Thanks for being patient with us. Uh,
we'll call the town council meeting of
January 13th, 2026 to order. Jennifer,
will you take role?
>> Council member Alberish
>> here.
>> Council member Brown
>> here.
>> Council member Gold
>> here.
>> Council member Walt
>> here. Mayor Donowski
>> here. Mortm Gold, will you lead us in
the pledge of allegiance?
Okay, very good. Uh, we'll move right
into public comments. Wishing to address
the council on any matter not on the
posted agenda are invited to do so.
Please note, however, that the council
cannot undertake extended discussions or
act on non-aggendaized items. Such items
can be referred to staff for an
appropriate action in the future or
placed on a future agenda. Are there any
members of the public that would like to
make a comment on any matter that's not
on the agenda this evening?
>> Pull up Zoom. One second here.
» I didn't know you had coffee. Coffee is
uh whatever it takes to get you here, we
will we'll we'll we'll do. I I see no
public uh comment beyond the coffee. Uh
we will uh close public comment. Moving
right along. Uh we have a presentation
from Yip Housing. Hi.
>> Hi there.
>> Welcome.
Uh my name is Troy Wilson. I'm
here tonight to make a brief
presentation. Um and I'm the fund
development director of Hip Housing. And
so um want to share something
encouraging tonight. uh hopefully
encourages everyone, lifts everyone up.
Um since 1972, HIP Housing has been
helping lowincome San Monteo County
residents to find and maintain
affordable housing. And we're listed in
all 21 housing elements in Sonteo
County, including yours. uh as a trusted
affordable housing partner. Um last year
we worked with uh over 4,000 individuals
and provided housing to over,200
lowincome households throughout the
entire county. Um a quick update here on
our 2425 fiscal year. 456 individuals
applied to our home sharing program. Uh
141 individuals enrolled in our
self-suffic self-sufficiency program.
700 tenants were housed in our property
management program and 153 individuals
received assistance through our home
readiness program. Uh on behalf of Hip
Housing, I would like to uh thank the
honorable mayor and the members of city
council here. I've given you uh each a
calendar and um
uh it is it is of our enduring your
enduring support of our organization
that we uh exist and continue to do the
great services that we provide. And uh
this is why I'm here tonight, just to
show you a calendar. And um each year,
Hip Housing asks children from around
the county in grades kindergarten
through fifth grade uh to draw a picture
of home and as well as give a quote
about what home means to them. Um and so
it tells tells us what home means to
them. Um and this year we had had over
120 calendar entries and from these
entries we selected 14 winners. uh one
for our front cover, one for our annual
appeal uh presentation, and then the 12
months of the year. Um my favorite is
the front cover that that you see there.
Uh it was it was our first place winner
of our calendar contest by a third
grader uh from Hillsboro and her quote
is uh what my home means to me is being
loved and cared for. My home is a safe
place.
So, we hope that you enjoy the calendar
and that it serves as a beautiful
reminder throughout the year of how
important housing is to everyone in our
county, especially our children. Uh,
more information about our uh, hip
housing programs and our calendar
contest and even more can be found on
our website uh, hiphousing.org. Thank
you.
>> Thank you, Troy. Are there any questions
for Troy?
Seeing none, we'll thank you for your
wonderful work on behalf of the
community and for being here to share
these touching and lovely calendars and
u for all the vital work you do in
serving the community. We really
appreciate it.
>> Thank you.
And we have uh
a double show tonight. We have the
library annual report as well. So,
welcome.
» Thank you. Good evening everyone. and
Mayor Donowski, town council members,
and town staff. My name is Carmen Latona
Adams, and I'm the community library
manager for the Woodside Library. And
I'm pleased to share the fiscal year
2024 2025 annual report, uh, which I
believe is also shared with you guys in
advance. And thank you, Jennifer, for
advancing the slides. So, first
established as a county free library in
1912, the library joint powers authority
was formed in 1999. Our service area is
351 square miles made up of 11 member
cities and unincorporated areas of the
county. Each of our 13 libraries is part
of a larger system offering countless
opportunities for connection and
exploration. We curate our offerings to
meet the needs and interests of our
community to help them thrive.
And uh this year we rolled out our new
five-year strategic plan. Our new plan
grounds us in our shared goals to
listen, connect, discover, and engage.
As we put our new vision, mission, and
goals into action, we know our continued
success depends on the insights and
contributions of the voices in our
communities.
On the next slide,
as part of our strategic plan, we
introduced a new vision and mission to
guide our work, which you see there. Our
updated mission is together we build
meaningful connections and inspire
lifelong curiosity. Now I'd like to
share uh how that's been coming to life
in our libraries.
This is our year in numbers. Um the
programs and collections at Santo County
libraries are very well used. This year
we saw 1.7 million library visitors, 2.4
million items circulated, and over
11,600
programs and events. Beyond numbers,
each data point represents the
connections, learning, and growth that
happens across our community. Next
slide. We strive to deliver services and
offer opportunities where our diverse
communities feel seen, heard, and
valued. Each of our library staff brings
unique backgrounds and experiences to
the library. This diversity strengthens
how we serve through responsive
programs, meaningful outreach, and
culturally rich collections. Next slide.
And more numbers. Our culture of
discovery and exploration is reflected
in our 249,967
active library card holders. We saw 2.8
million website visits, 41,984
laptop checkouts, 4 million in library
Wi-Fi sessions, and a huge increase here
on 23,343
hotspot checkouts thanks to additional
hotspots that were added to our
collection. and we're proud to welcome
14,274
new active card holders. Next slide. And
then at the local level for Woodside
Library, we had over 57,700
library visitors and circulated over
70,000 items last fiscal year and then
Excel.
and also on a local level, 65,000
digital downloads for the Woodside
Library uh through the platform
Libby/Overdrive.
Our program attendance at the library
also reached over 7,217
people. In addition to our popular
on-site programs, we also make it a
point to get out into the community. You
have likely seen us this year at the
horse park at water hutter in Wonderlake
and also the Kinyatta College food
distribution site that is uh on
Tuesday's Kinyatta. Next slide.
So we create moments for stage for every
stage and phase of life to foster growth
and curiosity. I'm excited to share some
other great accomplishments. Next slide.
So, this is actually a video that I
won't play today, but was shared with
you guys and um is also on our library
YouTube channel. It's very adorable. So,
if you haven't watched it yet, please
do. Um and it's about our 55 plus aged
programs. Um we love to connect older
adults with opportunities to stay
active, learn new skills, build
friendships. We create welcoming spaces
and provide meaningful experiences to
help older adults find connection,
routine, and a sense of belonging. Uh
this particular video uh takes place in
Phoi and um I believe this library
that's featured was the North Oaks
community, but locally for Woodside, we
went to Pi Ranch over in Pescadero and
that was a very fun trip. Next slide.
So we're also helping families spark a
love of reading from day one through
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
Children's ages 0 to 5 receive free
books in the mail each month. Since
launch, thousands of Sanonteo County
kids have enrolled in this program.
We're thankful for our partners at the
Dollywood Foundation, the Foundation for
Santo County Libraries, and our friends
group who make this offering possible.
Next slide.
