on 07-23-2009 02:57 
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By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN
PAWTUCKET — Despite some last minute pleas for consideration from another interested buyer, the City Council yesterday approved a resolution to sell the municipally owned Dennis M. Lynch Ice Arena to the original bidder, Blackstone Valley Sports.
The resolution, approved by 7 to 2 vote of the City Council at a noontime meeting, conveys the city property at 25 Andrew Ferland Way to BVS Realty LLC. The closing on the ice rink property is expected to be held on Friday, according to city officials.
BV Sports, LLC was the selected bidder out of three parties that had submitted Request For Proposals (RFPs) to buy the rink.
After running at a deficit for many years, city officials decided this spring to privatize the ice rink, which was built in 1975.
Both BV Sports and a second bidder, RINMAN, LLC, had offered to pay $400,000 for the ice rink. The City Council had voted unanimously to approve the awarding of the bid to BV Sports, and a negotiation process had begun to draft a purchase and sales agreement.
While still negotiating some points in the agreement, the City Council tabled the resolution to convey the property to BV Sports.
In the interim, the RINMAN group had come up with a new proposal that representatives began shopping around to city officials. The group offered to pay $50,000 more for the rink, and offered other provisions that they maintained would be a better deal for the city.
On Wednesday, during the public input part of the council meeting, Christopher O'Neill of RINMAN said the the RINMAN group's proposal was “far superior” to the one by BV Sports, and urged the council to defeat the resolution on the agenda.
Greg Inman, a partner in the RINMAN group who is also an attorney, also urged a rejection of the resolution to award the bid to BV Sports. He suggested that indemnification clauses were lacking from the current agreement with BV Sports, and said the RFP process should be done over. “Let the best offer prevail,” he stated.
However, several other speakers urged support of the resolution for BV Sports. Gloria Haddad, president of the Pawtucket and Providence Figure Skating Club, said that BV Sports representatives had met with her group along with other rink tenants to extend contract agreements and had been “very respectful of our wishes.” She said that prolonging the sale of the rink would cause uncertainty for her members as well as those involved in other organizations.
Art Fletcher, a local businessman involved in youth hockey organizations, Joseph Rzemian, who has been hired to manage the rink, and Daniel Stone, all spoke in support of the sale to BV Sports.
David Belisle, the coach of the Mount St. Charles Academy's hockey team, said he wanted to address comments that had been made in the press by O'Neill that suggested the private school had plans to move its hockey program to the Lynch Arena. “That's not going to happen,” said Belisle, reaffirming the school's intention to either renovate its current rink or construct a new one.
Councilor Albert Vitali Jr. strenuously argued that the council should defeat the resolution and start the RFP process anew. He cited the fact that BV Sports had removed two earlier clauses in the initial agreement: one to seek tax incentives on the property and another asking the city for financial help with remediation of soil clean-up (that turned out to be not needed), and said the city should now seek language in a new agreement that would offer indemnification in both of these areas.
Councilor Jean Philippe Barros sided with Vitali, maintaining that the agreement that was up for the council's vote was not the same as the one originally presented. He also supported the idea of rejecting the resolution so new bids could be solicited.
However, Assistant City Solicitor Frank Milos assured the council that the current agreement with BV Sports contains language that protects the city legally in the two areas that Vitali had brought up. He said that the latest version of the agreement “makes this a better deal for the city.”
The resolution passed with Vitali and Barros in opposition.
Following the council's decision, Planning Director Michael Cassidy said that the next step is the closing, which he expects to take place within the next 10 days. BV Sports is expected to take over the ownership of Lynch Arena by Aug. 1.
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