By Lauren McSherry

Los Altos city officials are looking into adopting new ethics standards to discourage planning commissioners and councilmembers from making real estate investments while serving in public positions. The new standards could also discourage elected and appointed officials from serving on boards for organizations, such as non-profits, charities and business associations, that have financial interests with the city.

How to enforce the code is not under consideration. Councilmembers said last week, during a study session on the topic, they would not be in favor of penalizing top-level officials who disobeyed the standards because the Fair Political Practices Commission and the Political Reform Act exist for that reason.

Some councilmembers said at the Dec. 1 meeting that they were unsure an ethics code is needed.

“I’d like to figure out: Should we even do something?” Councilman Curtis Cole said.

“If we do something, we need to ensure we’re actually solving a problem … or creating a framework for future discussions,” Mayor David Casas said.

Councilman Ron Packard serves on the board for the Los Altos Village Association (LAVA). In past years, the council has voted on issues connected with LAVA. Packard had planned to step down before taking his seat as mayor this week but has been asked to stay during the association’s transition between executive directors. Ted Garrett is leaving his post as LAVA executive director at the end of this year.

“If we tinker with our council norms, I think it should be to increase public confidence in the decisions we make,” Packard said.

Last August, the city investigated whether Planning Commissioner Penny Lave, who had financial ties to a condominium project in Los Altos, had violated California disclosure laws after a resident filed an informal complaint alleging that she had failed to properly disclose her conflict of interest.

The city’s personnel committee cleared Lave of any wrongdoing.