Chevrolet Centre general manager to resign

YOUNGSTOWN — The general manager of the city-owned Chevrolet Centre is resigning after an audit discovered $700 missing from the facility’s on-site parking receipts.

The city released a statement Thursday that Global Entertainment Corp., the company managing the center, did an internal review of the receipts and uncovered a $700 discrepancy between collections and deposits. Global has reimbursed the money to the center.

Global told the city, according to the same statement, that Matthew Hufnagel, the center’s general manager, is on a leave of absence and will tender his resignation.

No criminal charges were filed with Youngstown police against Hufnagel as of Thursday.

Mayor Jay Williams said Hufnagel’s leave of absence is effective immediately. The mayor said he hoped Global would select a replacement for Hufnagel as soon as possible.

Richard Kozuback, Global’s president, couldn’t be reached Thursday to comment. A Global official at its Phoenix headquarters said the company wouldn’t discuss Hufnagel’s resignation.

Hufnagel also couldn’t be reached Thursday to comment.

Global hired Hufnagel as the center’s director of sales and marketing in August 2005. Jeff Kossow abruptly resigned as head of the Chevrolet Centre in early December 2005, about five weeks after the facility opened. Roger Swanson, a Global executive, temporarily replaced Kossow until the company hired Hufnagel in February as the center’s general manager.