The board of the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority held its regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Thursday, Jan. 29. The board re-elected its current officers for another year: Art Morris, chair; Laura Douglas, vice chair; Kevin Fry, secretary; and R.B. Campbell, treasurer.
An unusually large number of construction change orders were presented for the board’s approval. The nature of some drew quite a few pertinent questions from board members, especially Art Morris and Laura Douglas. Consequently, the reporting and discussion of change orders took over an hour.
For the first time, modifications made to purchases of Fixtures, Furnishings, and Equipment are being tracked like change orders, in an attempt to bring some accountability to the FF&E procurement process.
An updated document stating the amount and type of liability insurance which must be held by event organizers was discussed and approved. It was explained that all event organizers, even individuals who book space for a wedding reception, must carry at their own expense a specified amount of liability insurance to cover their event.
Still unresolved is the lease between the Historic Preservation Trust and the LCCCA for the Stevens, Smith, and Kleiss buildings. Approval of this lease was once again delayed, since its recommendation for approval by the LCCCA Facilities Programming Committee was contingent upon an approved Memorandum of Understanding between the LCCCA and HPT. This document is far from being completed, since there are still numerous unresolved issues regarding which party will assume what responsibilities for the historic properties and the museum space inside the convention center.
Even though the LCCCA will hold title to the historic properties and museum spaces (and rent it all to the HPT for a dollar a year), the LCCCA expects the HPT to assume near total financial responsibility for construction and maintenance of the parts of the complex it will control. Since construction and renovations to the historic properties has already begun, there is an urgency to complete these documents; a special meeting of the Facilities Programming Committee and/or the full LCCCA board may be scheduled to approve these agreements.