This is another video that's also fun to
watch. It's actually the libraries at
Giants Night. Um I believe it was in the
spring or very early summer. So,
together with our partners, we bring the
library into the community in fun and
unexpected ways. There was a library
night with the San Francisco Giants.
There were various libraries there, not
just us. And uh we took our Makermobile.
We had people browse ebooks and other
baseball themed books that day. Uh we've
also been to the Sanio County Fair. Of
course, we go every year and we always
create a very vibrant reading garden at
the fair.
So, wherever we go, we remind people
that the library is always within reach.
Next slide.
and our staff are at the very heart of
everything that we do. This year, our
library champions leaned into growth and
new ideas, turning creativity into even
better services for our communities. We
celebrate our team from lifelong staff
who know our communities deeply to new
team members who bring fresh
perspectives. And we're also thankful
for the support of volunteers and our
friends groups who continuously help us
reach even more people across the
county. Next slide.
And this is one more video from the
Belmont reopening. If you weren't aware,
they had a a refresh of their library
space. So, it's a cute video of that
day. Our libraries are, of course,
community destinations. We provide
welcoming spaces to gather, learn, and
connect through continued upgrades and
new spaces. We're always working to make
them more comfortable, innovative, and
inspiring for everyone in collaboration
with the community and with the town.
Okay, next up.
So, our Woodside Library created its own
winds in progress this past year. I'd
like to specifically highlight our 55
plus corner. It's a comfortable area of
the library with views of the garden. It
also has books um featuring different
interests that might be of interest to
older community members. There are also
community resource pamphlets there,
flyers highlighting free services um
regarding mental wellness, health,
transportation um mostly from the
county. And uh our older adult
programming is also hugely popular at
the library. A computer basics and
security is a um a very popular topic,
but also wellness programs as well.
presentations on traveling, especially
for older adults, is very highly
attended. And we also do maker programs
for our older adults with hands-on
activities. They're are highly popular.
SL
and
I'd like to specifically highlight our
partnership with the friends of the
Wonder Lake, Wonderlake and Hutter Park.
Uh this past summer we partnered with
them to bring some uh wellness and uh
art activities to both parks in the
summer specifically for older adults.
But um I think we had it as all ages
mostly older adults came and um if I
memory serves it was nature journaling
and sound forest bathing both highly
popular and um thanks to the friends of
the library who supported that
partnership with the friends of
Wonderlick and Hutter.
Um
next slide
and I'd like to highlight our high
school summer adventure interns. This is
Briana. But we also had another intern
named Zoe. Uh they were both wonderful
additions to the library, helping staff
with numerous outreach events, programs,
and even book displays. The kids love
doing programs with them from crochet to
slime. And I think there they were
painting, and that was a lot of fun in
that back patio. And the last slide is
uh just a thank you to town staff and
town council for your collaboration with
us for championing the library in
particular council member Brown who is
on our uh JPA board as well as uh town
manager Jason. Uh it's with your work
with the governing board and operations
committee that we can make a lot of
these things happen. A thank you to the
friends of Woodside Library of course
for the ongoing support and library
staff for their commitment and passion
to their work and I'm happy to answer
questions.
>> Wonderful. Thank you. Any questions for
Carmen?
>> I'm very happy.
>> Very good.
>> Well then I will simply thank you for
being here and for everything that you
do for the community. It's a It's always
a great reminder of the many services
that you provide to our constituents and
uh it's always a lovely presentation at
start of every year. So,
>> thank you.
» Okay, I think with that we will move on
to the town manager report. Mr. Led
Better.
>> Yeah, thank you Mr. Mayor and uh
Woodside Town Council. a relatively
brief report, but uh over the holiday
break, the town offices were closed, but
uh we had no shortage of response from
the public works team due to storms uh
primarily in the first week. But over
the last few weeks, they've been
responsive on multiple occasions. Uh
multiple trees were down and there was
some uh work that was done to make sure
that drains were clear and anything that
got clogged was alleviated. And what I'm
hearing is that ultimately this was
substantially a lighter storm that been
past years from atmospheric rivers in
the past. But it was also very
successful break because we did fumigate
this in the other building for termites
and so that's been completed. Uh the
town is scheduling administrative
services director interviews over the
next two weeks. The panel will include
staff obviously, but we will have an
audit committee member as well as an
admin services director from another
local agency on the interview panel.
More information to come in the coming
weeks on that. And then my final
announcement this evening is that the
town has hired a public works director
uh/town engineer who is currently the
deputy engineer in Pacifica. Lewis Sun
will be starting after Martin Luther
King uh Jr. Day on Tuesday 120 next
week. So Lewis brings about 20 years of
local government experience with primary
roles in engineering, wastewater, and
general public works. He is a graduate
of the Ohio State University and holds a
master's in engineering management from
Santa Clara University. Lewis has been
on the peninsula doing public works for
well over a decade and prior to that he
was a design engineer for the city of
Bakersfield, giving him experience in a
broad spectrum uh in the multitude of
disciplines across public works. So,
I'll be very excited to bring him to the
next meeting.
>> And that's all I have. Looking forward
to it. Questions for Jason.
» Um, and Jason, we had a chance to catch
up about this this week. So, I had an
opportunity to catch up with a San
Carlos council member over the holidays
and they uh she let me know that they
are in the midst of doing their annual
uh strategic planning process and goal
setting process. I was wondering if you
could just report out on sort of the
process that you envision implementing
in Woodside because I think you know the
council would be interested to hear
that. I'd be interested to hear that and
I think it would be interesting to for
our residents to hear that as well.
>> Yeah, I'm glad we're having this
conversation just so I can get a better
understanding of the council's uh wishes
based off of my understanding of all the
different planning documents and goals
that we currently have. So you know
going through the review process with
the facilitator ultimately I had this
question for them because we did find
seven goals essentially for myself as
well as the CIP uh the housing element
deliverables and then ultimately um when
we're looking at the town center area
plan deliverables to come. And so what
I'm seeing is really an opportunity to
finalize the town center area plan, then
come back with all of these different
deliverables that we're currently
working on and come to the council at
that time to determine if we want to do
strategic planning at that point. uh
because I'm not 100% sure if it makes
more sense for the will of the council
to work through our current obligations
within the planning documents that we
have primarily the housing element the
CIP and then the the current planning
document that's being done by the
entirety of the town the town center
area plan I'm going to assume that
there'll be a multitude of projects
there but the way I would take it if if
none of that was currently happening I
personally believe more in say what the
library has done and and that ultimately
strategic initiative should be
multi-year and over say a five-year term
rather than consistently changing on an
annual basis. And so ultimately we can
bring in a facilitator
uh in order to do that. But based off of
all of the multitude of documents that
we currently have and the obligations
that we're committed to, I think it
would make more sense that I would lead
with the council what staff felt were
the priorities from uh those multitude
of planning documents and then we would
game plan with you other strategic
initiatives that you would want to see
us work on over the coming years. and
then the staff would go work out
projects and bring them back to you to
see if they fit within the trunch of the
strategic initiative that was set. So
that's kind of how I envision us moving
forward and I would not and this is what
I need feedback from the council. I
don't envision that before January of of
be honest with you just because of the
litany of obligations that we currently
have. I don't know if it's the will of
the council. Certainly, we'll do
whatever they desire, but I'm not sure
if we need more planning or the view
that I currently have is we need more
actual delivery of the current plan that
we have.
