As mayors, council members and officials from across the state wrap up their annual convention today, host Rick Gray said there has been just one problem: keeping people in the sessions.
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From the new Lancaster County Convention Center and integrated Marriott Lancaster at Penn Square hotel, they have been out exploring the shops and restaurants of Lancaster City, said Gray, the city's mayor.
The comment Gray said he has heard most from the 350 officials attending the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities convention is: "I've been to Lancaster numerous times and never knew how beautiful the city is."
Gray said he heard that from the mayor of Scranton, who toured Lancaster while running, and numerous others.
The convention is the first in the new $177.6 million center and hotel, which opened a week ago.
"It's been a complete success," the mayor said of the annual gathering that was slated to conclude this afternoon.
Former state Sen. Gibson Armstrong said he and his wife spoke with a couple from Wilkes-Barre who were in Penn Square and looking for somewhere to eat.
When Armstrong listed four downtown restaurants, they said they had already been to them and were looking for others to explore.
"It was really positive. It was glowing," Armstrong said of the unsolicited praise he heard from the conventioneers. "They just loved the downtown."
And, Armstrong said, he spoke with one restaurateur who told him he has had his best three nights ever.
"This is a small convention," said Armstrong, who had pushed for a downtown center since 1985. "When we get a big one in — of a 1,000 people or more — that will be really big."
Deborah Bitting, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities, agreed that she had heard nothing but positive comments from conventioneers.
"Everything has been a very positive experience for us," she said.
The group, which meets at different locations in the state annually, will be in Bethlehem next year, she said. But, she is sure they will be coming back to Lancaster in the future.
Meanwhile, one of the people most responsible for the center becoming a reality has announced that he is stepping away from the project.
Art Morris, chairman of the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority board, said Thursday night that he will be leaving his position in a month.
Morris, the former city mayor, shepherded the project through its construction over more than two years.
"We're open and I'm ready to move on, and I feel very fortunate to have worked with this board," Morris told fellow board members at their regular monthly meeting Thursday.
Morris said he has been planning to step down after the opening since before he even joined the board.
"I knew that it would be very, very time consuming and it has been," he said.
Morris saw double-duty as board chairman and as the Convention Center Authority's executive director for 10 months.
"I don't think he really realized how much time and what a commitment he was making. He gave a huge amount of time and all unreimbursed," said Gray, who appointed Morris to the center board in April 2007.
Gray credited Morris with uniting what had been a very contentious board and bringing them together to work toward the opening of the center. He also brought transparency and a willingness to listen to the organization that quelled much of the criticism, the mayor noted.
"He showed what you can do with leadership on a board," said Gray. "The public owes him a great debt of gratitude."
A nominating committee was named Thursday to begin the search for a new board chairman. Gray said he has also begun mulling another city appointee to the joint city-county board.
Morris said he will step down July 31.
Also, it was announced there will be a second public open house at the center on Sunday, July 19, at which the facility will be dedicated.
Staff writer Bernard Harris can be reached at bharris@LNPnews.com or 481-6022.
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