LEWISTON – Councilors will decide Tuesday night whether the city will take control of the Central Maine Civic Center in an effort to keep a semipro hockey team in town.

The city would pay civic center owner Roger Theriault $250,000 over the next 10 years, give the team a $200,000 loan and assume another $4.2 million in debt, according to a proposed agreement going before the City Council at 5:30 p.m.

If councilors approve, the city would create a limited liability corporation and a seven-member board of directors to manage it.

Theriault would be out of the picture.

Under the new agreement:

• The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team would pay $94,000 in rent to the city each year.

• If ticket sales go beyond 2,500 per game, the team would pay higher rents – up to an additional $85,750. Games have averaged about 1,900 tickets this year, Bennett said.

• The team would remain in Lewiston for an additional five years.

The deal could save the city money and ultimately reduce taxes, Bennett said.

Lewiston Maineiacs team leaders and Theriault had signed the agreement by noon Monday, leaving the final decision up to the council. City Administrator Jim Bennett called it one of the most important decisions councilors have faced.

“If this is not done, I fully expect the team to move forward with plans to move the team out of Lewiston,” Bennett said.

The City Council approved a $2 million loan guarantee to Theriault last February in a successful bid to bring the hockey team to Lewiston. Theriault’s part of the bargain was to make millions of dollars in renovations to bring the civic center up to semi-professional hockey standards.

Bennett said Monday that much of that work hadn’t been done.

The team has complained of tardy renovations. Rows of seats have not been installed. Work has not begun on an executive box, a permanent team office and retail space. Bathrooms are missing mirrors, counters, working locks on stall doors and proper signs, according to the team.

Money problems

“The project fell into capital problems,” Bennett said. “It fell behind in funding and meeting the terms of the lease.”

The team also alleges that the ticket management system regularly makes mistakes, printing multiple tickets for one seat, printing tickets for seats that don’t exist, freezing up and not processing credit cards sales.

“One day this year, they have no idea at all how many tickets they sold,” Bennett said. “That’s pretty important information for the team and the arena.”

Bennett said the team has withheld game rents since Nov. 21 and Theriault has withheld ticket revenues from the team.

The civic center also owes about $321,853 to contractors.

“In a nutshell, this has been a disaster,” Bennett said. The civic center could be headed for bankruptcy, with contract and debt issues being settled by the courts.

“The council and the community face the ultimate decision of either stepping up or allowing this to fall into the legal mess it’s headed for,” Bennett said.

City Councilor Stavros Mendros said Monday that he had not decided whether he favored the agreement.

“I’m hoping we get a lot of local business owners at that meeting – not just the vested interests,” Mendros said. “I really want to hear what people have to say on this, and I think most councilors are in the same position.”

Councilor Renee Bernier, who works with the Maineiacs as a billet coordinator, said she was talking to the city attorney to determine if she has a conflict of interest. She would abstain from voting if a conflict was found, she said.

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