Jackson Treadway, president of the Evansville Youth Hockey Association, urged the Evansville City Board of Parks Commission on Oct. 1 to open a former skate-park area at Swander Ice Arena to a public bidding process after the current occupant’s written lease expired.

“They’re occupying it without any written lease currently,” Treadway said, describing the space as one that now functions as an off-ice training area and is occupied by Tri State Hockey Academy. He told the board the area primarily serves “25 to 30 highest skill hockey players” and said opening a formal bid could allow broader community use and potentially generate more revenue.

The request matters because the area is inside a city-owned facility and has been used by multiple groups over time. Swander General Manager Nick Perriman told the board Swander values both Tri State Hockey and Evansville Youth Hockey and that the facility has made the space available for other events, including figure-skating activities and a recent “Skating with the Spectrum” event. Perriman said the current tenant, Tri State Hockey owner Mark Cody, has been “a really good partner” and that the space has been used for other community events.

Perriman said the area originally was a skate park and has hosted different activities over the years, including pole vaulting and martial arts. He said equipment currently in the space is owned by the occupying organization and would not remain if the board chose a new occupant.

Board members and staff explained options and the process for issuing a request for proposals. A staff speaker said an RFP would require the board to state the evaluation priorities — including where price should be ranked — as required by statute, and that preparing and publishing an RFP would likely take until November. The speaker also said the city commonly uses short-term use agreements (licenses) rather than formal leases for similar spaces, though a formal lease could be pursued if the board chose that route.

Treadway said Evansville Youth Hockey would want the space open to the broader community, including house-league players and figure skaters, and said his organization had submitted a proposal to staff. Perriman said Swander would prefer to maintain existing arrangements but agreed a bidding process is an option if the board decides to pursue it.

No motion or formal action was taken on the request. When the board chair asked whether there was any action the board wished to take, the chair said, “Hearing none, we will move on.”

The topic was raised during the public-comment portion of the Oct. 1 meeting and also drew comments from Swander management during the staff reports.