The Deft Juggler of Anaheim

After almost 40 years in city government, James D. Ruth has learned that you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

And there were moments over the last four months when it seemed the city manager couldn’t please anyone.

Not Walt Disney Co., which was angling to purchase minority financial interest in the California Angels and take over operation of a renovated Big A.

Not some City Council members, who openly accused Ruth of selling the store to Disney.

And not some residents, who formed a group opposing use of taxpayer funds to push the Disney deal through.

But in the end, after long, tense negotiations with Ruth at the center, a deal was struck. A divided City Council approved the city’s offering of $30 million toward Disney’s $100-million renovation of the stadium, clearing the way for the company to purchase the team and keep the Angels playing in Anaheim for at least 20 years.

And now Ruth, 60, known for working 12- to 16-hour days, moves on to another plateful of challenges that, if all goes well, will raise the profile of the city to its highest levels.

On the horizon: a second theme park Disney wants to build next to Disneyland; a major expansion of Anaheim Convention Center; and the development of Sportstown, a proposed sports and entertainment complex around Anaheim Stadium property.

“This city is on the verge of doing some incredible projects,” he said. “I think Anaheim is the premier city in Orange County and in the state. If you’re going to be a city manager anywhere, I think you’d want it to be in Anaheim.”

It’s been a dizzying year for Ruth, who while trying to negotiate with Disney, also dealt with a crush of attention when the Seattle Seahawks flirted with moving to Anaheim.

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But attention-grabbing issues don’t make up his whole day. He also runs the day-to-day operations of a complex city that is akin to overseeing a $600-million corporation with 2,000 employees. He earns $146,000 a year for his efforts.

City officials say he continues to display an uncommon tenaciousness and “can-do” spirit.

“He’s very steady and driven but not flashy or overbearing,” Supervisor William G. Steiner said recently. “He seems to be able to work with a lot of competing pressures and political forces. He’s a year older than me and I’m always surprised that he hasn’t burned out in this environment because it is exhausting.”

When asked what drives him after all these years, Ruth chuckled and said, “I’ve been this way all my life.”

The son of a steelworker and the youngest of seven children, Ruth attributes his work ethic to his upbringing.

“My dad taught us all good values and standards and we all knew what it was like to work,” Ruth said. “We recognized at an early age that if you wanted something, you had to go get it.”

Steiner was a classmate of Ruth’s more than four decades ago at Bell High School in Los Angeles County. The supervisor remembers Ruth as “a top student leader and athlete who was very much admired by all of us.”

In high school, Ruth was an all-city pitcher and a member of the football team.

“I was only 5-feet-7-inches and weighed 145 pounds, but I loved sports,” he said. “I had coaches who inspired me. I had a lot of encouragement and support.”

Ruth earned a bachelor’s degree in recreation education and a master’s degree in recreation administration from Cal State Los Angeles.

His career in city government began in Maywood when he became director of parks and recreation while in his early 20s. He later worked for Lynwood and Downey before arriving in Anaheim in 1976 as parks and recreation director.

He held a variety of administrative posts, and briefly worked for Long Beach, before his appointment in 1988 as Anaheim’s assistant city manager. Two years later, he became the city manager.

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It is difficult to find a colleague who will say anything negative about Ruth publicly; many council members are effusive with praise.

Councilman Frank Feldhaus said Ruth is “a very well thought-of guy. He’s a city manager who is hands-on in the community. He attends everything.”

But some have been critical of his most recent dealings with Disney, believing the city could have held out for a better deal.

Councilman Bob Zemel, one of the most vocal critics of the recent deal with Disney, has had his troubles with the city manager. Zemel complained publicly during the baseball negotiations that Ruth was keeping vital information from him. Ruth has denied the charge.

But the usually outspoken Zemel recently declined to discuss Ruth or his job performance, saying it is a personnel matter.

“The city manager position is a very difficult job and you find yourself caught up in the middle of many different agendas, some short-term, some long-term,” Zemel said. “It certainly is difficult to balance all concerns.”

Two days after the stadium vote, Ruth conceded that the negotiations were among the toughest of his career in municipal government.

As if the council division were not enough, he also had to go toe-to-toe with Disney, widely known for its shrewd negotiating abilities. At one point, the company publicly walked away from the negotiations before quietly resuming talks.

“I’ve found them to be very tenacious, very aggressive, but not unreasonable,” Ruth said. “They outgun you. They have a lot more resources than any public agency.”

Disney Sports Enterprises President Tony Tavares, who will oversee operations of the Angels, acknowledged that Ruth was “in a tight box” during the negotiations and was impressed at how he handled it.

“I think he knows his business,” Tavares said. “He’s an honorable guy. If he tells you something, you can usually rely on it.”

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During a recent interview in his City Hall office, Ruth compared the controversy of the stadium deal to the criticism the city faced when it wanted to build a sports arena without a commitment from a professional basketball or hockey team.

The gamble paid off when Disney purchased the Mighty Ducks hockey franchise to play in the arena, eventually named the Pond. Ruth thinks the stadium deal will be similarly successful for the city in the long run.

Ruth, who has three children and five grandchildren, said he does not intend to slow down any time soon, although last week he enjoyed a rare vacation with his wife, Linda.

“I have no immediate plans to retire as long as my health holds up,” he said.

“We certainly have enormous challenges for at least three to five more years. I love what I do and I think that’s a high motivator. I still achieve a great deal of satisfaction from my work.”