GLENDALE — The conservative watchdog group Goldwater Institute has filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the Glendale City Council's vote to approve a lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena with a potential buyer of the Phoenix Coyotes.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court on behalf of Glendale taxpayers Ken Jones and Joe Cobb, claiming last week's vote violated a 2009 court order requiring Glendale to provide all documents in negotiations between the city and a prospective owner to Goldwater in a timely manner.
The council voted 4-2 on Friday to approve the 20-year, $325 million lease agreement with former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison, who is leading a group that hopes to buy the Coyotes from the NHL.
Goldwater claims that the city did not make two exhibits in the proposed deal available to the public before Friday's vote and asked the court to nullify the vote and hold council members in contempt for violating the 2009 order.
It also claims the city violated its own charter by casting a vote on a proposed management agreement without putting an arena management contract out to bid.
"We continue to hope that the city will construct a lawful deal that protects the interests of Glendale taxpayers," said Goldwater Institute President Darcy Olsen. "Without seeing critical exhibits contained in the arena management agreement such as the arena annual budget or the arena management performance standards, it is not possible to determine the constitutional validity of the agreement."
The NHL has operated the Coyotes since former owner Jerry Moyes took the team into bankruptcy in 2009. The team has still managed success on the ice, making the playoffs all three years, but the ownership saga has been filled with failed negotiations and uncertainty.
Goldwater thwarted a potential deal with Chicago businessman Matthew Hulsizer last year when it warned potential bond buyers to stay away from the Glendale offering because of a looming lawsuit.
The NHL announced during the playoffs that it had a preliminary agreement with Jamison and the lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena was seen as the only major hurdle left in the deal.
Goldwater asked for a temporary restraining order to prevent Friday's council vote, but Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper denied the restraining order, saying the court lacked the jurisdiction. She did add that there were "clear violations" of the 2009 court order.
During the meeting, an economic study showed the city would have a benefit of $17 million from the deal that would pay Jamison $203 million and include an average of $15 million in operating costs. The study estimated $177 million in operating costs for the arena should the Coyotes leave it without an anchor tenant.
The final report for the economic study was not given to council members until about midway through a contentious council meeting that lasted more than six hours, but they still voted in favor of the deal.
Jamison, who attended the meeting with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, is currently working on a final agreement with the league to buy the team and both sides said they hoped to have approval from the NHL board of governors within a couple of weeks.
mwd2525 posted at 1:12 pm on Wed, Jun 13, 2012.
Once again ou so-called advocates,the Goldwater Institute,has attempted to to do everything in its power to shut down any deal to keep the Coyotes in Arizona. So after Mr Jamison is paid and operating costs are paid,the city of Glendale could make 17 Million dollars.Or if the Goldwater Institute has their way,the Coyotes can leave and it will cost Glendale 177 million dollars to have the stadium sit empty!!! Gee, thanks Goldwater Institute,that sounds way better for the citizens.Please stop filing lawsuits and trying to look out for us. Your kind of help we dont need. Forget the 17 million the city would be losing but think of all the jobs the stadium generates in security, fan merchandise,food svs,& on & on.The study leaves out those numbers that the having a professional sports team brings to the economy.The west side has enough problems without the Goldwater Institute throwing roadblocks up to a economic engine like a pro sports franchise
Butters posted at 10:54 am on Thu, Jun 14, 2012.
Mwd2525, can you tell us how much profit the City of Glendale has received so far because of their investment in the Glendale Arena? I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. Did you say....NONE, ZERO, ZILCH, NADA????? I suggest you spend a little time by going over to Glendale and request a copy of their city's procurement code. You will then learn that the managemant contract most certainly should have been put out as an RFP, Request For Proposal, then studied by the council. After that, the city would use some of the information obtained from the submitted RFPs, to draw up bid specifications, then put out a RFB, Request For Bid, seeking bids for managaing the arena. It is quite possible that if the city had followed their own procurement code, that the cost of managing the arena could have come in at a much lower price. It might also surprise you to know that the city procurement code requires projects or items costing only a few thousand dollars to go to bid. If it weren't for institutions like the Goldwater Institute, there would pretty much be no watchdog groups to protect the rights of the taxpayers. Without competitvie bidding, all forms of goverment would most likely be paying much more than what is being paid thanks to the market competing for the sale of thier goods and services BECAUSE of important things like PROCUREMENT CODES.
This whole Glendale arena debacle has been one big mess from the beginning. What was sold to the taxpayers as something that would be beneficial to the citizens of the city, has proven to be a very costly mistake, and one whose costs are being tossed upon the very backs of the taxpayer. Fiscal responsiblity, Mwd, it's all about fiscal responsiblity to the citizens and especially to the taxpayers.
Scottsdale did it right when they finally pressured the former owner of the Coyotes into proving he had full funding in place to build the arena at the southeast corner of McDowell and Scottsdale Road. They sent him packing when the city learned that he didn't have the full portion of his part of the funding in place. It appeared as though he thought that once he proceeded with the demolition of Los Arcos Mall, that the city might offer more money to make up for what was lacking on the part of the owner/developer. That didn't happen and the City of Glendale should have taken that into account, rather then to commit to the project that was full of problems from the start. It's still somewhat of a mess in the area behind Windsong, as there are still empty shops just sitting there.
Many of you might recall that the voters in Mesa turned down subsidizing a new football stadium, not because we don't like football, but because we don't like subsidizing pork projects that included a hotel, conference center and shops, in addition to other amenities that should have been completely paid for by the private sector and not the taxpayers. Look what happened in Glendale, not only with the arena, but the foreclosure of the entertainment and eatery area next ot the stadium. While hype sells, hype can also be a financial killer and that's just what happened because the very people who were supposed to be protecting the interests of the taxpayers of Glendale, fell for the hype and got eaten alive by the fancy suited development sharks. Sounds like the sharks have a hold on you as well, Mwd.
Now, Mwd, after you study the Glenndale procurement code, come back and present your INFORMED opinion, either pro or con, about Goldwater's defense of the taxpayers, and WITHOUT the hype.
Butters posted at 10:57 am on Thu, Jun 14, 2012.
CORRECTION in my last post. I stated RFB, Request For Bid, when I should have said RFQ, Request For Quote. Sorry for the incorrect reference.
mwd2525 posted at 5:19 am on Mon, Jun 18, 2012.
Can I tell you how much profit the city has received so far....no,but i can tell you how much they will lose if the coyotes leave.....177 million.Is that a good thing? I dont think so.Additionally im not arguing over if Glendale should or should not have invested in Glendale arena and if that has been a good investment or not.That ship has sailed. I am arguing for keeping the coyotes in Glendale,which anyone who has been involved in the negotiations,from the NHL commisioner to past prospective investors to current team investors will tell you,the Goldwater inst. has done everything it can to stop a deal from going down.Watchdog groups,great,Barry Goldwater,great,Goldwater inst. is no Barry Goldwater and their involvement as relating to the coyotes staying in Az and all the money having them in Az brings to the community has not been in the best interest of the Az tax payer.Of all the corruption and garbage going on in this state and this is what the Goldwater inst. is spending its time on? Give me a break.