City leaders will meet in person or by phone today with representatives of a company hoping to privately manage the Convention Center.

The 4 p.m. work session may become a conference call if members of the New Orleans Hospitality Consultants can’t make the trip, Mayor Phillip West said.

In early November, local attorney Walter Brown and convention center hotel developer Tom Bauer introduced the group to the board of aldermen, proposing privatization of the Natchez Convention Center.

Today’s session will be aimed at ironing out some details, West said.

“We’ll have questions in reference to usage of the facility, making sure the facility stays open to the general public, keeping the rates where they are, when the contract would take place,” West said.

He also hopes to decide on a date for takeover if the deal is carried out, he said, and wants to determine whether privatization would include the City Auditorium and the Community Center as well.

The talk will also center on the financial aspects and what responsibility the city will have with the center compared to what it has been in the past, West said.

Portions of the meeting may go into a closed to the public executive session, he said, but the city must first open the meeting in public.

Hospitality Consultants executives Warren Reuther Jr. and Paul Buckley met with the aldermen in executive session at a November board meeting.

The aldermen agreed at that time to consider a five-year contract with the group to manage the coming hotel and existing convention center.

Currently, the city’s tourism department handles management of the convention center.