Melina Kennedy takes over as CIB president

Former Indianapolis deputy mayor and mayoral candidate Melina Kennedy was elected president of the public board that manages the city's sports and convention venues on Monday.

"The health and vitality of our facilities Downtown is very important for the economic health of the overall city," said Kennedy, a general manager at Cummins Inc. "My hope in this role is to play a small part in terms of helping promote good health for our convention and sporting businesses and facilities and be a good steward of the taxpayer dollars."

The  Capital Improvement Board oversees about $150 million from a variety of taxes while operating Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana Convention Center. The Pacers operate Bankers Life Fieldhouse as part of an agreement with the CIB. The Indianapolis Indians operate Victory Field, also owned by the CIB.

Kennedy is among five new members of the nine-member board after the administration of Democrat Joe Hogsett replaced that of Republican Greg Ballard.

The other new members are Taft Stettinus and Hollister partner Michael Terrell, Krieg DeVault partner David Corbitt, IBEW Vice President David Ruhmkorff and former St. Margaret's Hospital Guild President Mary Ann Fagan.

The new members were sworn in at Monday's monthly meeting.

Kennedy takes over for Earl Goode, who filled in for eight months after last year's resignation of Ann Lathrop.

Goode becomes president of CIB

"This board has a long history of doing a lot of really good things, but it's a good opportunity to take a look and see what, if anything, we can do differently," Kennedy said.

She said the use of free tickets to Colts games by board members, questioned in a story last week by IndyStar, would be one of those things. The story detailed extensive use of tickets to Colts games by board members and their guests, with no documentation of the guests.

"I don't think anything had been done wrong in the past, but we may want to take a look at whether that can be more formalized in the future," Kennedy said. "That's one example. But by and large, it will be to carry on good work others have done in the past."

Call IndyStar reporter Mark Alesia at (317) 444-6311. Follow him on Twitter: @markalesia.