By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – The head of the company that’s managed U.S. Cellular Coliseum is trying to refute claims that it hasn’t been transparent.

John Butler, president of Central Illinois Arena Management, tells WJBC’s Scott Laughlin, the group hasn’t released some financial records to maintain its relationships with promoters and agents.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Butler on WJBC.

“I understand there’s accountability, believe me I feel like we’ve been very transparent over the years with our monthly financial information we provide to the city and the amount of meetings we have on a regular basis,” Butler said.

CIAM has pulled out of negotiations with the city of Bloomington on a new contract after running for venue for 10 years. Butler said the city has asked for too much control of day-to-day operations.

“I really felt the city with their new business plan wanted to control 100 percent of the operation while giving CIAM 100 percent of the responsibility,” Butler said.

Mayor Tari Renner has said he wants the new coliseum managers to be more transparent and said a new contract needs to be more friendly to the city.

Butler said the coliseum has outperformed its regional competitors in central and northern Illinois.

“Bloomington has been the busiest building and the smallest building of any of these competitors,” Butler affirmed. “A lot of it has to do with how we protect the way we do business.”

But Butler said the city wants the firm to hand over all control of all operations while it would still handle all the responsibility. CIAM has pulled out of negotiations on a new contract with the city, but

Butler says the coliseum has more than 30 events scheduled over the next 10 weeks and will assist the city with the transition to a new management team.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].