>> Yeah, thank you for that. Just a quick
followup question because um and maybe a
little bit of history here. the the
council I've been on for six years now.
We we did do a facilitated
uh goal setting process at the end of
2024.
Um and I know you've I you've reviewed
the um the agenda and the the minutes
from from that session. Um we didn't do
any strategic goal setting. I think
rightfully so. last year uh we had you
know the change the new town man you
starting um and I hear what you're
saying in terms of we we definitely have
a lot going on we've got a lot of
initiatives I'd be curious though how
you view those initiatives where do they
slot into the town's current goals
because we did set some goals right that
and I think a lot of those initiatives
are in service of those goals so I'm
curious like what your thoughts on like
do we kind of already have a strategic
plan and those initiatives that we're
working on serve that strategic plan,
but we haven't really just kind of like
mapped them together.
>> That's a great point and that's what I
would that's my preference is ultimately
I think we have some gaps and I think
one of the gaps is with hazard
mitigation. I think that we need to
really develop and I'm working with a
couple council members specifically Dick
Brown currently on some opportunities
with with hazard mitigation. And so I
think what I'd like to do is kind of map
out how I see the current um obligations
that we have, come back to the council
and start from that point to um build
out the missing pieces of the strategy
right now that we should be focusing a
percentage of time all the time on
hazard mitigation. So if that's suit if
that suited the council that would be
what I would desire is to take a look at
the current deliverables that we have
build something out and then come to you
during the budgeting process and
showcase to you the current strategic
initiative as I see it and then have you
fill in the gaps and then
>> help guide me as to when you think it
makes the most sense to really have a
retreat that would involve maybe a
deeper dive into the next five years.
Yeah, I think that would be really
healthy because I think you know if you
sort of mash together the work that we
did in 2024 where we came up with our
strategic goals. I I would I believe
that a lot of the initiatives that you
are currently working on are in service
of those goals. We haven't we just
haven't articulated it into a strategic
plan which I think is really important
to have as a town. Um, it's my
understanding it's what our peer towns
have and San Carlos are, you know, the
examples before us tonight as a desk
item. Um, so I would be very supportive
of that to to kind of formalize I think
what's already out there into a
strategic plan.
>> I would definitely uh advocate doing
that myself as well. So if it suits the
rest of the council, that would be um I
think that would benefit us.
Do we do we have the um we're we're a
lot leaner than um San Carlos.
Uh so tell me a little bit um about the
resources. I mean when I think about
time and meetings and outreach and
dollars and whatnot. Um it's a process
when you put together strategic plan.
Now, I think a couple years ago at Jen
uh Council Member Wall was talking
about, I remember we all sort of
submitted what we thought the goals were
and uh or kind of
uh aggregated um and most people kind of
agreed. So, the good news was we're all
sort of on the same page and I kind of
feel like we're all on the same page at
this very moment in a shared vision, at
least in the broadest sense. But what
would it take um I mean what would it
take to actually do that process
resource-wise and would it take away
from execution?
>> Yeah. So that's a great point. So
ultimately what I'm hearing is that I
would take the strategic initiatives
that the council put together in 2024. I
would look at the landscape of
deliverables that we're already
obligated to delivering projects that
we're currently discussing as
initiatives. And then I would put
together essentially a couple pages that
showcase this that those are the
strategic initiatives of the town. But
thank you for pointing that out because
it'll be Christmas before I know it.
Honestly, this job is incredible. Uh as
far as working for the government, time
goes so quickly that right now we only
have three department heads that work
for the town and two of them are not are
currently not here. So ultimately that's
defaulting to our, you know, assistant
in in public works or it's defaulting
back over to me. So capacity honestly is an issue at the moment ultimately and
those positions need to get filled and
those people are going to take time to
bring them up to speed. So it may make
even more sense. I know this may, you
know, just for timing purposes, um,
incorporating the TCAP into this or
maybe this is actually we shoot for
July or June, but it may be more
realistic that this gets pushed back and
as an obligation of mine before the end
of actual the year of 2026
just to put together the paper and not
to do a strategic initiative planning
session. and it would be bringing you
how I'm envisioning our current
obligations and that would be our
starting point essentially.
So I think I would be able to do that
with a little bit more leeway just
thinking about the obligations that we
currently have if we were to maybe look
at all of 2026 giving me that
opportunity. I would shoot to do that
soon. But based off of the capacity of
the organization currently, it is
definitely we're, as I like to say,
we're punching above our weight level
currently.
>> Yeah. And I that's what I would have
thought you would have said. So that's great. I personally I I see
exactly the thought process. I um just
question of timing uh and we have our
feet on solid ground.
There any other?
>> I have a different question on a
different topic. Um, congratulations on
the hire of the public works director.
How long was that position vacant by the
way? Just curious.
» October.
>> Yeah, mid October.
>> Yeah, October. It was very I mean we rap
we moved so rapidly on this that I mean
I feel very very good about how quick
the caliber of the person that we have
coming on and how how in government
terms that was that was a quick
turnaround of
>> I was just surprised that it was it was
so short. So congratulations on doing
that. I don't have any other questions.
>> Thank you.
>> Town managers.
If I could just make a quick
announcement just that uh remind
everyone that the planning commission
has two vacancies terms ending uh for
districts one and three. So just any
chance I get and sorry I didn't give you
a heads up but just a quick announcement
for anyone listening or anyone who wants
to tell their friends. Um we have uh two
terms ending and applications for
districts one and three to serve on the
planning commission are due by February
4th. Then we did send out townwide
mailers for that and just trying to
advertise as much as possible.
>> Quick question. Are they are are the
current um
two gentlemen who hold those two seats?
>> One has moved districts. Um so that
becomes a complication for that one.
That's for district one. Um and then I
think we're still waiting to hear from
the incumbent on district three.
So, um, we would have to recruit in
district 1 and district three to fill
those seats
>> potentially if if the incumbent in
district 3 does not
>> Yeah, but they must be in district.
>> Isn't Well, there's a way to get around
that. Yeah,
>> there's a code provision that allows for
the council to override that should
someone outside of a district apply.
>> It requires a four-fifths vote,
>> I believe. So,
sorry for interrupting. I just want to
get that out.
>> No, that's a good double.
» Okay. Any uh comments from the public on
the town manager report?
Seeing none, we will close the town
manager report and move on to
appointments. So, the appointments
committee, I will hand off this uh
recreation committee, which I know
you're going to say is the best
committee, but there are many wonderful
committees.
>> I'm glad that uh people are starting to
come around that it's the best
committee. That's
>> um there is one applicant for the
recreation committee. Um and that's
Jonathan Goldman. He comes well
recommended by
um Rowan McN, the chair, who as you know
is a very discerning uh individual and
uh the recommendation of the committee
is that we um accept this appointment to
the recreation committee by Jonathan
Golden. So I will nominate him. Oh,
unless there's an second. Oh, good.
Okay.
>> Okay. Uh, Council,
>> any discussion, this gentleman, or are
we good to go to vote? I think we're
good to go to vote. Yeah.
