LEWISTON – Elected leaders from Maine’s five largest cities will be the first to enjoy the Colisee’s new VIP Room on Friday.

Mayor Lionel Guay and the Lewiston City Council will play host to leaders from Auburn, Augusta, Bangor and Portland on Friday for a discussion of tax reform, and dinner in the new lounge at the ice arena.

Then, Lewiston will treat the leaders to a Lewiston Maineiacs hockey game.

It’s a night for serious subjects, according to City Administrator Jim Bennett.

“Given that the rules that determine how we as cities do our jobs are going to change, it’s kind of appropriate for all of us to get together,” Bennett said. Tax reform and what state legislators are expected to do in the comings weeks will be be the main topic.

“But also, we want to focus on issues common to the larger service centers,” Bennett said. Service-center communities typically provide the jobs for the surrounding towns and have larger budgets and property taxes to go with them.

“But we all end up economically supporting many of the communities around us in many different ways,” Bennett said. “That’s something all communities have to look at.”

Maine city officials have been meeting together for years. Two years ago, councilors from Lewiston and Auburn had dinner in Portland. Auburn hosted the Lewiston and Portland councilors last January at the Hilton Garden Inn hotel.

Bennett admitted he hoped to show off a little bit with Friday’s gathering at the Colisee. Crews are still rushing to complete the last of the $2 million renovations on the arena. Most of the work on the VIP Room should wrap up Friday, he said.

“They’ll still have to set up the live feed from the ice during hockey games and a lot of the finishing touches won’t be finished by Friday,” Bennett said.

The VIP Room is part of the new three-story facade that crews began installing last spring. The city will begin selling premium tickets to the VIP Room, offering special seats, drinks and dinner during Maineiacs games.

Bennett said he’s happy to take the opportunity to show off the Colisee to other city leaders.

“We do, whenever possible, take every opportunity to market the community,” Bennett said.