ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – 18 News has learned a decision about the future of the First Arena in downtown Elmira could be announced any day now. On Thursday, the Chemung County Industrial Development Agency took a step towards selecting a new tenant.

“There was some discussion on the arena to allow for us to negotiate certain options for some new tenants or people in that building,” said Joe Roman, the Executive Director of the Chemung County IDA.

“What can you tell us about the future, or any options you may be considering, what can people know at this stage?” asked 18 News reporter Nicolas Dubina.

“What I’d like to say is Mr. Margeson, our Chairman, as he mentioned the meeting, there’s a lot of options that are under consideration. We’re working very hard on it, and Mark will more comments in the future as soon as you possibly can” Roman added.

During the public portion of the meeting, former employees of First Arena and season ticket holders stood up to voice their concerns.

“We’re looking for roads moving forward to take legal action against Mr. Donner to retrieve our money,” said Gregg Radford, who was formerly in charge of Ice Operations and the Zamboni for First Arena. “It’s not an exorbitant amount of money, but in my case its 400 dollars in season tickets.”

“I’ve been hearing rumors of a pro team coming back this fall,” said Lewis White, a former Assistant Facilities Manager for First Arena. “I hope it does, because there’s a lot of people sitting here that enjoy hockey.”

“I think it’s frustrating for a lot of people who are hockey fans,” said Elmira Mammoth season ticket holder Timothy Von Bevern. “You don’t know from year to year. Is there going to be a team? Is there not going to be a team?”

We reached out to the CEO of Mammoth Sports & Entertainment, Steve Donner, to ask about the status of ticket refunds. He told us 46 season tickets were sold, mostly with partial payments. We asked him for the total dollar amount. Mr. Donner told us he would have to check with his lawyer first. 18 News has learned that number could be as high as $18,000.

Before Donner took over First Arena, it was run for three years by Robbie Nichols, the owner of the Elmira Enforcers.

“What would you like to see happen at First Aren?” Dubina asked Nichols.

“I would like to see people who know the Arena business to be in the Arena business. I’ve heard before that the County shouldn’t be in the Arena business. I don’t know why they continue to be” said Nichols.

All of this is playing out as the IDA says Mr. Donner owes more than $200,000 dollars in unpaid utility bills. Mr. Donner accuses the IDA of breaching the lease for what he describes as “negligent maintenance.”