>> Council member Aberish.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Brown.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Gold.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Wall.
>> Mayor Donowski.
>> Yes. Jonathan, welcome to the recreation
committee.
>> This committee,
>> one of many wonderful committees.
Uh, we certainly look forward to your
contributions. Um, next up, we've got
consent agenda and we've got a big one.
So, all items on the consent are
considered routine and will be approved
by one roll call motion unless a request
is made at the beginning of the meeting
uh that an item be withdrawn or
transferred to the regular agenda. We do
have an extensive list. Are there any
items on the consent agenda that any
member of the council would like to pull
for further discussion?
>> Yes, Council Member Brown.
>> Number 12.
» Uh 5713
will be quick.
Okay.
All right. Can we get a motion for 1 2 3
4 6 8 9 10 11 and 14?
>> I move to approve 1 2 3 4 6 8 9 10 11
and 14.
>> Second.
>> Council member Aberish.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Brown.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Gold.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Wall. Mayor Donowski.
>> Yes. We'll go in order. So number five
goes to you, Paul. Um so five is the um
mayor's council member committee
appointments for 2026.
Um, as maybe the public doesn't know
this, but in addition to serving coming
in here, uh, two nights a month
approximately, um, each of us serves on
other we we not only, um, get to be a
liaison to some committees, uh, the
town's volunteer committees, but we also
there's a lot of Bay Area, state level,
local level, county level, uh,
organizations that we also liaison to
that we participate on. And um I didn't I mean I'm grateful that uh
for the two that I serve on uh that are
outside the town. Um and of course as
you know I also serve as liaison to the
recreation committee. Um but I think um
one of the things that comes up is uh um I've heard back from some committee
chairs that they want to make sure that
we are participating at those committee
levels. that is that um attending our
liaison committees. I know you know most
of us do this but I that that they want
to make sure that we do attend um and I
think that it really um is a nice sign
uh of good faith to those committees
when a member of the town council shows
up. I think that they appreciate that we
do serve some purpose and we can bring
back information here. But um I just
wanted to make that point that these are
serious assignments and um we should
take them as such and attend them. So,
that was all I wanted to say unless
there's some pop well public comment.
No,
>> you know, I'm glad you pulled it because
maybe I should just summarize this a
little bit, too. Um, in the spirit of
continuity, I just made the assumption
that by and large we're all staying on
the same uh current assignments. Uh, if
you want to change any of those, we can
certainly talk about those right now. I
the material changes here, just so you
know, is that we stripped out uh the
climate and sustainability uh committee
uh given the lack of members uh which is
really folding back, I think, in
environment. So, Hassan, you got to drop
a committee. Uh, the town manager
review, we changed that to recognize
that that's now facilitated as opposed
to um just a couple folks doing and um
made some other changes around, you
know, just two people on the attorney
review because only two of the five
council members can be there. Uh we also
stripped out the Pulla Valley Woodside
ad hoc committee. Um we did that after
learning from both attorneys that those
would be Brown Act committees, which we
didn't realize. Um, and because I don't
think there's a lot of strategic
interest, at least in the immediate
term, in looking at, um, evaluating
options, uh, and that any tactical cost
issues for a sheriff's contract or
something would come up from two town
managers, uh, and be presented. So,
there really wasn't no need for that.
And then a good chunk of the staff
leaison either changed out or optimized.
Um, so those are the major changes. Uh,
but for the most part, as far as we're
concerned, I I largely just kept
everything the same. Um, is there
anything you need to drop for time
reasons in order to uh be able to make
the commitments that uh Mayor Prom Gold
was just speaking to? We can certainly
uh work on that right now or you can uh
we can certainly do a swap out later. We
can just talk about it. So, but with
that I don't have anything else to add.
>> I had nothing else on that point.
>> Guess we can
>> you want to just do them all at once if
we can.
>> Okay, great. Uh number seven, that's you
on leaf blowers.
>> Uh so seven is second reading and
adoption of an ordinance adopting a
Woodside municipal code new section
94.06
prohibition of gas powered leaf blowers.
Um I just as a courtesy to the public if
there was any public comment. Um it's
just opening up. Are there any members
of the public that would like to comment
on the second reading for the ban on
leaf blowers effectively in central
Woodside gas powered leaf blowers?
Seeing none,
we'll move on.
>> 13 or 12 is going over to council member
Brown. Yeah, I only wanted to comment
that um I've noticed on some of our
roadways, um we've been
building up a lot of asphalt along all
across the roadway except is now have
drops drop offs, sizable drop offs, um
that could become a hazard sometime in
the future. And so I'd like to have
particularly on our area um have have a
survey done perhaps of are we giving a
full coverage that we need or are there
any unsafe areas that we should be
looking at um in the future to uh make
sure we're not just adding more asphalt
and bigger drop off.
That's all.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, I know
that the town has transitioned and and Cindy, you might be able to answer
this, but that in the past we did more
chip seal, which added actual um depth
to the road, and now currently our model
is more I call slurry seal, but
ultimately a micro seal, which really
adds no level of depth. But maybe you
can elaborate on that.
>> Good evening, mayor and council members.
Um yes, in the past we've always did um
hot mix asphalt which is actually you
know the hotmix asphalt where it adds an
inch and a half we and would would not
cover a lot of streets because it's
expensive. Right now what we do we are
doing is microsurfacing which is very
thin layer of basically oil and sand
that we put in which does not add a lot
of um it just creates protection to the
street. It improves the um the life of
the street for five for 5 years, 5 to 7
years, but it does not add a lot of
asphalt. But um yes, we will take a look
at the locations that um um we will
think it's unsafe to drive, but um as
the public lets us know, we go and
inspect it. Yes.
>> Thank you.
>> Okay. And number 13, back to you.
>> Yes. 13 is a um resolution um approving
the uh old La Honda Road drainage
improvement project. Um I know that this
is specific property that it's directed
at, but I just wanted to bring up just
sort of an ancillary one. Um I was made
aware just last week that there were
some uh funds I I think that uh the town
manager is probably aware of this as
well. um that um and Cindy as well that there is a um uh there were some
funds allocated
by I think the county uh to do some
rehab to the drainage system on Old La
Road and I just wanted to find out this
is sort of related to it somehow that um
are those funds available? Do you know
if they were spent? Do you know the
status of that or
>> did I catch you off guard? Yeah, I'm not
familiar with the county uh funds for
old La Honda road drainage. I know that
this project specifically is this is
very specific project uh outside of that
um uh from some obligations of the past,
but I'm not sure. Are you familiar with
any county projects?
>> No. U we did not receive any funds from
the county for Olahonda Road.
>> Okay. Thank you. And I'd be wondering if
the public had any comments.
>> Okay. Is there any member of the public
uh that would like to comment on item
13?
the uh Oblah Honda drainage improvement
projects.
>> Just watching.
We are not getting any hands raised.
>> Okay.
>> You need a motion.
>> We have a need a motion for 5 712 and 13
which I think we'll take in one unless
there's an objection.
>> No. Okay.
>> I'll make a motion that we approve uh
items 5, 7, 12, and 13.
>> Second.
>> Council member Alberish.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Brown.
