lawsuits in April accusing the county of not following proper procedure in administering its foreclosure process. County judge Judith O'Shea dismissed the lawsuit filed March 22 against county officials and the suit filed against Nichols and Lewis. On May 17, 2012, a memorandum of understanding was signed by Tamer Afr for EDA, Santulli for the county and Kevin Keeley as president of STED that allowed the Jackals to play in the facility during the 2012–13 season. The agreement also allowed EDA to continue operating the arena but gave the county the same rights as STED to oversee arena operations. On February 5, 2013, officials announced that Elm Arena LLC, a group headed by Tom Freeman, president of First Air in Big Flats, had been named as the new operator of First Arena, replacing the Afr family. The agreement ended all pending litigation. On April 10, the Jackals held a press conference to name Tom Freeman and Nathan Cook the new owners of the First Arena and the Jackals. In September 2014, the Jackals were donated from Freeman to a private non-profit community organization, Twin Tiers Economic Development (TTED), a 30-member board to oversee the organization. Chemung County operation (2016–present) On January 28, 2016, the Chemung County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) entered into an "option to purchase agreement" with a down payment of $300,000, giving the IDA time to consider all factors and options about the future of the arena. The IDA then assumed temporary ownership of First Arena and the Jackals until a new owner could be found beginning in April 2016. The IDA gave tours of the facility to several potential buyers hoping to be in a position to select a buyer by late July or early August 2016. However, no purchase proposals were received by the June 24 deadline. Negotiations continued with three interested parties. On August 24, the process had been narrowed to one party, who was also interested in buying the Jackals. The IDA hoped to complete the transaction by January 2017. In January 2017, the Chemung County legislature voted to maintain the arena to be open to the public but asked the Elmira City Council to contribute nearly $1.5 million of taxpayer money over five years to repair the ice plant and pay back bills. They council voted against it, saying that doing so would require a 3% property tax increase. The Chemung County IDA