GLENDALE, AZ (CBS5) -
There's another new chapter in the long-running hockey saga here in the Valley.
Glendale City Council members voted to keep the Coyotes in their city for the long haul late last night.
The city agreed to cough up $320 million over the next 20 years to the team's prospective owner.
But there are still opponents who say this fight's not over.
"I think all sides have accepted that this deal is done," said outgoing council member Joyce Clark.
She was one of the four members who voted to keep the Coyotes in Glendale. Lame duck Mayor Elaine Scruggs and Councilwoman Norma Alvarez voted against it.
Now it's up to prospective owner Greg Jamison to secure his part of the deal with the National Hockey League. Coyotes' fans are happy, but the deal's opponents aren't.
"I'm not overly happy with the decision made, but we'll take that decision and run with it the best we can," said Mayor-Elect Jerry Weiers.
He will replace Scruggs next year. He says the council should not have voted on this issue until the new members were sworn in.
"It is what it is, the council, the current council passed it. It's something I'm going to have to deal with," he said.
Not if Glendale resident Ken Jones gets his way.
"Go down to City Hall tomorrow and get our information to start a referendum to get this thing to a public vote," Jones said.
He tried putting this issue up for a public vote for this past election, but he didn't get enough signatures required to get it on the ballot. Jones says this time more people are riled up about the deal that'll cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
"We can't afford this, Glendale is so broke. Those council members know that," Jones said.
Jones says he'll be setting up outside of the city's main library, just like last time, trying to collect those signatures. Weiers says by the time he gets into office the ball will already be rolling with contracts signed so he's not going to push for any changes.
The Goldwater Institute has been very vocal about not supporting a taxpayer-funded team. Lawyers with the conservative public policy group have threatened legal action before.
CBS 5 News reached out to them today asking if they're going to challenge this current deal, they said, 'No comment."
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