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Kenosha County committees approve Float to Fox river tubing contract after safety and audit questions
Summary
Kenosha County’s Public Works and Finance committees approved a contract to formalize Float to Fox, a river tubing operation at Fox River Park, after parks staff added an emergency-action plan and commissioners sought clearer audit, renewal and repair language.
Kenosha County officials approved a parks contract that will allow the Float to Fox river tubing business to operate at Fox River Park under a formal public–private partnership.
Parks presenter Wyatt Morris said the operator, Gordon Kozlowski, has run the tubing operation on special-event permits and the new agreement standardizes operations. “The contract is very thorough in terms of how the operation works,” Morris said, describing shuttle logistics, designated parking and a required emergency-action plan that corporate counsel reviewed.
Supervisors pressed staff for contract clarifications before approving it. Supervisor Florida Balsky asked for explicit renewal authority, mandatory annual financial and operating reports, clearer definitions of gross sales and permitted deductions for calculating the county’s 15% share, and stronger audit and records language to prevent confidentiality provisions from curbing county inspection rights. “We need to clarify whether an annual audit or an annual reconciliation is mandatory,” Balsky said.
Parks staff and corporate counsel said the emergency plan will be kept on-site and staff will require the vendor to retain and train employees on it. Parks said gross sales in the draft include total receipts from food, beverage, merchandise and third‑party sales, excluding only sales tax and chargebacks.
Committee members also raised liability concerns around alcohol carried into parks and the vendor’s authority to enforce rules. Parks staff said alcohol is not sold by the tubing operator and that existing county signage and enforcement practices apply, while the operator is responsible for confronting only clearly intoxicated patrons and must call dispatch if someone becomes threatening.
Public Works voted to approve the resolution after discussion; Finance also approved the measure. Committee members asked corporate counsel to prepare small scrivener clarifications for distribution to the board before the full-board vote.
The committees forwarded the contract to the County Board; the vendor will continue operating under a special-event permit until the new contract takes effect.
