Casting Snake Eyes at Vegas Trip : City Hall: A shopping center convention is ‘a junket, a pleasure trip,’ one councilman says.

Two city councilmen have criticized their colleagues for attending a four-day convention in Las Vegas this week that will cost the city almost $16,000, including $10,000 for a booth touting Garden Grove as a garden spot for a shopping center.

Mayor W.E. (Walt) Donovan, councilmen Frank Kessler and Mark Leyes and four city staff members are in Las Vegas for the spring convention of the International Council of Shopping Centers, where they hope to recruit a developer to build on 44 acres of vacant downtown land.

City staffers said the trip is vital for shoring up the city’s slipping tax base, but Councilmen Robert F. Dinsen and J. Tilman Williams have complained that the trip is “a waste of time” and too costly in light of the city’s $6-million budget deficit.

“I think it’s just a junket, a pleasure trip,” Dinsen said. “To the best of my knowledge, I don’t know that anything has ever been accomplished because of these trips.”

Williams also questioned whether three council members were needed for the trip. Their absence has forced the cancellation of tonight’s ) City Council meeting because of the lack of a quorum.

“These are trying times, and I think it’s throwing money down the tubes.” Williams said.

City Manager George Tindall defended the journey Monday, arguing that the conference is a key to attracting developers and retailers to the city, which has been plagued by a shortage of sales taxes.

“This is a working conference, not a time to play golf,” Tindall said. “The city wants to stop the sales tax leakage, and every major retail developer in the country will be at the conference. You meet people and make contacts. These things can’t be done by the telephone or with a 29-cent stamp.”

Former Councilman Raymond T. Littrell, who attended the conference last year along with Donovan and Kessler, said on Monday that while he thinks that the meeting has a good purpose, most of the council need not be there.

“You don’t need seven people there,” Littrell said. “When you take seven people, I think you’ve got a problem. I think the conference itself is good, but when they get back, they need to do more with it and follow through with the contacts they’ve made.”

The trip was scheduled six months ago and is being funded with city Redevelopment Agency money earmarked for economic development activities, Tindall said.

The estimated $16,000 price tag includes travel expenses for the councilmen and staff members, who are staying at the Tropicana Hotel. It also includes registration fees of $360 per person, seven rooms at $80 per night and the cost of leasing and staffing the promotional booth.

Leyes said some staff members brought along their spouses at their own expense.

“The alternative is not to go, not be represented and to just sit here like a turtle in our shell and wait for them to come to us, which may not happen,” Leyes said before leaving on the trip.

Leyes accused Dinsen and Williams of trying to turn the trip into “a political issue.”

“They chose not to go,” Leyes said. “Frankly, I wish they would (attend). This is an important enough activity that I think we should all participate. It’s very important to have political leadership there when you’re talking to builders and retailers.”

Deputy City Manager Patrick P. Importuna, one of four staff members at the conference, said the group will be meeting this week with representatives from Mervyn’s, Home Depot, Smith’s Food King and several major development companies.