BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has no plans to meet with county lawmakers to address the ongoing stadium negotiations.
The legislature last month passed a resolution which directed Poloncarz, the Bills, and New York State, to release their study on a potential new stadium for the Bills.
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"I will not," Poloncarz said Wednesday. "Counsel (can) but I'm not. The legislature can't force me to do anything. We will not be publicly providing updates to the legislature. No."
He said lawmakers can privately discuss details with attorneys but Poloncarz said his office will not give an update to them.
"I've actually had some people say be careful what the legislature wants," he said. "They may not be interested in getting a deal done with the Bills, which I find hard to believe. We're negotiating with the Bills like we are negotiating with the state. The only good way to get a negotiation done is to do it among the entities that are there. When you have interference from third-parties like legislators in Erie County, the Assembly and Senate, or just general public, it doesn't help us get a deal done."
Poloncarz also said he found it interesting that lawmakers are treating the Bills Stadium talks, which could impact the county to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, differently than other agreements.
"The legislature in its resolution doesn't have the power to force me to do anything," Poloncarz said. "If they're interested in finding out more information as county executive, then they should run for county executive."
Poloncarz also said he understands a desire by the Buffalo Common Council to consider a downtown stadium, but he retorted by saying the city has not given details on how much money they would spend to have a stadium in the city.
"Truthfully, they don't have the money to do it," Poloncarz said. "Until they got their American Rescue Plan funds this year, the City of Buffalo is broke and facing a $60 million deficit. I'm fairly confident the City of Buffalo would not be providing direct dollars. If they're willing to offer direct dollars, be my guest. They can call me and call my team and we'll be glad to sit down with them in a private setting, not publicly, and find out what they're willing to contribute. Right now, there's been no offer from the City of Buffalo."