Convention Center Party Rules Changed : Guidelines: Directors hope to prevent events like those that led to the departure the facility’s manager following parties for family and friends.

In response to an administrative controversy that prompted their top executive to resign, the San Diego Convention Center’s Board of Directors adopted a new set of guidelines Wednesday preventing the center’s employees from using the facilities for their own benefit.

At the same time, they announced a nationwide search for a successor to General Manager Tom Liegler, who resigned two weeks ago following allegations that he used the Convention Center for six parties that included family and friends.

Board Chairman Morgan Dene Oliver said four of the six parties should not have been paid by the Convention Center and asked Liegler to reimburse the center.

So far, Liegler has paid $2,156 for two of the parties but has not reimbursed the center $663 for the other two.

Rather than create new regulations intended to remedy only the problems that surfaced in Liegler’s case, the board made its policy guidelines far broader to include a rash of new procedures. They include how meals and travel are reimbursed to the circumstances under which the general manager can spend money from the center’s reserves.

“I think we are going to continue to review policies and procedures,” Oliver said. “This is a young organization and we need to stay ahead of needed changes. We are going to see this board continuing to review policies and procedures and add new ones as experience dictates.”

But the majority of new rules involve what is permissible for Convention Center employees and board members in marketing the center to prospective renters, members of the media, local business owners and others.

Under the new guidelines, employees and board members are free to host Convention Center events only when they directly benefit the operation through improved community relations, the possibility of new business or to promote the center throughout the industry.

The board also placed new restrictions on money spent from the center’s reserve fund and used for marketing and promotional activities.

The general manager must now get prior approval from a board member on the budget committee to spend more than $250 for marketing and promotional purposes. Approval is also needed if more than $250 is to be reimbursed the general manager.

The finance director must get approval from the general manager to spend or be reimbursed more than $250. Board and staff members must get similar approval from either the general manager or the finance director.

A policy that allowed employee discounts at the center has been suspended, board members said, until they have a chance to survey other operations throughout the country to determine whether they offer similar discounts.

Board members said they were continuing to conduct a sweeping review of every in-house event held at the Convention Center since it opened in late 1989. In its review, the board is looking to see whether Liegler or staff members held any other parties that the Convention Center should not have financed.

Liegler came under scrutiny last month for four parties he arranged this year and late last year whose guest list included members of his family, his golfing club, colleagues from the Anaheim Convention Center where he worked for 20 years and a social club he belonged to whose members all share the first name Tom. All four events cost the center more than $12,000.

In announcing Liegler’s resignation two weeks ago, Oliver said information about two new parties came to light, one supposedly related to the Republican National Committee’s visit last year and another for a dinner of which few details are known.

Oliver said he had no new information about the two events but that Liegler had been asked to reimburse the center. Donna Alm, the Convention Center’s spokeswoman, said the board had asked Liegler’s attorney, Peter Hughes, whether his client has any data to support the events.

Hughes confirmed Wednesday that a repayment plan was discussed but that Liegler had not agreed to it. He said Liegler, who is officially to leave his $117,000-a-year job May 24, is supposed to be paid for the 30 days prior to when he announced his resignation.

“My understanding is that there is to be no economic sanction,” Hughes said.

After Wednesday’s board meeting, Oliver said he would not discuss any aspect of Liegler’s salary or benefits.

The board did agree to hire a job-search firm and conduct a nationwide hunt for Liegler’s replacement. They have set no timetable as to when a new director might be hired. In the interim, acting director Joe Davis will be in charge.

It was Davis and other staff members who established the new guidelines the board approved Wednesday.

Oliver said he hopes the new restrictions will help the Convention Center avoid repeating the most recent problems involving Liegler.

“We decided that a greater degree of checks and balances are appropriate,” he said. “But a system is only as good as those who are using it. Any system can be abused.”