The Burlington City Council has cleared the way for the hiring of a firm to manage Memorial Auditorium.
The panel voted, Monday night, in favor of a new contract between the city and the Burlington Steamboat Days committee that runs through mid-September of 2015.
It took the two sides months to work out what became a roughly nine-page agreement.
City Manager Jim Ferneau says it addresses some key issues for both sides, in particular, who is in charge of alcohol sales during the week-long music festival.
"Steamboat Days will maintain essentially full liquor license for the whole area during the Steamboat Days event," says Ferneau.
He says the rest of the year, Steamboat Days will handle the license for the Port of Burlington.
The contract also includes a new fee schedule and a restriction on the booking of outdoor concerts in the weeks before and after the festival.
Ferneau says this agreement is being incorporated into the proposed contract with Ames, Ia-based VenuWorks for the management of Memorial Auditorium.
The city council is expected to vote on that contract Monday afternoon.
