The Del Mar Fairgrounds board voted to explore bringing back a second vice chair for 2027, a governance change that supporters say would strengthen leadership succession at the state-run facility.

The board took the action at its Tuesday, Sept. 15, meeting, as first reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune. The vote was not a final decision. The board will formally select its 2027 officers later this year, though no date for that selection has been announced.

Board Chair Sam Nejabat said the move would get more members involved and help with "… future succession planning and hearing more voices at the table." Board member Mark Arabo agreed.

"I definitely think three brains are better than two," Arabo said.

But board member Frederick Schenk, who served as chair during the last stretch with two vice chairs, warned the structure creates headaches under the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. That California law bars a majority of a state body's members from discussing board business outside publicly noticed meetings. Under the act, even informal conversations among a majority of members about agency business can constitute an illegal meeting, according to a guide published by the state Attorney General's office.

The 22nd District Agricultural Association, the state agency that operates the fairgrounds, has nine board members. Three officers meeting together would not form a majority on their own, but Schenk said the arrangement still forced the board to schedule duplicate meetings so that no more than two officers discussed fairgrounds business at the same time.

"The problem is Bagley-Keene gets in the way, and I can't get around that," Schenk said.

The board's existing policy already permits two vice chairs, but the board switched to a single vice chair on Sept. 9, 2025, when it elected Lisa Barkett to the position in a 5-4 vote, according to board meeting records. Before that, Michael Gelfand and G. Joyce Rowland served as first and second vice presidents as of the Oct. 2, 2024, meeting.

The board's meetings are open to the public. Agendas and meeting schedules are posted on the Del Mar Fairgrounds website.