Council Panel Debates City Treasurer’s Fate : City Hall: Leonard Rittenberg could be fired over alleged deficiencies in his office. Mayor Bradley isn’t involved in the discussion because of possible conflict of interest.

City Treasurer Leonard Rittenberg could face firing or a range of less severe penalties for alleged deficiencies in the way he has operated his office, according to City Council members who began debating Rittenberg’s fate in a closed session Wednesday.

A panel of five council members has been given the task of evaluating a city Personnel Department report on Rittenberg ordered last year following disclosures about Mayor Tom Bradley’s employment by a bank that did business with the city.

“I think there are very serious charges that have been made,” said Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, a member of the panel. “The city treasurer . . . is in very serious difficulty.”

The mayor, who usually handles such personnel matters, has stepped back from the case because it poses a potential conflict of interest.

In Bradley’s place, the city’s Board of Referred Powers, composed of five council members, began going through two thick volumes on Rittenberg’s performance prepared by the Personnel Department.

The contents of the report are secret, but several council members on the panel said Wednesday that it contains no clear recommendation as to whether Rittenberg should face disciplinary penalties.

Instead, the report outlines a range of options the panel may choose in deciding Rittenberg’s fate, they said. The options range from no disciplinary action to firing.

One source said that a series of offenses, each carrying a penalty of a 30-day suspension, were outlined in the report.

The investment policies of Rittenberg’s office were called into question last summer following disclosures that he deposited $2 million in city funds in Far East National Bank shortly after receiving a phone call from Bradley, who had been a paid adviser to the bank. Rittenberg and Bradley have denied that the mayor influenced the decision to make the deposit.

Rittenberg became the subject of a Los Angeles Police Department investigation following a disclosure that white correction fluid was used to blot out the phrase “per the mayor” on a bid sheet that reported the deposit. The investigation is continuing.

The council panel will meet again next week to continue its discussion of the personnel report.