“When the agreements which govern the hotel and convention center project were drawn up, the powers of the LCCCA were severely limited. This means that the LCCCA has been essentially powerless in the design and construction of the integrated facility; the ‘private partner’ which controls the ownership of the hotel business is also the master developer, general trades contractor, and precast concrete contractor for the entire project. This same ‘private partner’ chose the project construction manager, as well as the joint manager of both the hotel and convention center.
“The LCCCA has had no control whatsoever over the construction of the building, and had no input over the construction schedule. All of the work performed since the contracts were awarded and the construction bonds were sold has been under the oversight of the ‘private partner’ which orchestrated so much of the project. Perhaps individual contractors may have fallen behind schedule, however overall progress on the project is clearly the responsibility of the project’s master developer and their hand-picked construction manager. Compounding the frustration are the numerous reports over many months from the project’s master developer and construction manager to the LCCCA board that promised the project would meet its construction deadlines. Only when the last two delays in opening the project were announced in the local media were most members of the LCCCA board made aware that something was seriously wrong.
“These agreements which bind the LCCCA to its ‘private partners’ were negotiated and written for the benefit of taxpayers by a well-known law firm, which was paid handsomely with taxpayer dollars for their efforts. The former leadership of the LCCCA has been clearly negligent in not providing adequate oversight and accountability for the content of these agreements. This serious omission was compounded by board members who refused to read the legal documents they were voting for, while claiming they didn’t need to because they trusted the law firm that drew up these agreements.
“The entire hotel and convention center project has been orchestrated by the project’s ‘private partner’, which made certain that the LCCCA would be impotent. This ‘private partner’ must bear the ultimate responsibility for the project’s delayed opening.
“Once again, the agreements which limit the powers of the LCCCA while placing such an unfair burden on taxpayers have proven to be the project’s Achilles’ heel. This will not be the last time that these agreements will screw the taxpayers.”
