BREWER – City officials said Wednesday that the manager of a local ice skating rink has attempted to rent a city-owned parking lot adjacent to the facility to a delivery business without having the authority to do so.

After more than 25 large white trailers, some with UPS logos, appeared in the city parking lot at the end of Acme Road over the weekend, officials questioned why they were there.

City officials said they discovered that Lou Janicki, who manages the T.J. Ryan Center ice rink, had agreed to lease the city-owned space to the local UPS distribution center on Atlantic Avenue for $1,500 a month.

“We contacted [UPS] and asked them what kind of arrangement they had,” City Manager Steve Bost said Wednesday. “They told us, ‘He has leased us the space.’

“We came back and said, ‘That’s not his to lease,'” Bost said.

Janicki said Wednesday that although he was approached by UPS to use the lot, he never agreed to the deal.

“I said I wanted to review the paperwork,” Janicki said during an interview in the ice skating facility. “The next thing I knew, the boxes were there.”

The parking lot lease between the city and Delta Hockey, the limited liability corporation that owns the ice rink managed by Janicki, states that “the parking lot can be used only by specified persons/entities and only at no charge,” finance director Karen Fussell stated in an e-mail to Bost on Wednesday.

“It’s city property and we lease that property to the rink,” she said Wednesday afternoon.

Janicki responded by saying, “The lease, it doesn’t say anything about what we can or cannot do with the parking lot.”

The unsigned agreement between Janicki and UPS, dated Nov. 2 and supplied to the city by the New York UPS office, is addressed to Janicki and states, “This will confirm our agreement to park a maximum of 30 trailers” at the Acme Road location, between Nov. 6 and Jan. 14.

“Nothing has been signed at this point with Mr. Janicki, and we’ll deal with the city from this point on,” Tim Carolan, North New England building and facilities representative for UPS, stated in a Wednesday e-mail to the city.

Carolan declined to comment when reached Wednesday afternoon.

The rink, which is for sale, has a complex relationship with the city. Janicki is a plaintiff in a court case against the city that claims City Councilor Manley DeBeck chased away a potential buyer for the facility in 2005. The case was dismissed in September and has been appealed by Janicki’s attorney.

When the facility was built in 1996, the city approved a $600,000 bond to build the access road and parking lot and other items like sewer, water and power, and agreed to charge the owners $1 to lease the 300-space parking lot to help keep the rink’s operating costs low.

In 2002, the city began charging Delta Hockey for the parking lot based on one-third of the local market rate for a period of 21 years. This year, $6,108 was paid, Fussell said.

For the last year, NextGen Hockey Group has operated the facility and continues to work on extending the lease, which expired Oct. 5, Spokeswoman Linda Williams said Wednesday by phone from New Orleans.

Janicki had discussed sharing the parking lot revenues with NextGen, she said, adding that the group was unaware the parking lot is owned by the city.

“He was just looking for ways to keep the costs down,” she said.

NextGen Hockey Group is composed of Hampden residents Robbie Snow, who is Linda Williams’ son, and her husband Wes Williams, and Newburgh resident Lee Miller, who is Wes Williams’ stepson.

The city has supported the rink to the tune of $350,000 over the years, mostly through tax increment financing and the cut-rate lease on the parking lot, City Councilor Mike Celli has said.

On Wednesday, Celli described Janicki’s actions as “absolutely unbelievable.”

After the trailers arrived, Janicki said he was displeased with the number and the amount of room taken up by them. He had his rink manager call UPS Wednesday to inquire about the paperwork and to voice concerns about the number of trailers.

“We didn’t expect all those boxes out there,” he said, adding later: “The fact there is 40 boxes out there is a real problem.

“I want those boxes out of there” to make space for customers, Janicki said. “I don’t believe the city can cut a deal for the parking lot.”

Because the trailers are already in Brewer, the city is working with UPS to accommodate their needs this year, Bost said, adding that: “We have no intention of charging them.”

“UPS is a good neighbor and a prominent taxpayer in the area,” he said.

Since the UPS trailers are parked at the end of the parking lot that Public Works uses to pile snow, they will have to be moved, Dave Russell, Brewer code enforcement officer, said Wednesday.

“We’re going to relocate them at no charge,” he said. “That’s where we push all our snow. We’re going to move them to the right side [of the parking lot], basically along the railroad tracks.”

The city is preparing a strongly worded letter to Janicki and has sent the information to the city’s attorney, Bost said.

“We want to determine does this represent a violation of the terms of the lease,” the city manager said.