As developers of the Marriott Lancaster at Penn Square and the adjoining Lancaster County Convention Center grapple with a delayed opening date this week, project opponents will be telling it to a panel of appellate court judges in Philadelphia.

The convention center authority board plans to meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in city council chambers to discuss the financial impact the delay might have on the $170 million project. The board learned last week construction will not be completed until the end of 2008, four months later than expected.

Earlier Wednesday, the state Commonwealth Court will hear arguments from Howard Kelin, the county's special counsel, regarding a county court injunction that is keeping Commissioners Dick Shellenberger and Molly Henderson from withdrawing the county's guaranty on a $40 million construction bond in an attempt to kill the project.

Kelin said he will present his case before a panel of seven judges.

David Hixson, executive director of the convention center authority, told the board Thursday that John Fenningham, the authority's special counsel, as well as lawyers representing Penn Square Partners, the hotel developer, and the city Redevelopment Authority will attend the hearing.

The three organizations sued the commissioners last summer, claiming their actions had poisoned the project and frightened away bond investors.

In October, Lancaster County Judge Joseph Madenspacher granted a permanent injunction to prevent the commissioners from enacting two resolutions that would have eliminated the guaranty approved by a previous board of commissioners in 2003.

Shellenberger and Henderson claim the guaranty is invalid and that Madenspacher erred in upholding the agreement because he did not rule on whether it was proper for the outgoing commissioners to approve the financing and leave the incoming board holding the guaranty.

Madenspacher ruled a private entity could have guaranteed the financing, as it was not necessarily a governmental function.

According to reports, in a brief filed in Commonwealth Court in February, Kelin said Madenspacher's ruling ignored testimony that the financing guaranty had to come from a government with taxing powers to qualify for a tax-exempt bond.

Wachovia Bank settled with the convention center authority on the $40 million construction bond and a second $24 million bond in March. The authority board unanimously approved a plan Thursday night to invest $53 million in cash generated by the sale of two construction bonds.

Because of the controversy surrounding the financing, the authority and Wachovia settled on the deal about two months later than scheduled.

If Madenspacher's ruling is overturned in Commonwealth Court, Kelin said he doesn't know the impact it would have on current financing. That's not his concern, Kelin said.

Fenningham could not be reached for comment.

Later start
Meanwhile, Tom Smithgall of High Associates, master developer of the project, told the board Thursday night that construction challenges and delays in public financing have pushed the completion date past August 2008.

The grand opening of the hotel and convention center, planned for fall 2008, may not happen until spring 2009.

"Since contracts were awarded in October, we've faced a number of challenges," Smithgall said.

Construction crews hit stubborn bedrock and had to deal with an overflow of groundwater at South Queen and East Vine streets, he said.

The problem areas are the Thaddeus Stevens house, Kleiss Saloon and the Lydia Hamilton Smith properties, all owned by the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County.

Smithgall told the board the good news is the length of time it will take to build the facilities has not changed.

He said because the buildings will be mostly made of concrete, they require that construction be done in sequence.

"This is a different kind of project," he said. A delay in one step means a delay in the next.

"It is the frustrating part of the project," Smithgall said, adding at this point, construction crews "cannot speed it up."

Brian Sparacino, vice president of sales for Interstate Hotels & Resorts, which will manage both the hotel and the convention center, said he receives two to three inquiries a day from people wanting to book an event at the site.

Press releases, e-mail campaigns and word of mouth generated by the May 23 kickoff have created a stir in the meeting market, Sparacino said.

Interstate has hired Josh Nowak as the on-site director of marketing. He is expected to relocate to Lancaster this summer, Sparacino said.

Interstate will work with the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau in promoting the site to convention and meeting groups.

Consultant Dan Logan of Growth Business Development Inc., Medford, N.J., is no longer actively involved in the marketing. David Hixson, executive director of the authority, said Logan will remain on call.

New chairman
New board chairman Art Morris, a former city mayor, will hold the reins during the construction and opening.

Former chairman Ted Darcus handed Morris the gavel halfway through the 2½-hour meeting after the board unanimously approved Morris' appointment.

Deb Hall, a county-appointed board member, was elected secretary.

Before casting her vote, Hall said she thought it was "unfortunate that Mr. Morris [on the board for just two months] jumps to the head of the line after other board members have done their time."

Morris was appointed by Mayor Rick Gray to fill the seat of David Schwanger, who left in March, six months after his term was up.

Hall voted in favor of Morris' election.

Darcus' term is to end in September.

His seat will be filled by Thomas LeCrone, appointed by the county.

LeCrone has attended board and committee meetings since being named in March by Shellenberger and Henderson. Commissioner Sharron Nelson did not vote for him.

LeCrone took advantage of the new attitude toward more public input during the meeting and berated Hixson and Darcus for making it difficult for him to obtain copies of documents being reviewed by the board.

LeCrone said he wants to be able to hit the ground running when he joins the board in mid-September.

He said he followed instructions and filed a right-to-know request with the authority for the paperwork.

Instead of the documents, however, he said he received a seven-page letter from Stevens & Lee, the authority's solicitor, advising him of a $750 fee to copy the documents, which are voluminous.

"That is unacceptable," LeCrone said. "I wonder how much the authority had to pay Stevens & Lee to write the letter?

"This is not rocket science, people."

Hall told LeCrone to give her a list of the documents and she will make him copies for free.

Board member Laura Douglas said the board needs to establish a policy that will allow the authority to provide copies of essential paperwork to incoming board members.

LeCrone, a financial consultant, was the county's interim administrator working on the 2007 budget. The job ended in early February.

Morris' first task as chairman was to preside over a proposal that would allow more opportunity for the public to speak. Morris has said he wants the authority to be more accessible and transparent.

The board unanimously agreed to have a public comment period as well as to give citizens an opportunity to ask questions regarding each proposal.

Legal talk
Stevens & Lee was the subject of discussion two times.

The board approved a proposal that would require the authority to provide board members with copies of the law firm's itemized bills. For the past seven years, the law firm has submitted unitemized bills for "services rendered."

Authority officials said because Stevens & Lee served as counsel in litigated matters, attorney-client privilege prohibited an itemized statement.

But public pressure to detail how millions of dollars in legal fees were spent led to Thursday night's vote.

When audience member Bruce Clark of New Holland asked when the public can see the past itemized costs, Douglas said it would be too costly and time-consuming to go back and redact litigation line items from seven years' worth of statements.

Morris said the motion on the table was for future bills, and previous spending will be dealt with another time.

"We are not closing the past," he said.

In related business, Morris asked three board members to take charge of writing a request for a proposal to all county law firms seeking bids for the authority's solicitor.

Stevens & Lee is welcome to bid, Morris said.

He asked R.B. Campbell to chair the committee. Darcus and Joe Morales will also serve.

"I hope to have two to four recommendations drawn from multiple attorneys," Morris said.

He also encouraged the other board committees, such as facilities management, marketing and finance, to begin to meet monthly.

"The idea is to hold the project developers accountable," he said.

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Judy A. Strausbaugh is a political writer for the Sunday News. She can be reached at 291-8689 or jstrausbaugh@lnpnews.com.