By Linda Taaffe

Council asks mayor to keep his opinions to himself, under new proposed norms

Los Altos City Council members have asked the mayor essentially to keep his opinions to himself.

The council is putting in place a set of norms that would, in essence, seal the mayor’s lips from publicly commenting on undecided city issues outside of council chambers.

Council members said they were concerned that the public has confused the mayor’s personal views with the council’s overall position on some city issues in recent months.

There is a public perception that the mayor represents the entire council, even though the mayor has no greater authority than any other member, Councilman Francis La Poll said.

Council members said they hope the norms will eliminate public confusion and keep council discussion out of the newspapers and in the council chambers.

Council members decided 4-to-1 last month to revamp the mayor’s public role under the council’s norms and code of ethics, after Mayor King Lear publicly lobbied for community support for the construction of a movie theater on the city-owned property at the corner of First and Main streets.

Council members said Lear’s comments had created community angst by blurring his views with the council’s.

Council members said Lear was entitled to his position, but his comments had led some residents to believe that the council had already made a decision about the Main Street property.

The council has not yet taken a position. It is still in the process of deciding whether to place a theater, a hotel or other development at the .78-acre site.

Lear did not support the idea of creating norms that would dictate what the mayor could and couldn’t do publicly, regarding public statements.

He said such a norm would violate the mayor’s First Amendment rights.

Lear said the council should allow the mayor to contribute to and broaden public discussions as long as the mayor states that he or she is “just talking for the person. …Otherwise you end up kind of cheating the public.”

The community might not have had a theater option if Lear had not conducted his own analysis of the land use, he added.

Council members Lou Becker and Kris Casto are scheduled to bring back a list of council guidelines for a final vote.

The council is looking at the norms used by the cities of Claremont and Pacifica.