At last night’s Lancaster County Convention Center Board Meeting, the Board held a firm tone in their discussion with developers Tom Smithgall (representing High Construction) and Tim Sullivan (representing Reynolds Construction). When asked by Chairman Art Morris for comment regarding the most recent opening delay, the two developers initially declined, citing that all relevant information had already been shared; but upon the urging of PR Chair Kevin Fry, Smithgall and Sullivan ended up spending nearly an hour speaking with the Board, and even agreed to present a detailed account of the delay at a meeting next Wednesday.

The meeting had come after this week’s announcement that the Center will not be able to meet its May 11 opening date, which was itself rescheduled a month ago from April 21. This time, the developers have not projected a new opening date.

What became the question of the night was first posed by Board Member Julianne Dickson: “Can you answer simply what is different this time that has not enabled you to set an opening date, while it did enable you to do it last time?” The developers mentioned problems in obtaining a certificate of occupancy, which had been indicated in the delay’s initial announcement, and broadly cited “a myriad” of changes that had occurred in the course of the last month.

In the spite of recent setbacks, Smithgall assured the Board that the development team has been doing its due diligence to keep the process moving: “This team works 14-16 hour days on these things, trying to solve these problems….We’ve been working extremely hard for a very long time on this project, trying to do the right thing….”

The Board voted to hold a special meeting on next Wednesday, May 6, at which the developers could present a detailed explanation of the specific issues that have brought about the most recent delay.