ARENA BOARD News and notes

The board overseeing the proposed downtown civic center handled these issues Thursday:

Received a copy of the contract between the city of Cleveland and the agency that built its downtown stadiums. The draft will serve as the base for a contract between the civic center board and Youngstown. Board members will look over the draft and then have the agency's lawyer work on a final version. A lawyer should be hired in the next couple weeks.

Member William Binning told the board about a meeting he had with an official from the Ohio Arts and Sports Facilities Commission. The agency is in charge of distributing the $1.5 million set aside for the downtown arena project in the last state capital budget. The agency is tracking the project's progress, Binning said.

Approved a motion reminding Mayor George M. McKelvey to appoint somebody to the board to replace the Rev. Gary Frost, who has resigned as a result of taking a new job out of town.

Talked about scheduling personnel and finance committee meetings to deal with hiring legal counsel and buying director's insurance.