Mayor Robert Restaino’s administration is gearing up to take another step in advancing his plan for a $210 million minor league hockey arena and events center in downtown Niagara Falls.
Members of the Niagara Falls City Council are scheduled to meet privately today with Terry Gilbride, a long-time attorney with the city’s private law firm, Hodgson Russ in Buffalo. Gilbride, who has worked on several local projects with the Buffalo Bills, is expected to discuss the proposed formation of a local development corporation to oversee Centennial Park’s development.
The LDC, as it is commonly known, would function as an entity separate from city government and would be responsible for developing, financing, constructing and operating the proposed entertainment and sports complex on land the City acquired through its settlement with the Niagara Falls Redevelopment Development Corp.
The LDC, if formed, would have the legal authority to access tax-exempt financing, pursue grants and negotiate development and operating agreements for the proposed facility. Restaino originally asked council members to approve the LDC’s formation back in July, arguing that the non-profit corporation would provide a structure to protect the city against financial exposure related to Centennial Park.
City lawmakers balked at the original request, with some council members taking issue with the makeup of the proposed LDC’s board, which, as originally presented, would have included five members — two selected by the city council, two selected by the mayor and the mayor himself.
Council members discussed the possibility of adding two to four members to the board amid concerns about the mayor being the third and likely deciding vote on matters brought before the LDC.
The city’s paid spokesperson Philip Wells issued responses to questions about the LDC posed via email by the Niagara Gazette. The newspaper asked how the LDC would operate at the start without any direct funding source and if Restaino planned to transfer city funds to provide the organization with essentially start-up money to hire staff or consultants or to perform other duties relative to the arena’s development.
In his emailed answer, Wells described initial funding as “one of the important questions” the LDC’s board would need to “work through once it is formed.” He added that it is “not yet possible to say” how any early costs would be funded and the administration “did not want to speculate” ahead of the board’s own work on the question.
Wells said it is likely the LDC will need outside professional services such as engineering, financial, or planning studies and legal services. He said the board, once formed, would decide whether the LDC hires its own staff, or instead relies on contracted vendors and professionals. No specific staffing plan exists yet, he added.
“Development-stage funding for a project like this typically draws on a combination of sources, which may include grants, state and federal funding programs, private financing, sponsorships, and other development capital, and identifying and securing those sources is one of the first and most significant tasks facing the board,” Wells wrote. “That work has not yet been completed, and it would not be accurate to describe a start-up funding plan as finalized at this stage. As those sources are identified and confirmed, that information will be made public.”
Tonight’s council meeting will not be open to the public.
State open meetings law generally requires public bodies like the Niagara Falls city government to meet in public and to notify residents about meetings when a quorum — a minimum number of members needed to conduct official business — is present.
Paul Wolf, a local attorney and founder of the open government advocacy group, The New York Coalition for Open Government, said members of public bodies may meet with their attorneys at any time to obtain legal advice. He said it is one of the exemptions covered under New York’s open meetings laws.
“While some places do it, there is no requirement to have a public meeting and make a motion for an executive session,” he said.