>> Yes. Council member Gold.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Wall, Mayor Donowski.
>> Yes. And with that, we will move on to
new business. So, um, item A, uh,
tonight it is my distinct honor, uh, to
be able to introduce this next agenda
item. Uh this is a preliminary agreement
in principle to accept the extraordinary
generosity and civic-minded leadership
of two anonymous private donors who have
indicated a desire to make the single
biggest private gift to the town since
Barkley Fields by funding the
beautifification of the median on
Woodside Road from 280 to the Alama,
which if accepted by council and funded
subsequently uh would greatly of course
um improve a vital public corridor in
our community and turn it into a
welcoming, calmer and safer
uh thoroughare and of course create an
enduring and lasting civic asset for our
citizens and the surrounding residents
of our community here. So uh it is a a
big moment. I'll hand it off to you
Jason to take us through the specifics.
>> Yeah, thank you Mr. Mayor. This is a
very spectacular moment for the town of
Woodside. And so ultimately, as you
alluded to, I'm told this is very
similar to the Barkley Field Project
that uh utilized the community donation
and the Woodside Community Foundation in
order to initiate the Barkley Field
Project. The Woodside Community
Foundation and the town of Woodside are
back with another project that has been
initiated by donors who wish to remain
anonymous within the community to
complete the 2026. The other thing that
makes this really remarkable is that
this project was on the 2026 capital
improvement project list and that the
town had ultimately set aside just
$200,000
to continue to move down and work the
medians on 84 from essentially town
center to Alama de las pulga. So we
already had prioritized this as an
initiative for the community in the town
and now we're getting a donation to
complete the entirety of this project.
So, $2.5 million. Uh, we have a design,
we have a a conceptual design currently.
So, what would happen here ultimately is
if you guys do approve this uh agreement
this evening between us and the Woodside
Community Foundation that we would
anticipate that the actual donation
would happen here in the next couple
weeks. Once that donation happens,
there's some obligations within the
agreement that we have with the Woodside
Community Foundation that initiate
actions happening. So, we have a concept
design. As soon as those obligations are
met, the town then works to complete an
engineered design. We would then spend
2026 doing that combined with working
with Calrans on an encroachment permit
because it is their median. We would
also have to work with the county on the
final uh median is actually doesn't
belong to us as you get right in front
of the high school. So we'd have to work
with the county on utilizing and
maintaining that median for them. And
then in 2027, we would anticipate being
able to break ground in the interim. We
would get a final design back over to
the landscape committee. and then
inevitably to bid that project out, you
guys would also see the final design and
have approval of that design as well.
So, if there's any other questions, I
think that kind of explains kind of the
broad 30,000 ft view, but really want to
congratulate the town, the council, and
obviously the mayor who has been working
on this uh this predates me. And so to
have two and a half million of really
civic philanthropy money that's going to
benefit this community uh is really
remarkable and just um a testament to
what a privilege it is to work here in
Woodside to be honest with you.
>> Thank you. Um any questions on the staff
report from council?
» We're all in awe. So comments, comments,
uh questions, uh whatever. Uh
>> we got comments.
>> Yes. Yes, sir.
>> That I really really want to thank uh
you making this thing happen. I don't
think we'd be where we are without it.
Um you've been involved in the
beginning, did found the donors,
put the whole thing together. And a lot
of thanks goes to Brian for that.
>> And whoever else was on your team, I'd
like to know who they were, too, because
it was it's a great project.
Well, that's a very kind
acknowledgement. I'll just just be very
clear. Um, this is occurring uh solely
because of the generous civic-minded
individuals here. Uh my role has been
nothing but a resource
uh and uh just helping them understand
opportunity and how they could transform
the town of Woodside as it relates to
our capital project wish list and uh to
assist in facilitating um the mechanics
and the community around uh making their
vision a reality. But uh certainly
appreciate your comment.
» How many now or taking? Well, I Oh, uh,
questions for staff. That went right
into comment. Sorry about that. Um, are
there any other questions for staff?
Okay, we will take public
comment. Thank you, Jen. Uh, are there
any members of the public that would
like to comment on item A?
Seeing none, we will go back to council
deliberations and comments. uh which
case I'd like to jump in with Michael.
Um so yeah, I would just like to extend
my gratitude and thanks to the donors.
Um I think this uh we we've already seen
the the first stage of the
beautifification project which is really
lovely. Um it really transformed the way
uh Woodside looks when you when you
enter Woodside. I think it was, you
know, very tastefully done and I'm
really really excited to see um how the
rest of the project turns out. And so if
you're out there, anonymous donors,
thank you. We really appreciate this.
>> And I'll just acknowledge that the chair
of the landscape committee, Peggy Mloud,
has just entered the room and we're a
little bit ahead of schedule. So we're
in the midst of it. But welcome.
And you're of course welcome to make
comments. We kind of went through public
comment, but if there's anything you'd
like to say at any time, feel free. Um,
any other deliberations or comments?
>> I do. I have a comment. Um, so first of
all, uh, just
immense gratitude
to the town manager, to the staff, and
especially to the mayor, um, for their
efforts on this. Um, I'm just reminded
when we when we did the original project
that council member Wall was just
referring to, um, and, uh, the, uh, I
remember we were referred to as the
front porch. um the usiders out there
and um I I think this is just going to
be a spectacular project and it's going
to really set the tone as people cross
the Alamita and go in front of the high
school in Menllo Country Club that um
I'm hoping it's going to be something
that's um I know that it's going to be
something really beautiful. Um but we
really do appreciate it and I think that
um we were expecting something about
onetenth of what it actually turned out
to be and I think that um really I know
that the work that the that the town
manager and our mayor did uh to this was
no small task and I think that I know
that didn't take a lot of arm twisting
and we have very generous donors. We're
very lucky in that regard, but um this
is really just a spectacular result and
um we esiders who are actually pretty
well represented here tonight. There's
at least three of us in the room um
really do appreciate uh the efforts that
were made here and uh in this
beautifification of our front porch. We
do um it's a very nice thing to do and
um um I just can't thank you guys enough
for for for this. Um, I remember that
when this came down, the the the
original project, which goes roughly
from the 280 freeway um to uh just a few
hundred yards or so uh to the west, that
the very first person
who said we need to do something from
the 280 heading east was our mayor. Um
he volunteered it. He didn't require any
proddding at all. And um you know this
is really just a major step in getting
that done and uh I just wanted to say
that we really do appreciate it and uh
thank everybody and especially the
donors for making this possible.
>> Great. I'll also just mention that the
um it's really the uh the work of the
Woodside landscape committee uh really
on the pilot project west of 280 and um
at a cost of $165,000 93 of which came
from the community uh uh really was the
uh the genesis of this what was going to
be possible and the things that we
learned from that you know CALR works at
night and all sorts of things really
helped us sort of price out uh what this
could be uh from a total cost uh point
of view. So hopefully uh we are going to
be able to see farther standing on the
shoulder of of giants. So thank you
again for the uh preliminary work that
you all did to get this uh this idea up
and up and moving. Appreciate it.
Any other comments?
