Los Altos Hills City Attorney Steve Mattas announced he will be stepping down at the end of the calendar year, with the City Council working to hire his replacement.
Mattas has been the city attorney for 24 years and announced at the June 18 council meeting that he plans to leave at the end of the year, promising to assist the council in any way if needed as it begins a search for his replacement.
“I do want to thank the council and the citizens of Los Altos Hills for the opportunity to serve,” Mattas said.
The council has formed an ad hoc committee of Mayor Rajiv Bhateja and Councilmember Kavita Tankha to help with the next steps, city staff said.
Bhateja noted the council had several options moving forward, like hiring an in-house attorney or hiring an attorney through a law firm. The city currently uses the latter option, as Mattas is a partner at Redwood Public Law. An in-house attorney that works full time would allow Los Altos Hills to have more individualized time to work on its needs. However, the town often needs specialized help due to the variety of issues it encounters, and one attorney would not be able to cover all issues, requiring outside help and potential additional costs.
“We are just at the early stages of trying to figure out what direction we want to go in,” Bhateja said.
