Marion CIB Gets Makeover

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard has appointed a new president and five new members to the cash-strapped Marion County Capital Improvement Board, which manages the city’s sports venues and convention center.

The shake-up comes as the board examines responses to a recent request for proposals for privatizing operations of Lucas Oil Stadium, the Indiana Convention Center, and the Conesco Fieldhouse.

Ballard appointed the new members after a year in which the CIB struggled with a $47 million operating shortfall, and state, county, and city officials debated measures to help shore up the board.

CIB treasurer Ann Lathrop, an executive with public accounting firm Crowe Horwath LLP, will take over as board president, replacing outgoing president Bob Grand, a managing partner at Indianapolis-based law firm Barnes and Thornburg LLP.

The mayor also appointed to the board former Ballard chief of staff Paul ­Okeson, hotel executive Jim Dora Jr., former state Rep. Carolene Mays, union business manager Jay Potesta, and David Shane, an executive at an Indianapolis-based investment company.

The Capital Improvement Board’s problems come in part from the unexpectedly high cost of running the new Lucas Oil Stadium, the $750 million home to the National Football Leagues’ Indianapolis Colts that opened last year.

Lathrop was quoted in local media reports as saying she has four priorities for the board: financial stability, growing revenue, opening an expanded Indiana Convention Center, and negotiating with the National Basketball Association’s Indiana Pacers to help cover operating costs at the Conesco Fieldhouse. 

Last month the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council formed a committee to recommend solutions to the board’s financial challenges.

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