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Top Managers Position at Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino is Open

Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino is looking for a replacement for general manager Robert Farinella. The top manager's position is vacant since Farinella resigned January due to pressure.

The track and casino's board of directors interviewed yesterday, August 8, five potential candidates who would manage a $180 million-a-year facility.

The vacant position, Prairie Meadow manager's job, is to oversee a huge entertainment venue, with a casino, horse track and restaurant, whose profits are intended primarily for public use.

Ted Lodden, a representative of the Polk-Des Moines Taxpayers Association said, "For everybody in the community to get what they want out of the organization, it has to be run like any similar for-profit casino in the industry."

Lodden and some community leaders are worried the newly hired casino general manager would take a back seat to politics.

The board members will offer a salary in excess of $200,000 per year, as expected, once Prairie Meadows settles on a finalist. Farinella was paid $274,900 in 2004 in his former sevice to the company, Palmer the second-in command was paid $198,610.

The August 16 meeting, Prairie Meadow's full board of directors is expected to act on a recommendation for hiring a general manager. The meeting is open to the public.