Los Altos City Council members last week decided to go with an appointment process for selecting the successor to Kurt Colehower.

Colehower resigned Nov. 8 after serving one year of his four-year term on the council to pursue business interests. The chosen applicant would serve the remaining three years, until November 2009.

The appointment process, approved at the council’s Nov. 14 meeting, means councilmembers must move quickly to find a replacement. State law requires councils to appoint new members within 30 days of a resignation, making Dec. 8 the deadline for appointment.

Residents have until noon today to apply for the seat by submitting an application to the city clerk. Applications are available on the city’s Web site,

www.ci.los-altos.ca.us. A special meeting for initial candidate

interviews is scheduled for

6 p.m. Nov. 29, and a special meeting to interview three finalists is scheduled for 6 p.m. Dec. 4.

Councilmembers selected the appointment process from three options. A mail-in ballot option would cost taxpayers an estimated $212,000, and a special election would cost an estimated $423,000.