,” Barnes said optimistically. “However, there are some things in the proposed contract that are deeply disturbing to both myself and [City Attorney] Jackie Williamson. One thing is we have to guarantee their gate, which is, I think, a minimum of $150,000. If it rains on those days, then the city’s going to be on the hook [for that amount].”

Barnes pointed out that after carefully examining the rodeo’s bid package, he came to the conclusion that Gonzales is simply not ready to “saddle up”.

“I think the city would be better off if we waited until the next time [the event] comes up for bid, we would be better prepared,” he said. “Then maybe we could do it the way it’s expected to be done – done right.”

Mayor Bobby Logan asked twice for a motion from the council members, but none came, causing the item to die for a lack of motion.