Lake Charles City Council votes to privatize Civic Center management

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Who should manage the Lake Charles Civic Center? That question was answered at the first Lake Charles City Council meeting of the year.

“This proposal tonight is presented after many hours of meetings, deliberations, and negotiations," Mayor Nic Hunter said. "To date, we have hosted multiple meetings with concerned citizens and Civic Center users. We have hosted a public meeting to get input, comments, and concerns from citizens to make sure that any questions they had were answered and they knew about the timeline for final action.”

Several citizens spoke up at the meeting, voicing their approval of the idea, saying it would be a good thing for the city...but Councilwoman Mary Morris, who received a not-yet-completed contract between the city and ASM Global disagreed.

“The ASM Management agreement does not benefit the city of Lake Charles as it is written today," Councilwoman Morris. "I am talking about the contract that was sent to me that I am looking at. All I am saying is that this contract does not benefit us. With that said, I will not support it.”

In the end, six city councilmembers voted for giving the private managing company the green light. Councilwoman Morris voted against the agreement.

The City says the next step will be finalizing the contract with ASM Global, which they say will be in the coming weeks. They say the current contracted events and rentals at the Civic Center for 2020 will not be affected.

Copyright 2020 KPLC. All rights reserved.