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Published on 07/24/1995 All articles from this issue

Four take out papers for Los Altos council election

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By Jan Shaw

Special to the Town Crier

Four Los Altos City Council hopefuls have taken out filing papers from the city clerk's office to fill three up-for-grabs council seats in the November election.

The deadline to file the completed papers to be eligible for the city council election is Aug. 16 at 5 p.m., said Los Altos City Clerk Carol Scharz.

As of last week, those who have taken out papers are: Bob Norton, who has been active in the Homeowners' League; Kris Casto, a former planning commission member and co-owner of a roofing contracting business; Janet Dobson, a member of the recreation commission who was active in Mayor Bob Gray's city council campaign; and Gloria Bauer, a Realtor and current planning commission member.

Lou Becker, also an active member of the Homeowners' League, said he intends to take out papers but "I'm not 100 percent certain I'll file them."

The first step in running for the five-member city council is to pick up filing papers from the Los Altos city clerk. The second is to fill them out and return them before the deadline.

All three incumbent two-term members - Marge Bruno, Dave Reeder and Ted Laliotis - said they will not run for re-election.

All want to abide by the city's two-term-limit policy, they said, even though the policy is not legally binding.

Bruno and Reeder also appear attracted to life without the city council commitment and Laliotis is gearing up to run for the Republican nomination for the 21st state Assembly district seat in 1996. Democrat Byron Sher currently represents the 21st district but can't run again because of term limits.

Another Los Altos planning commissioner, Mike Schneider, had seriously considered running but said last week that he has "no intentions at this time."

Tom Anderson, president of the Los Altos Homeowners' League, said the league will not be fielding a slate of candidates nor donating money to candidates.

Potential candidates Norton and Becker resigned from the league's board of directors to run as independents for the council, Anderson said.

"We'll be having one of our regular (candidates) sessions later in the fall to listen to all the candidates and decide on which one of them we're going to support," Anderson said. "We have lots of members around town, so just because they are members doesn't mean we sponsor them."

Council member Patti Williams and Mayor Bob Gray both won their seats in the council election two years ago and are not up for re-election. It is Williams' second term and Gray's first.