And I will just maybe uh wrap up um this
item just by uh acknowledging that this is a very
noble expression of generosity uh to
consider a civic gift of this magnitude
for the greater good and it is both
humbling and inspiring uh for all of us
to be able to potentially accept an
extraordinary gift uh like this in the
intermediate future here. Um, this is
going to be a really a landmark
opportunity to uh improve the aesthetics
and the traffic calming uh nature uh of
uh for a group of what we we we think is
conservative, but 9 million vehicles a
year uh use this piece of the road. So,
uh a real big impact and um and it also
supports in many ways our strategic
initiatives around the town center area
plan. It expands upon and complements
the work that we've been doing on
circulation and safety for the area and
it will create as I think was just
beautifully mentioned for the front
porch but a sense of continuity and
union with our residents that are east
of uh 280. So um really a
transformational gift and um uh
absolutely honored uh and looking
forward to working with these donors uh
to see this vision to its natural
completion.
So I think with that we would entertain
a motion.
>> I'd like to move to approve the
resolution approving the agreement
governing funding for the median
landscape improvement project.
>> Second
member Alberish.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Brown.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Gold.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Wall. Mayor Donowski.
>> Yes. Thank you.
» Unbelievable. Um, relatedly in a way is
business item B, which is a resolution
requesting
uh a 35 mph consistent speed limit on
Woodside Road um between uh uh all the
way down to the alam. I think headed off
to to you all, Jason.
>> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is
Jason Leer, the town manager, and uh
thank you uh council members for the
town of Woodside. So, we had a request
come in from members of the community
that primarily live on the east side of
uh the 280 uh requesting that this
section of 84 from Alama Deas Pulgus.
And I want to just um rectify a misnomer
here in the staff report is that it is
essentially leading into the 25 mph
section of the town. So ultimately would
be advocating here is 435 from Alama
until you reach the 25 mile per hour of
the existing town center. When I first
received this job and I was consistently
coming um from a motel on El Camino over
here uh to uh interview and and to meet
the staff and to do Mayday. I was really
blown away at the different miles per
hour speed limits just entering into the
community and then exiting and the fact
in some instances um you couldn't even
see the mile per hour speed limit
because it was blocked by foliage and
that people were just seemingly speeding
uh and and this is a response
essentially I think to that and the
difficulty that it is to make a
left-hand turn out of some of these
communities uh because people are
speeding at an excess rate and so We're
advocating that if you do pass this, doesn't guarantee anything happens.
This basically lets the state of
California, California Department of
Transportation know that the agency
approves of the request and they take
that request seriously. They have a
process at which they will analyze this
request. We would assume that there
would be a traffic study. There would be
a time frame before there was a response
back to whether or not they would
facilitate this technical request. But
to answer more questions about this and
to give an opportunity to someone who is
highly involved, I'd say one-third of
the management within the public, we do
have Dan Duker here this evening and I'm
not sure Dan if you wanted to come up
and give a couple comments about this
request and what it means to uh the
members that have made it.
» So, um when you guys came in, Wendy
Buckley, who runs the HOA in Woodside
Hills was here. She had just um gotten
back from a long trip and so she was
tired so she left but she wanted to be
here to tell you the same thing I will.
So um one of the top requests from our
residents so so um I got to be careful
which hat I'm wearing. So I I serve on
the circulation committee and I'll tell
you what we've been doing on this in the
circulation committee in a second but I
also run one of the HOAs east to 280.
And so the three uh the three of us who
run the three big HOAs there um we field
complaints from our residents all the
time and one of their top requests and
the top things they're afraid of is
making left turns onto Woodside Road out
of Menllo Country Club out of the high
school out of Northgate and Southgate
and more road and a high road. And why
are they scared of that? Because traffic
moves as fast as 60 miles an hour down
the hill. There's limited visibility.
Um, we had a fatality a few years ago
coming out of Memo Country Club. Um,
there are accidents all the time. It's
also the top area in town, I know this
from circulation, where our sheriffs
write speeding tickets. So, it's a
problematic area. And so um in parallel
to the us advocating for this as the
leaders of the HAS for residents for the
last couple of years if I flip on what's
been going on in circulation. So
circulation's been tracking this issue
for as long as I've been there and and
before. Um we've been working really
hard on our relationship with Calrans
for the last couple years and uh as a as
a good side of the unfortunate fatality
that happened up the hill uh this
summer. Um, we met a gentleman named Ang
Mong who who uh presented at circulation
a few months ago. He's the director of
safety for all of Calrans district 4
covers the whole Bay Area. And so their
attention was put on this area because
of the fatality we had up at Skywando.
Um, one of the things we learned from
him in August was that there was a
process by which we the residents could
request them to make safety
improvements, one of them being change
the speed limit. And so that happened
about August when we met him. We talked
to him about all the issues in Woodside
that we were worried about and uh he's
like, "Hey, we can actually make that
change happen. We can get the the goal
is getting rid of the 45 mph section
that runs from uh approximately Menllo
Country Club to Moore Road and making
the whole thing 35 to try to slow things
down for the residents. Also, it'll help
bicyclists and kids going to Woodside
High as you won't have traffic going
quite as fast down the hill next to the
bike lanes. So we learned this process.
So what he asked us to do is create a
petition and uh he said make make a
petition and that'll give us a sense of
what residents want. So we did that in
October November time frame. We did a
single email blast. One of the
advantages we have in the HOAs is that
we have our emails of all the residents
in that part of town. So we sent an
email blast out saying hey what do you
guys think of this idea to reduce the
speed limit? We learned at the same time
of the mayor's project for the
beautifification
uh project on Woodside Road. So we
couched this as there's this opportunity
to do this whole beautifification
project and improve safety do it all as
one thing. We had learned from Calrans
that to call that section of road a
parkway which enables some of the
landscaping changes we're talking about
that has to be 35 miles an hour anyway.
So the things kind of all came together.
this idea of let's ask for a uniform 35
now we can do the parkway with the
donations the residents will be happy
about improved safety um within uh a
couple of days we got more than 140 h
households responded that survey I
provided that under it to the council
members but we have all the signatures
um recorded in the online petition we
had 100% positive support we had zero
negative feedback so really high
response really quick we only did a
single email blast people were just
really excited about it. So that's kind
of the history and what got us on the
citizen side of this today was this kind
of long-term desire to improve safety
and then this opportunistic thing that
came together was can we support Brian's
project which also required a reduced
speed limit. We put them all together,
hence the petition. You're you're making
faces at me.
>> No, I just want to continue to emphasize
that definitely donor's project, but
>> I'm sorry. The donor's project supported
by the most honorable mayor
Um, and I apologize. And so that's kind
of how we found ourselves where we are
today. Calrans then said, "Take the
petition and then have the town council
endorse it with a with a with a
proposition on top of that. Send it back
to this guy, Angroved."
Make sense, Jason? Did I do what you
wanted?
>> Yeah, that makes complete sense. Thank
you very much, Dan.
>> You got it. Okay. Yes, Paul.
>> Yeah. Questions for staff and Mr. Duker.
one. Thank you for um that presentation.
