Local man gets Ice Pavilion contract; hopes to save taxpayers money

Carella’s team: (From L to R): Kevin Kramarz, Michael Carella, John Oggiono, Alexis Benedeck, Gene Carella, Brian Peunic, Mark Kramarz, James Carella, Gene P. Carella, Carol Gariano

Inside the Ice Pavilion hockey players in a pick-up game. Carella plans to operate the Ice Pavilion so it stops bleeding taxpayers.

For once a local gets the nod.

In a departure from the norm of the Dyster administration, a group of city officials decided the winner of a “Requests For Qualifications” (RFQ) to operate the city-owned Ice Pavilion in Hyde park is going to a local. 

Gene Carella, the immensely successful hockey tournament operator was awarded the right to operate the Ice Pavilion, normally a perennial money loser for the city.

Taxpayers have subsidized ice hockey at the Ice Pavilion to the tune of more than $7.1 million over the last 11 years. 
It is hoped Carella may change that.

After the city put out an RFQ this year, four bidders submitted proposals to operate the 42-year-old ice-hockey facility. Two regulation size hockey rinks sit inside the large Pavilion which is kept wintertime cool even during the heat of summer.
The rinks are rented by local and out-of-town hockey players for leagues, tournaments, and pick up games. The facility normally is open from August to April. 
In 2003, the city rented the facility to operators, Hugh C. Gee, a Lewiston town justice, and local businessman Anthony Attardo. Their lease expired July 31.
Presently the Department of Public Works is operating the facility until the contract with Carella is finalized, according to DPW chief Dave Kinney.

Among bidders competing for the right to operate the rink was Rink Management. The firm bills itself as the largest ice rink management company in the country. 

Some observers expected Dyster to favor the out of town company with their national reputation in the ice hockey business. Ice Rink management wanted to be paid to manage the facility instead of paying rent
After the Reporter broke a story identifying the bidders and how much each was bidding, Council Chairman Sam Fruscione and council member Glenn Choolokian made it clear they wouldn’t approve a contract where the city paid the operator.
“We will only approve a deal where the city collects rent,” Fruscione said. 

Choolokian added, “It is long past time we realize we have to cut expenses and that local people have to get priority.”

As opposed to the Virginia-based management company, the three local bidders each offered to pay the city upwards of $60,000 per year rent, plus $144,000 a year toward utilities. The tenant will be responsible for operational expenses, general maintenance, and labor to manage the facility.

Anthony Attardo, a partner in the old lease, Corey Quinn a local insurance man with an interest in hockey and Carella, a biology professor at NCCC who has run Ice Hockey tournaments at the Ice Pavilion for 20 years, each submitted bids.

The Mayor’s selection committee consisted of Maria Brown, city controller; Craig Johnson, corporation counsel; Dave Kinney, director of DPW; Donna Owens, city administrator; Dean Spring, director of purchasing, and the Mayor. Weighted voting was employed to select the winner. 

Carella may have been the odds-on favorite once the out of town competition was negated by the council leaders. The council has to approve all city contracts.

For years Carella has conducted five youth hockey tournaments every year. This past year, he said, he brought 250 out-of-town teams, with 3,500 players and 15,000 people coming to town for the tournaments. 

Carella said he books about 6,000 hotel rooms a year for his tournaments.

Carella receives nothing in taxpayer subsidies. His 6,000 room nights compare favorably to the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation output which recieved  $1.4 million in taxpayer money last year in bed taxes to book hotel rooms. The NTCC booked 6,114 rooms in 2011.

Carella brings his 6,000 hotel bookings in winter –when hotels occupancy is low.

Carella said he plans to open the Ice Pavilion year round, and open a light foods, desert, and coffee restaurant inside the facility. He also said he plans to open the stone room attached to the rinks for catered events. 

The details of the contract are presently being negotiated between the city and Carella. Once negotiated, the council will be called upon to approve the contract. 

 “I am a Niagara Falls guy,’ Carella said. “My father was from Niagara Falls. I’m from Niagara Falls. I believe in this city.”
Now it will be his task, he said, “to make the Ice Pavilion a success for himself and the city and to  cut taxpayer’s costs.”
“There is so much work to be done, there,” he said. “I really want to get in and clean it up.”