Convention Center Next City Spinoff? : Privatization: Anaheim council wants to study trying again what worked at The Pond. The proposal comes at a time when major expansion of the facility is being considered.

It’s worked out well for The Pond, so why not the Convention Center?

Some members of the City Council are wondering aloud if it might be more profitable for Anaheim to turn the operations of its Convention Center over to a private contractor, as they did with the arena when it opened two years ago.

A majority of the five-member council said last week that they want the idea fully researched and may formally discuss the matter as early as Tuesday.

“I want to do it now if there’s someone who is interested in taking it over,” Councilman Frank Feldhaus said. “We’ve been subsidizing operations of the Convention Center and we could save a lot of costs and get a percentage of whatever the company generates in revenues.”

Both venues are owned by the city but the arena is operated by Ogden Entertainment. The Convention Center, one of the largest facilities of its kind in the nation, is run by the city.

“I’m open-minded on the subject, but we clearly need more information,” Mayor Tom Daly said. “I think that due to increased competition in the convention business from cities such as San Diego, Las Vegas and San Francisco, we have to look at any serious proposal that could improve Anaheim’s convention facility.”

Talk of privatizing operations of the Convention Center comes at a time when the city is considering a major expansion of the 28-year-old facility.

The council recently hired a top accounting firm to study the financial feasibility of a proposed $60-million expansion of the building, which currently has five exhibit halls and a 9,000-seat arena. It attracted more than 1.2 million visitors during the 1992-93 fiscal year.

Daly said the privatization idea should be fully explored before any expansion plans are approved.

“We need to know how much private sector money might be available,” Daly said. “If we can replace public monies with private investment and still have one of the best convention centers in America, that’s worth looking at.”

City Manager James D. Ruth said last week that the operating costs at the Convention Center had been reduced to the point that it would not require any money from the city’s general fund during the 1995-96 fiscal year, which begins in July. Officials are projecting that the Convention Center will recover 94% of its $28.4 million in operational costs this current fiscal year.

Ruth said that in each of the past two years, about $1 million had been transferred from the city’s general fund to cover operating costs at the facility.

Part of the savings has been achieved by consolidating some positions at the Convention Center and Anaheim Stadium, also owned and operated by the city.

Anaheim Stadium General Manager Greg Smith was given the additional responsibility of managing the Convention Center this month and the council approved merging the job of financial accounting manager at each facility into a single position.

“This is just part of how we are moving through the Convention Center, looking at options,” Ruth said.

The Convention Center employs 100 full- and part-time employees and 542 seasonal employees.

Ruth reportedly had been in favor of completing his cost-saving efforts and moving forward with expansion plans before exploring privatization proposals.

“The city manager has stated that he would like to wait at least a year,” Feldhaus said. “But we cannot procrastinate any longer.”

Said Councilman Bob Zemel: “I certainly think this is an opportunity to talk about it and get all the input. And the sooner the better.”

If the privatization idea gathers steam, it could raise a furor among city employees, if an effort to privatize the city’s two golf courses last summer is any indication.

A proposal to turn over the operations of H.G. (Dad) Miller and Anaheim Hills golf courses was eventually voted down after several months of fierce debate.

The proposal would have meant that 25 full-time workers and 48 part-time workers would no longer be employed by the city.