Thursday, May 22, 2014
and Ed Runyan
WARREN
City council put the brakes on — at least for now — to have the company that operates Youngstown’s Covelli Centre also manage Warren’s Packard Music Hall.
Council had a special meeting Wednesday to give permission to the city’s board of control to negotiate a contract with JAC Management Group.
Council wanted to meet in executive session to go over some details but decided not to do so because city Law Director Greg Hicks wasn’t there, said Councilman Al Novak, D-2nd.
“Council members had a lot of questions,” he said.
Instead of giving the OK to the board of control, council gave the proposal a first reading Wednesday. Council’s finance committee and the committee that oversees the city-owned music hall and amphitheater will meet next week to discuss the proposal.
Council needs to approve contract negotiations between JAC and the city’s board of control.
Eric Ryan, JAC’s head, said he’s been in talks with city officials about the possibility of JAC running the music hall.
The main advantage of a management group, Ryan said, taking over the operations is that it would be able to book more entertainment than the city can.
Cities can’t take risks on booking shows that might lose money the way a management group can, Ryan said.
Another advantage for the city would be that workers at the music hall would no longer be city employees, which would reduce costs such as Public Employee Retirement System costs, he said.
Through his work at the Covelli Centre, Ryan said there are frequently performing acts that are not right for a 6,000-seat venue like the Covelli but would be a good fit for a venue that could hold 1,000 to 2,000 people.
“Being that we don’t run a theater, we pass on a lot of shows that could go to Warren that are too small for” the Covelli Centre, he said.