CHEYENNE (WNE) — District Judge Thomas Campbell on Friday issued a ruling that Laramie County commissioners were within their authority to dissolve the Laramie County Fair Board.

The County Commission in November voted to dismiss the independent volunteer board, arguing a new events department run by professionals could better oversee the Archer Complex, its new events center and other county recreation.

The events department is responsible for the Laramie County Fair, Archer recreational facilities, Clear Creek Park, the Greater Cheyenne Greenway and special events.

But board members disagreed with commissioners and took their arguments to Laramie County District Court.

According to previous Wyoming Tribune Eagle reporting, the board’s argument cited state law saying county commissioners could create a board of trustees to “control, manage and maintain the (county) fairgrounds,” but offered no provision for dissolving it.

In the ruling, Campbell states, “The county commissioners possess the implied power to dissolve a board that they were granted the power to create.”

“The ruling gives us a path forward in regard to the events center and the fair,” Laramie County Commission Chair Linda Heath said.

Commissioners named Dan Ange as the events director in March. Prior to his appointment in Laramie County, he served as events director for the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

In addition, Campbell dismissed the board’s claim that commissioners could not redirect funds previously appropriated to the board. The judge cited a statute that says “commissioners have the right and responsibility to direct the funds to any authority designated by them so long as they are expended on fair operations.”