  We present the first measurement of mid-rapidity $\phi$ vector meson
production in $Au+Au$ collisions at RHIC ($\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} =130$ GeV) from the
STAR detector. For the 11% most central collisions, the slope parameter from an
exponential fit to the transverse mass distribution is $T=$~379$\pm$51(stat)
$\pm$ 45(syst)~MeV, the yield $dN/dy$ $=5.73\pm$0.37(stat)$\pm$ 0.57(syst) per
event and the ratio $N_{\phi}/N_{h^-}$ is found to be
0.021$\pm$0.001(stat)$\pm$ 0.03(syst). We currently place the value of the
$N_{\phi}/N_{K^-}$ ratio between 0.10 and 0.16. The measured ratios
$N_{\phi}/N_{h^-}$ and $N_{\phi}/N_{K^-}$, as well as $T$ for the $\phi$ meson
at mid-rapidity do not change for the selected centrality bins.
