City leaders meet to talk about proposed riverboat sale

Tuesday, July 25, 2000 | 10:10 a.m.

Six council members, a majority of the council, met with representatives of the Riverboat Development Authority and Davenport One, which includes the Chamber of Commerce.

At stake are millions of dollars in contracts and leases that would have to be negotiated with Isle of Capri Casinos when it takes over operation of The President as a result of a purchase announced last week.

"This is a very complex transaction, and I wanted everyone to know how things work so no one does anything that harms the interests of anyone else," said Mary Ellen Chamberlain of the Riverboat Development Authority, the nonprofit group that holds The President's gambling license.

Iowa's open meetings law requires public notification when a majority of officials on a government board meet to discuss public business.

But when a reporter for the Quad-City Times asked to sit in on Monday's meeting, Chamberlin said she planned to reveal information that could become the basis for future negotiations with the Isle of Capri.

Council members Roxanna Mortiz and Tom Engelmann agreed to leave the meeting so there would no longer be a majority of the city council present.

The city took in about $1.5 million in boarding and docking fees, a share of gaming profits and lease payments from The President during the fiscal year that ended June 31. It also gets substantial sums in the form of grants from the Riverboat Development Authority, which collects about $3 million a year for redistribution to community projects.

Last week, Isle of Capri announced plans to purchase the assets of The President in a $58.2 million deal that would give the Biloxi, Miss.-based gaming company two of the three riverboat casinos in the Quad-Cities and about 85 percent of the gaming market here. It already owns the Isle of Capri Riverboat Casino in Bettendorf.

Herb Strentz, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, said the actions appeared to be an attempt to shut out the public and press from discussing an issue that is important to the city and its citizens.

"One has to wonder when these school boards and city councils are ever going to wake up to the fact that they are doing the public's business and they can't do whatever they want," Strentz said.