The new contract would cover the marina and restaurant spaces.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — While it’s winter now, boating season will be here before you know it. The Buffalo Common Council is working out a contract with a new potential operator for Erie Basin Marina.

The city cut ties with the former operator, Smith Boys, last November. The goal is to have a new contract in place sometime in March, with a new operator for the season.

On Tuesday, the Finance Committee talked about the proposed contract to operate Erie Basin Marina. The contract would cover both the marina and the two restaurant spaces there.

RELATED: Great Lakes cruise announced with starting price of $8,675

The company, Marina Management Group, LLC, chosen through the Request for Qualifications, or RFQ process, includes the groundskeeper who worked for Smith Boys, and the operator of Liberty Hound and The Terrace, both of which are owned by the city and leased by the operator.

“On the restaurant side, it’s Jay Davidson, who does Liberty Hound and The Terrace restaurant in Delaware Park, so he has a long track record of keeping restaurants open and thriving in city facilities,” said Deputy Buffalo Mayor Benjamin Swanekamp.

The new contract would have safeguards to make sure the city receives the proper revenue.

“So if you’re making and generating revenue off of a city facility, we shouldn’t wait for an annual audit. We need to biannually know what you’re bringing in and making sure that we’re collecting the appropriate amount of revenue and/or rent, or we then, say, reinvest that into your business because it’s not overall going to help us in our general operating budget,” said Fillmore District Common Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski.

Councilmember Nowakowski says the ultimate goal is to make the Erie Basin Marina even more of a community space that connects to the parks that surround it.

“Where that section of the waterfront is, is to me more of the urban core waterfront because if you cross the Skyway, you’re in downtown Buffalo, and all of those areas are interconnected. When you’re looking at all the work that’s getting done at Centennial Park, Ralph Wilson Park, you have Canalside, you have the Outer Harbor, they all align geographically on our waterfront, and we live in this kind of perception of the world where if somebody gets a slice of pie, then you’re not eating, too. And we have to do both. We all have to be able to be successful and get enough so we can have synergy around there,” Nowakowski said.

After about a half-hour of discussion on Tuesday, the Finance Committee moved this item to the full Common Council. The next Buffalo Common Council meeting is Tuesday at 2 p.m.