Um
so there's a you know we all know about
speed surveys and that sort of thing. Do
you do I mean people drive very fast
there. I think it's considered one of
the most dangerous sections. It's got
the highest rating or the lowest rating
for danger. It's the most dangerous road
I think classification in Calrans
anywhere. Uh I think from the country
club to the 280. Um they people speed
there routinely anyway. Is there any I
mean I know that this is sort of a
recommendation from the council to
Calrans. Um what do you think's going to
happen here um when the speed survey
shows that
people are actually going faster than
the current speed limit?
>> So my hope is and what I understand from
him is that this is not a risk of the
speed limits cars go faster so they end
up raising the speed limit. Right? This
is a request
>> they do they actually do that I guess.
>> So this is a request to turn this is a
request to turn it into a parkway and to
reduce and my hope is that that's what
happens. The idea is that the visual
cues of a parkway you know with better
landscaping and less kind of concrete
and pavers and you know more more trees
and shrubs and all that will clue people
in kind of like sandill and that's what
we've been thinking about or like when
you see foothill um that'll clue people
in it's just not an appropriate road to
go that fast on. Um that coupled with
the changes that are also on your
calendar about bike ballards and the the
bicycle safety project we discussed in
the last council meeting. We think the
kind of whole thing runs as a package to
just make it safer and slow traffic down
and make it clear it's not okay to go 65
on that road which is what people are
doing today. So I I think I I just don't
know. Is there is there a risk that they
could run a traffic a speed survey and
raise the speed limit? I don't know. I
hope not. But you're out of my
wheelhouse with that.
>> By the way, I like the idea of using
Sand Hill as the uh comp because
>> yeah,
>> the speed limit is low on Sand Hill.
>> Yeah. And that's that's the picture we
sent to our residents. We said we want
to make it look like this.
>> I don't know if we're going to have the
answer to this or not, but are there
other factors besides speed limit that
go into lowering a speed limit? Like
fact that there's a big bend and people
trying to come out, it's dangerous and
you know
>> all sorts of things. Are there other
factors and inputs or is it literally
they're going to do a speed survey and
they could it could go against us?
>> No, I think you rais a really good point
and I think that uh Mr. Duker raises a
good point. There's a total a totality
of package here, right? We have the
median project and we have the bike the
bike ped project and so ultimately uh
we're advocating for a safer location
for people to get from point A to point
B on different modes of transportation
into our town center. And so I think we
will take the angle of advocating for
those improvements to be considered
within dropping the speed limit that
we're going to have on the other side
now the bike lane as well and a pedestri
well we hope a pedestrian pathway um
which is calling out for the need for
more safety. So we will advocate to
Calrans uh those points.
>> Wonderful.
>> And we have him scheduled to be at the
circulation meeting next month.
>> Great. Um, so maybe building off of
Brian's comment, um, I think this is a
slam dunk. Um, this and then, you know,
the the addition of like the,
um, bike pedestrian project, the
beautifification together, I just can't
wait to see how it turns out. Um,
have you guys looked at other requests
for um, lowering a speed limit and kind
of done some leg work to figure out what
makes a request successful or what makes
a request not successful? So, I want to
make sure that we really, you know, put
ourselves that our best foot forward to
make sure that this request gets
approved. Um, so I'm wondering if any of
that kind of background work has been
done. Not for me personally, but Cindy,
what's your experience with CALR and
these requests and the does the town
have any experience with that?
>> Um, we haven't reduced a speed limit,
but typically when there's a request for
speed studies um speed reduction or um
just speed studies done and then the 85
percentile is what is set as a speed
limit. Um we I did not do any research
on uh how CALR uh works but for the town
streets the traffic engineer looks at
the 85 percentile speed. Okay. So it
sounds like we might have a little bit
of risk here right if the speed limit is
typically set at the 80th percentile of
the flow of traffic. That would make me
a little nervous that there could be
some risk that like a traffic study
might not cut our way. So, I would
really encourage the staff to to figure
out like how could we make our best case
here and and and and set ourselves up
for success in getting the request
approved.
>> Absolutely. We can do that.
>> I would point out though that the 45 mph
zone is a very short stretch
from basically Meno Country Club to
>> more
>> to more road and it's not like the whole
road is 45 miles an hour. So, I don't I
don't think a traffic study would show
any any desire to go for 45 55 miles up
and down.
>> Uh, Council Member Brown, that's a great
point and it I just want to make sure
I'm clear. So, I want to uh make this
caveat. I'd like to we change the
resolution to instead of Alama de las
pulgasta town center we'd be very
concise with where where we're asking
because ultimately if there is risk now
all of a sudden okay this tiny 45 mph
stretch you're saying CALR is going to
go to 55 and then immediately fall to 35
which would make absolutely no sense I
think that would safeguard us and so
when you guys do vote I would
>> smart
>> I would um and I think you pointed that
out to me Dan so so we would we would
ultimately have that would be the vote
Yeah, it's literally a few hundred yards
where it goes up back down.
>> Yeah.
» Nice. Uh, any other questions?
Good workshopping going on here. Um, any
comments from the public? And I think,
uh, we can jump right to the Zoom room
because I see Elliot and Steve, you're
up first.
>> Hello. This is this is Steve this time.
Can you hear me?
>> Yes, sir.
>> All right. U well I totally support what
Dan said. I'm also a member of
circulation committee u and I think uh
there I' I've been vaguely aware of
changes in in state law that allows CALR
to lower speed limits uh not you know
below the 85th percentile and I hope we
look into that and take full advantage
of it. Uh lowering the speed would make
the road much more attractive for
walkers and bicyclists. And there was a
bicyclist fatality there maybe 10 or 15
years ago in this section. So that would
be another evidence of why this should
be lowered. And uh thank you. I'm very
happy to see the landscape going through
and hope if this speed limit gets
lowered to 35, it also allows us to put
some oak trees in the middle of the
road. U which I think there's CALR rules
about speed limits and trees. So, uh,
that would be another advantage. So,
thank you for both these last two agenda
items.
>> Thank you, Steve. And the landscape
committee has recommended oaks where we
can. And uh, you are right that there is
a uh,
trees can't go where there's a 40 mph or greater speed limit on on a state
highway. And it back into the room. Yes,
sir.
>> I was thinking there was someone else on
Zoom. Uh I'm Walker, Walker Wells. I'm
also on the circulation committee. I
just wanted to call out a big shout out
to Dan and his work specifically as a
liaison to Calrans
I do think is making a very big
difference. Um and um obviously Woodside
specifically has this uh dynamic. we
have a lot of people coming through the
town and we have this huge dependency on
Calrans and so I really do think just a
major props to you to like you know he's
doing a lot of work behind the scenes
that you don't see to like really
develop those relationships. Um
just on that also there's another uh
petition that's gathering signatures up
at four corners to lower the speed limit
up there as well which I think you'll
hear more of uh soon. Um but uh yeah, I
just wanted to call out the importance
specifically for Woodside having this
massive Calrans uh dependency that
people like Dan who's really you know
spending the time to develop that
relationship will make a very big
difference and they have indicated that
you know uh if we were to go make a
special request having the backing of
the council having the signatures gives
them the air cover to say hey this is a
request from the town of Woodside this
is not just us kind of, you know, uh,
getting an email and lowering the speed
limit. So, you know, gathering
signatures and having these resolutions
do make a very big difference.
