Janesville Council Buys More Time With Hockey Proposal

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At Janesville's city council meeting held Monday night, Councilman Bill Truman opened up the discussion on the ice arena/hockey team deal by making a motion to table the proposal till the next meeting. His explanation was clear and direct and mirrored many of the same concerns a handful of residents spoke about at the meeting and also shared on this blog.

If I recall correctly, none of the residents said they opposed the hockey team. Instead they offered a random mix of practical and moral reasons against the deal including beer sales, scheduling, rent figures, advertising rights, and the general tone to the soft contract leaving taxpayers exposed to a greater share of what should be the hockey team's responsibilities towards the expense of their business activity.

At first, it appeared the other council members would grant Truman's motion to table the proposal if at least to acquire more time to iron out the multitude of contractual and logistical problems. But as the council continued to discuss the problems with WHP spokesman Bill McCoshen, they seemed to enter into the twi-light zone.

To my amazement, the $200,000 in structural changes to accommodate the team suddenly became inadequate as at least one councilman was overheard asking that the spending cap be raised above $200,000 and suggested that if the hockey investors paid for structural changes on their own, they could play rent-free till the city's debt was satisfied. This coming after the council themselves tried to dispel the notion that the improvement has little to do with the hockey group and was merely an expense to improve a city asset.

The council completely abandoned the pressing concerns raised by Truman and others and twisted the reasons for buying more time into a consideration to spend even more money to satisfy the hockey investment group.

In a confusing exchange of comments, the city manager and council implied additional improvements and repairs of up to $1.5 million may be necessary to satisfy requests from existing user groups of the arena. However, representatives from two user groups spoke at the meeting and made no such demands. They spoke only in favor to keep the scheduling and usage they currently have. They also felt they were never approached for input or discussion by the WHP or the city despite a report to the contrary in the Gazette a month earlier.

JG Excerpt:
(Jan.24,2009) Several groups that use the ice arena would see schedule changes, but all felt the advantages of having junior A hockey team in Janesville outweighs the inconveniences, Levitt said.

And once again, the notion that the team will pay a $200,000 franchise fee requirement to the league was used as an example of the private investors sacrifice and commitment to the city.

Near the end of the discussion, Truman tested McCoshen on whether the WHP group would consider giving the city a percentage of beer sale concessions. The WHP’s spokesman sidestepped answering the question with a question, “Do you really want to get involved in beer sales?” and then pointed Truman towards the voices of opposition in the audience for his answer.

McCoshen also ridiculed the 35-year-old ice rink as a facility with serious deficiencies, but that he could overlook those deficiencies if the city met his requirements to update the “old barn.”

In the end, even the city manager appeared befuddled by the council's sudden fiscal reversal and I was left with the solid impression that the city council majority have little use for those opposing this deal and bought two more weeks of time just to soften the resolve of the opposition. Unfortunately, only time will tell.