Peaks ice chief must pay

OREM — The clock is ticking in the high-stakes game for control of Provo's 2002 Olympic hockey arena.

Peaks Ice Arena manager Max Rabner must deposit the rent payments for the past three years, a total of $286,381, in 4th District Court by Monday or Judge Derek Pullan will evict him.

"I'll make the payments by Monday," Rabner said.

Rabner is about midway through a 14-year lease marked by frequent disputes with the government entity that oversees the arena for its owners, the residents of Provo and Utah County. Rabner has options that could extend the lease another 14 years.

The Provo City/Utah County Ice Sheet Authority sued to terminate Rabner's lease in June 2003. The authority said Rabner's 2003 rent payment was delinquent, but Rabner maintains he made the payment on time.

Rabner has said his attorneys advised him to withhold the 2004 and 2005 rents because the case is still before Pullan.

Pullan ordered Rabner to deposit the 2003 and 2004 rents with the court last fall, but Rabner did not. At a hearing in February, Rabner offered to pay the rents if he could keep his lease, but attorneys for the Ice Sheet Authority refused and asked Pullan to give possession of the building to the city and county while the suit was pending.

Pullan's solution was to tell the authority that if it posted a $3.8 million bond with the court to protect Rabner's asserted investment in the building, Rabner would have 10 days to deposit the rent with the court or be evicted. The Ice Sheet Authority posted the bond in 4th District Court on May 2.

At that February hearing, one of Rabner's attorneys asked Pullan whether he meant 10 calendar or 10 business days, and Pullan replied, "10 business days."

An eviction would not end the dispute because it would not terminate the lease. It would only give possession of the arena to the Ice Sheet Authority while the case remained in litigation.

The Utah County Commission voted 2-1 and the Provo City Council voted 7-0 to authorize the bond, which was posted by the Michael Homer Nationwide Insurance Co.

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com