ANAHEIM : Council Delays Convention Center Talks

The City Council has put off until June a discussion of whether to turn over operations of the Convention Center to a private contractor.

The delay is mainly to allow completion of a study being done by accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand. The study, commissioned by the council in January, will analyze the feasibility of a proposed $60-million expansion of the center.

Councilman Frank Feldhaus said he thinks the Convention Center might be more profitable if it were run by a private contractor. The arrangement would be similar to that for The Pond of Anaheim, the 2-year-old arena owned by the city.

City Manager James D. Ruth submitted a report to the council this week recommending that the council endorse a new management strategy that would include:

* Consolidating operations of the Convention Center with those of Anaheim Stadium and appointing the stadium’s general manager, Greg Smith, to oversee the center as well.

* Setting financial and performance benchmarks for the facility.

* Adopting a 1995-96 Convention Center budget that, for the first time, would require the facility to be self-supporting and not rely on the city’s general fund for operating costs.

* Determining the Convention Center’s future direction after a review of the Coopers & Lybrand study.

Councilman Lou Lopez said he would like to give Ruth’s new management strategy a chance before even discussing a private operator for the venue. “Privatization at this point is premature,” Lopez said. “I think we should let Greg Smith do the job for the next year.”

But other council members were eager to consider privatization now. “I think this is the direction that we are ultimately headed,” Councilman Bob Zemel said.