County Commission Chair Scott Martin wasn’t drafted to salvage the financial fiasco of the County Convention Center, but he volunteered for the task and at today’s press conference submitted a viable plan, conditionally approved by most of the parties and at best with reservations by another, that would put the Center on a viable financial footing for years to come.

The two Commissioners, one Republican, one Democrat, had come to believe it was their duty to protect Lancaster County taxpayers concerning the downtown convention center and hotel project.

From the outset of the convention center project, the most powerful weapons in the sponsors’ arsenal were strategically well-placed public officials. It was the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners – led by Chairman and project champion, Paul Thibault — who enacted Ordinance 45, the hotel room rental tax, back in 1999.

The bidding process for the construction of the convention center – like virtually every other aspect of the project – was a circus. The process began on January 12th, 2006, when it was reported in the Intelligencer Journal that bids to demolish and stabilize the site apparently came in slightly (2%) under budget projections.

The PKF feasibility study showed that not only were there very serious questions about the project’s viability as designed, but that project opponents had gained traction in staunching its construction.

Any hope that selecting Pannell, Kerr, Forster (PKF) to perform the first genuine feasibility study on the convention center project would bring harmony to the the Lancaster community was dashed almost immediately after PKF’s selection by the Lancaster County Commissioners.

Another issue crowding the convention center issue off the front pages in the latter part of 2005 was the Lancaster city mayoral race. Running for a third term was bellicose, project-friendly, Mayor Charlie Smithgall. The democrats fielded J. Richard “Rick” Gray, a Lancaster attorney.

Whether by design or not, the Conestoga View story effectively pushed the convention center off the front pages in the last half of 2005. The legal sale of a county asset and a personnel matter utterly dominated the news in Lancaster County during this period.

Despite the ‘miracle’ rescue of the convention center project, after the Watt & Shand building was purchased by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Lancaster, sponsors had much to be concerned about in the spring of 2005.

When former LCCCA Chairman and Executive Director, James Pickard, said in 2002 that it was “all-out war,” regarding the Lancaster convention center and hotel project, he was off by three years.

The sponsors of the convention center and hotel proved to be very adept at acquiring public money for their project.The vast majority of the money, tens of millions of dollars, came through government-backed bonds, loans, and state grants. Another two-and-a-half million dollars or so per year was deposited into Lancaster County Convention Center Authority (LCCCA) coffers from its share of the hotel room rental tax.

The crocodile cries of convention center project sponsors after the TIF defeat turned to cheers upon “unveiling” their “new” miracle plan in late March, 2005.

Lancaster County Commissioner Chairman Pete Shaub was not only making himself a nuisance to convention center project sponsors, he was also vexing those who worked with and around him.

After the Lancaster County Commissioners passed Ordinance 73 on October 29th, 2003 – the $40 million county bond guaranty for the convention center – public attention turned to the county commissioners’ election just six days away.