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Published on 12/22/1997 All articles from this issue

News Briefs

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Council meetings: City manager search,

Tree Farm project review

The Los Altos City Council has scheduled a study session with a representative from the city manager search firm for 7 p.m. next Monday in Room A, Hillview Community Center, 97 Hillview Ave., Los Altos.

The public is welcome to come. All city manager search meetings are open to the public until the city interviews or discusses specific candidates. Those meetings will be closed.

The next night, Tuesday, the council will be holding a special joint meeting with the planning commission to review the Tree Farm Project. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. and will also be in Room A of the Hillview Center.

Former mayor donates council salary to city

For the second year in a row, Los Altos City Councilman Francis La Poll has donated his council salary of $3,600 to the city.

The money has been placed in a special "seed capital" account to encourage other donations for "future park development, said Sherry Lambach, Los Altos finance director.

City council accepted the gift at its Dec. 16 meeting.

Wellness center coming to Main Street

The Los Altos City Council approved a use permit for the Sante Center, at 111 A and B Main St. in downtown Los Altos.

The center will offer classes and lectures in meditation, stress management, yoga and the martial arts, said Bob Schubert, a contract planner working for the city of Los Altos, in a staff report.

The center will also sell wellness products including vitamins, literature, books, tapes and videos. No exterior building modifications were proposed at the Dec. 16 council meeting when the use permit was approved.

The site is zoned "commercial retail sales /office administrative design." In the CRS/OAD district retail offices are allowed on the first floor. In the commercial retail sales district, that begins next door to 111 Main St., offices are not allowed on the first floor.

Citizen proposes traffic task force

Los Altos resident Kurt Ayers has had enough of local traffic congestion. But instead of reporting the problem, he came to council Dec. 16 with a solution.

He proposed that the council appoint a traffic advisory task force to work with public safety and public works for a six-month period.

"The problem is real. The question is what to do about it," Ayers said. "We'll create options. There are real people behind this who really want to do this."

Mayor Kris Casto said the council would discuss the proposal in January.

Leon Pirofalo resigns from planning commission

Leon Pirofalo resigned from the Los Altos Planning Commission effective Dec. 10. He was two years into his second four-year term that would have continued until 1999.

His is the third vacancy on the seven-member commission in the past four months. City council fired chairwoman Gloria Bauer last August after she swore in public at city staff. Honor Spitz retired in September, six months short of the completion of her second four year term.

In December city council filled those two vacancies with John Ritchie and Penny Lave. They were two of nine who applied for the two openings.

The procedure for filling Pirofalo's seat has not been announced.

Economic development coordinator position considered in 1998

The position of economic development coordinator has been vacant since Carol Curran left in October. City Manager Dianne Gershuny sought council's direction at the Dec. 16 council meeting as to what they want next.

"I will be writing up an issues paper for the council to discuss at their January goal setting meeting," Gershuny said after the meeting.

Team-building session gets mixed reviews

Newly-elected city councilman John Moss said he thought the all-day team building session held Dec. 15 was "a day well spent." He said the consultant, Marilyn Snider of the Oakland-based Snider and Associates, was the "best ever." Moss would like to have a mission statement for the city council.

Councilman Lou Becker said he thought the day was a bit long.