Convention Center Style!

July 1, 2006

The word “consultant” conjures up bad memories for School District of Lancaster (SdoL) taxpayers who lived through “Consultant Gate” and the image of their Superintendent being led to jail in handcuffs. They might want to hold onto their hats for Consultant Gate II – this time featuring the Lancaster County Convention Center Authority (LCCCA)!

Here is a few lines from our ground breaking story which contained 5 of the 6 items the United State Attorney General filed against former Sdol boss - Ric Curry – and led to his eventual downfall and imprisonment:

(Click to read the story published January 10, 2004)
“So how many people do you know that get paid $1,500 per day? That's right, city taxpayer's coughed up a total of $13,000 to one consultant among other things, "Facilitation of meetings and information sharing regarding Transformational Leadership", "Reflective Practice" "Organizational Development Consultation" etc…”

LCCCA consultants make SdoL consultant’s look like paupers! One consulting firm charged taxpayers almost $70,000 for the month of May! The 23 days the convention center authority was charged went from a low of $975 to the high of $4,500 for one day’s work! In addition to the $300 per hour fee, taxpayers paid $3,159.03 of Maurice Walker of the Bulls Advisory Group, LLC expenses for everything from donuts, chicken nuggets as well as many high dollar meals at local restaurants.

Here’s the kicker:
While Walker is “working”, he is meeting with many other high dollar consultants at the same time! Take the May 4 billing as pictured. Walker is simultaneously running up his tab AND the tab of other LCCCA consultants.

In fact, Walker, on his company’s website, brags up that his job is to:

“As the chief advisor to the executive director, BAG’s specific duties include managing the team of five project consultants (legal, public relations, marketing, financial advisor and construction management) and providing integrated recommendations to the Executive Director on financial, construction management, development, marketing, hospitality and historic preservation matters.”

So while Walker was billing $70,000 for the month of May, the Kelly Michener company was billing taxpayers $25,107.82 for the same period! Walker spends his 12-15 hour days calling on the phone and meeting with High’s Nevin Cooley and Tom Smithgall and – get this – staying overnight in High’s Courtyard Marriot (which is billed to the taxpayers at $99 a night!)

And what about other expenses? Walker makes us pay for just about everything. Take May 23, 2006. $4,500 for his time plus $363.39 in expenses. He traveled 280 miles @ $135 and the driving time? Wow – Walker doesn’t discount his $300 an hour for that time and we pay an estimated $1,500 to get him here! Breakfast anyone? Walker downs a glaze donut and 22 ounce soda at the Annapolis 7-11 for only $2.21 and charges us a bargain $1.49 for lunch. But don’t you fret about Walker starving! He ends his almost $4,900 spending binge with a meal at the Outback steakhouse for $108. The receipt doesn’t list who else ate with him but according to his scant “itemized” billing, the last thing he did was “Meeting w/ Weikert and Hixson” – the convention center Executive Director and his assistant! What is truly amazing about Walker is that after his grueling 15 hour-$4,500 day is that he managed to fit a movie into his tight schedule! Walker generously paid for this treat and didn’t charge the taxpayers for his $10.99 in-room hotel movie

And eating? Walker lives very will on our tab. Walker seats eats at Lancaster Dispensing Company,D S Brasserie and the Marrion Courtyard sitting at the bar all alone. Those single meals range in cost from $30 to 43.50 (which included a $6.3 tip. But Walker even runs up a bill when he hits the McDonalds by ordering “Super-size Me” Portions!! On May 10, Walker spent $8.46 for a 9:30 PM snack at the Hempstead McDonalds consisting of a Quarter-Pounder and a Ten Piece Chicken McNuggets and a Large Hi-C Orange drink to wash it down!

Here is a listing of Walker’s favorite places:

Carrs Restaurant on West Grant Street, Lancaster
Caribbean Breeze on 219 West King Street, Lancaster
Lancaster Dispensing Company North Market Street, Lancaster
Marion Court Room, Lancaster
The Brasserie, Lancaster
Isaac’s Deli, Lancaster
Outback Steakhouse, Lancaster

What does he do for all of this money? Did you know that Walker solved the “funding gap”? On his company’s website, Walker claims among other things, that: “A sophisticated “tiered” system was also created to address any funding gaps.” (Click to read other “accomplishments”.)

Want some more laughs? Walker’s resume looks like an explosion of Roget's Thesaurus! Note to English teachers: Do not try to diagram his sentences! (click here)

Walker, who attended Friday’s early morning Convention Center Authority meeting, took offense at Editor Ron Harper Jr’s comments around his high dollar bills and afterwards told a gaggle of other consultants standing around him, that he was, “bullet proof”! Ironically, Friday's meeting had Trout, Ebersole and Groff make a presentation on their audit of the convention center authority's books and gave it their stamp of approval. During the presentation, the auditors praised the authority's handling of - get this - consultant bills! The irony? This is the same firm that gave the School District of Lancaster their stamp of approval before consultant Gate I broke loose!

Time will tell if Walker is really bullet proof…

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PAGE 3 (the Harper referenced on May 25 is NOT 5thEstate.com editor)
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