By Scott Wong

The newest members of the Los Altos Hills City Council wasted no time in implementing their inclusive government policy, as council voted Thursday to create a citizens committee, including residents and council members, to decide a process for determining the design, cost and time frame for a new town hall.

Council members Breene Kerr and Dean Warshawsky took their oath of office and volunteered to serve on the committee as council representatives, along with colleague Mike O’Malley. Seven resident members will be selected by the council from a pool of applicants at the Dec. 19 meeting.

There was little objection from members except for concerns about the committee size and the urgency of getting a new town hall design on its feet.

The disadvantage of going through the application process, Kerr said, is that the committee will not meet until the end of January, due to the holidays. He proposed that each member nominate one person to serve on the committee with two council members.

“I respectfully ask that we expedite this process as much as possible,” Kerr said.

But when discussion ceased, Mayor Bob Fenwick’s proposal of a 10-member committee, comprising three council members and seven residents, stood.

Last summer, council approved a mission-style design by architect John Goldman costing $5 million, where $3.5 million would be contributed from town reserves and $1.4 would be paid for by residents’ donations.

Fenwick stopped design work on Nov. 6, the day after Kerr and Warshawsky were elected. On Thursday, council officially suspended the work by the architect, its contractors and subcontractors, pending further direction from council.

Kerr, who has spoken to Goldman, said the architect had a considerable amount of work that could be reused.

“(Goldman) expressed a willingness to come up with a number of sketches that might be appropriate to some of the input he saw in the press,” Kerr said.

As in the selection of past ad hoc committee members, council members will each have seven votes. Applicants with the greatest number of votes will be appointed by council.

Because a majority of council members will serve on the committee, City Attorney Steve Mattas said these meeting will be open to the public under the Brown Act, a law that requires public access to meetings.

One resident suggested the entire design process go back to square one in order to explore all design options.

Resident William Downey said council should revisit artists’ renderings of town hall completed three years ago, when he served on the Town Hall Committee.

“Let’s just not deny history,” he said. “We have a history to work from.”

Kerr said the formation of this committee is the first step in giving the democratic process a “fresh start.”