Glendale won't back down on killing Coyotes arena deal

Glendale is not backing down.

The city will go forward with terminating a 15-year, $225 million agreement with the Arizona Coyotes in hopes of striking a better deal, city leaders decided Tuesday.

The City Council met in a one-hour, closed-door session, after which Tom Duensing, Glendale interim assistant city manager, issued a short statement saying the city will continue to pursue its legal case.

Last week, the Coyotes persuaded a Maricopa County Superior Court judge to put the city's move to end the deal on hold, and the council's meeting raised the prospect of Glendale softening its hard-line stance.

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Duensing said the details of the city's legal argument would be presented in court and not made public through the media.

"Let me be clear. This is not about hockey. We want the Arizona Coyotes in Glendale, and we want more than anything for the Arizona Coyotes to succeed in Glendale," Duensing said. "As we have consistently indicated to the team, we are willing to negotiate a mutual agreement where everybody is a winner."

Coyotes spokesman Rich Nairn issued a statement in response, which simply said, "We expect the City of Glendale to honor its contractual commitments. We intend to continue to honor ours."

Glendale spokesman Joe Hengemuehler said no meetings have been scheduled to renegotiate.

Larry Feiner, a Glendale real-estate agent, said after Tuesday's meeting that he plans to proceed with a recall effort of City Council members Ian Hugh, Jamie Aldama, Lauren Tolmachoff and Bart Turner.

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"It looks like there will be a showdown in court," Feiner said. "I think it's time to fire some councilmen."

The four council members, along with Mayor Jerry Weiers, voted to terminate the agreement.

Feiner said Weiers is not being targeted for recall because it would take nearly 15,000 signatures on petitions to force the recall. It will only take 600 to 2,300 signatures to recall council members, according to the city clerk.

Glendale's most recent legal showdown with the Coyotes first surfaced June 9, when an item appeared on the City Council agenda to consider terminating the agreement with the team to lease and manage Gila River Arena.

A day later, the council voted 5-2 to kill the deal. City Attorney Michael Bailey said the city could terminate the contract because a state conflict-of-interest law had been violated in creating and negotiating the agreement.

On Friday, in Maricopa County Superior Court, Bailey said former City Attorney Craig Tindall and former Assistant City Manager Julie Frisoni violated the law in 2013, but Bailey did not give details of the alleged violation.

The Coyotes hired Tindall as its general counsel less than two months after Glendale approved the agreement with the team in July 2013.

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Glendale approved a separation agreement for Tindall in April 2013, but he stayed on with the city in a limited, part-time role through October 2013.

Frisoni, who was Glendale's communications manager in 2013, resigned in March to start a public-relations company. The Coyotes then hired her to work on a bid for hosting the 2018 World Junior Championship hockey tournament at the arena.

The Coyotes' legal team from Snell & Wilmer disputed allegations that Tindall and Frisoni had any involvement with the arena deal. The team was granted a temporary injunction on Friday in court, halting Glendale's move to kill the agreement. The next hearing is scheduled for June 29.

The attorneys also said in their complaint that the Coyotes would eventually seek damages of more than $200 million.

Frisoni said she worked for the Coyotes on the Junior Championship bid for about six weeks starting in May.

She said she is considering a defamation case against Glendale for "bringing (her) into something she had no hand in whatsoever" and "ruining her good name."

The mayor and other council members have said they want the Coyotes to continue playing in the Westgate Entertainment District arena but want to negotiate an agreement more favorable for the city.

Acting City Manager Dick Bowers said Tuesday he had spoken with Coyotes President Anthony LeBlanc since the council took action but has not met with him to renegotiate the agreement.

Under the pact, Glendale pays the Coyotes $15 million annually to manage the arena. The team pays $500,000 annually to rent the arena and gives ticket surcharges, parking and sales tax revenue to the city.

Glendale reported $5.8 million in arena revenue in the first year of the agreement, including $1.1 million in arena sales-tax revenue. Overall, however, the city's loss on the deal was $8.1 million.

An audit of the 2013-14 financial results has not been released more than a year after the city said it would be conducted.