The Alpena County Board of Commissioners is looking for new management for Northern Lights Arena.

The current managers of the county-owned facility, the nonprofit Northern Lights Arena-Community, has given commissioners the requisite 90-day notice that they want out of the deal, News staff writer Steve Schulwitz reported recently.

Two other groups, the Park Family Foundation and a new firm that would be formed by current NLA-C employees Jeremy Winterstein and Dave Guzman, have expressed interest in taking over.

We urge commissioners to consider carefully those and any other proposals that come forward for management of the arena, keeping an eye out not just for someone who can keep the arena on an even keel but someone who has the vision and know-how to make the arena flourish.

The arena is a great community gem, an asset that adds to the quality of life in Northeast Michigan and, when running on all cylinders, boosts our economy. But the arena has struggled financially in recent years (especially since the coronavirus pandemic), dwindling its savings and sometimes straining to make its required payments toward bond debt taken on for energy efficiency improvements.

The next arena managers need to be able to not only overcome those obstacles but find a way to make the arena thrive.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)