Youngstown council approves agreements for Covelli, amphitheater, water union, muni golf course

YOUNGSTOWN

By a 5-2 vote, city council approved contract extensions with JAC Management LLC to handle the day-to-day operations and food-and-beverage sales at the Covelli Centre and to do the same at the proposed downtown amphitheater.

Council members Nate Pinkard, D-3rd, and Anita Davis, D-6th, who last week questioned the urgency to approve the deals now, were the two no votes at Thursday’s meeting.

The new proposals to manage both facilities and handle food and beverages would start Jan. 1, 2018, and run through Dec. 31, 2022.

Finance Director David Bozanich and Mayor John A. McNally said the city needs to have contracts in place now for the amphitheater in order to get naming-rights and sponsorship deals, worth an estimated $3 million to $4 million over 10 years, done.

Both declined to disclose the names of businesses with whom they’ve discussed possible deals for amphitheater sponsorship.But McNally said companies now know a deal will be done.

The management contract for the Covelli Centre now pays JAC a $99,200 management fee that would be increased to $106,000 annually. Also, JAC would receive $12,000 a year to manage the amphitheater.

The deal also calls for the company to continue to receive a 15 percent bonus at the center and amphitheater for operating surpluses that exceed $100,000 annually. JAC made a $50,277 bonus last year.

The other deal is for JAC to handle food-and-beverage sales at the amphitheater and continue to do so at the center from Jan. 1, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2022.

In another matter, council approved a contract with its 80-member water employee union that expires April 30, 2020.

Council also authorized the board of control to seek proposals and spend up to $525,000 in water-fund money to install a new irrigation system to replace the 79-year-old one at its Henry Stambaugh Municipal Golf on the North Side.

Read more about the matters in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.