contract with the former management company.
(WJBC file photo)
By Greg Halbleib
BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington Mayor Tari Renner disputes claims that current city officials were not diligent in overseeing the downtown arena and its former management company.
Five former Central Illinois Arena Management executives face felony charges, accused of theft and fraud over arena finances. Renner said that he and city staff constantly attempted to obtain more thorough financial reports, but could not do so until what he called a “terrible” 10-year contract expired.
PODCAST: Listen to Renner’s interview with WJBC’s Scott Laughlin.
“It cannot be fairly said that we were not aggressively, especially over the last four and a half years, pursuing CIAM to get the information that we needed, and to get performance metrics and to get all kind of stuff,” Renner told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin. “We went back and forth and back and forth with them. We terminated their agreement and we asked state police to investigate.”
Renner said pointing fingers as past officials and administrators does no good, and his focus must be on cleaning up the situation.
“There are so many things that did not protect the city of Bloomington in this agreement,” Renner said. “It should never have been signed to begin with under these circumstances. But when you’re the mayor, you have what I sometimes call ‘legacy costs.’ I can’t go back and point fingers at other city managers and mayors, and there’s no point. I’ve got a mess and I’ve got to clean it up.”