>> Wonderful. Thank you, Walker. And we
will certainly echo that this is the
most significant citizen petition uh
that we've received since the outdoor
dining parking expansion measure A. So,
uh, thank you. It's really impressive.
140 odd signatures. Not so odd, but 140
something.
Uh any other comments from public?
>> I'm looking and seeing nothing.
I think with that we will close public
comment and move on to council
deliberations. Would anyone want to kick
things off?
>> Good.
>> Really very enthusiastically supportive
of this.
>> Wonderful.
Uh son.
>> Yeah. Uh I've always thought that that
was a a shockingly, you know, fast low
traffic area. it just seems to come out
of nowhere. You start driving up, you
know, this normal 35 speed limit and
then suddenly people are racing and so
I've always thought it was dangerous.
Felt uncomfortable there. Um, and I I
appreciate all of your work, Dan, and
uh getting getting this together and and
um you know, making this happen to thank
you
>> others. Yeah, I also wanted to thank Dan
the uh the Calrans man and um we
appreciate your efforts. The uh um my so
uh some really great points I think were
made tonight. One, it is a very short
segment where it goes up from 35 to 45
and then back down to 35 just as you
enter the um well as you pass by more
road I think it goes uh it goes down
again. So um that I think that's an
important thing to to that that I think
the current design is actually
inconsistent because you have these
changing speed limits and I think having
one speed limit uh the entire way not
that I don't think the resolution should
be framed that way. We should focus on
those few hundred yards uh for practical
reasons but I think that um if we could
um lobby and persuade Calrans I think
that would go a long way. I'm I'm also I
just wanted to mention something that
Cindy had mentioned before this 85 85th
percentile. The way I understand it, I
was actually on a a call with Calrans uh
few months ago for some other part of
Woodside and um unincorporated uh county
I should say. And the way I understood
the way they do speed surveys, it was
always kind of a mystery to me. I mean,
how do they do this thing? My
understanding at least this is what the
CALR person said is that they actually
clock 100 consecutive vehicles put them
in order of speed and countdown 15 and
that's the number. I mean it was almost
that that I can only tell you that's
what the CALR person said. Um and it was
sort of like I was pretty shocked at
that because um um they do count have a
certain time of day that they do it but
they were trying to get that and and um
often speed surveys do show that the
speed limit should go up not down. Uh
that's because people speed a lot. Um,
but I think that lobbying, this personal
relationship, I think could go a long
way. And I think our relationship with
Calrans that actually dates back to the
collapse of um, Highway 84 during, you
know, what was it, three winters ago,
uh, could really uh, help us here and
hopefully there's a silver lining to it.
But I definitely support the, uh,
resolution for all the reasons said
before and it'll u, I I I like the image
of a sand hill road uh, in that segment.
That's a that's a pretty nice image that
um, we could use here.
Wonderful. Thank you.
>> I want to give an image to the town
council. You're sitting in the We're
getting ready to get on uh Woodside Road
and you see the traffic light right in
front of Woodside High change
and the traffic begins to move. The
speed goes from 35 to 45 on a speed
limit and you're trying to turn left to
go up the hill. I mean, your heart
starts racing. Am I going to make it or
not? I mean, it is scary. really scary
and I think doing that one stretch can
make a huge difference for a lot of
people, especially me. So, thank you.
>> Yeah.
>> All right, that's that's great. I don't
have a lot to add. That's uh it's an
unsafe situation. It's inconsistent. Uh
often I'm driving that stretch of road.
I don't even I'm not even sure what the
speed limit is. Uh so, I mean uh we do
have to get some consistency going
there. And uh we're doing so much
wonderful work in this area. uh all
these projects could come together and
we could really uh really have a
transformational impact here. So happy
to endorse it and move it forward
through the normal channels. So if we
could get a motion with the adjustment
to how we want to phrase that the
adjustment to just the
>> and at the very end it says Alama to
town center if we can just replace that
with um a Churchill to more.
>> Churchill to Moore. Okay. If we
>> is it Churchill where it's
>> Yeah. Uh would someone like to make that
motion? Substitution for Churchill to
Moore.
>> Thank you.
>> I'll make it. Um uh I would like to move
to approve a resolution of the town
council of the town of Woodside
requesting the California Department of
Transportation Calrans to establish a 35
mph speed limit on state highway 84 from
Churchill to Churchill Road to Moore
Road.
Second.
>> Council member Alberish.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Brown.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Gold.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Wall.
>> Mayor Donowski.
>> Yes. Thank you.
Mr. Duker.
Uh, moving on to new business item C,
resolution modifying the town salary
schedule and classification plan. Back
to you again.
>> Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor, and the
Woodside Town Council. So this is an
interesting interesting item just
because of the size of the organization.
So ultimately uh just to kind of cut
through some of the verbiage in the
staff report is is just to make it very
succinct here is that we're talking
about positions because we also are
talking about personnel and the town
council really manages the positions of
the town and then the town manager fills
those positions. And so I'm advocating
here this evening within the staff
report is an addition of an assistant
town manager and a deletion of the
assistant to the town manager position.
Uh the staff report also requests the
deletion of the administrative assistant
position and replacing that with a
management analyst position. And so
there would be people that would be
currently in these positions that would
be moving into new positions and then
these old positions would uh be removed.
And so the full-time equivalency would
be netneutral.
So the management analyst position is
offering social mobility within the
organization to continue to develop and
grow our team to take on more
responsibility. Uh this move is a growth
opportunity as the administrative
assistant continues to assume and become
a specialist within the functions and
operations of our finance department.
Uh the assistant to the town manager
position has a draft job description
that's been created and if approved this
evening, the final job description will
be completed by me later on this week.
The role of the assistant town manager
position will have a multitude of
responsibilities with some of the
highlights being responsible for IT,
code enforcement, volunteer committees,
staff management. So, I would like to
see a process for hypothetically a
budget, a very maybe a very meager
budget for each of the uh volunteer
committees because we do have noticing
that happens. Ultimately, postcards get
mailed out and right now that's coming
out of a trunch of other monies. And so,
I want to see more organization in this
role would take that on. Ultimately,
they would manage the liaison and then
they would manage a process to get
capital improvement brought to the town
council from each of these volunteer
committees. They would also be managing
social media. And so this is beyond how
we're currently doing it. This would be
training individuals in the public works
department on our expectations of when
there is traffic or encroachment permits
and things need to get noticed to the
community. they would actually manage
training the individual and then it
would be expected that the individual
department would then be uh facilitating
some of this action. So it all be also
be responsible for emergency
preparedness. Uh the goal would also be
to add flexibility within the
organization to deal with what is
currently happening. Obviously I was
referenced this earlier this evening but
we're uh a total of three department
heads here in in Woodside and currently
two of them are are not here. their unfilled positions. And so one of
the first actions that would happen is
the assistant town manager would be
assigned ultimately rather than to split
them up in this instance. They would be
assigned if approved this evening uh the
administrative services director
position ultimately until we fill that
position. They would I would be able to
lean on that person to to provide
oversight as an interim in that role.
And this is a succession opportunity.
Obviously, I'm just hired. I don't plan
on going anywhere. And uh but ultimately
something could happen to me, something
could happen to a family member of mine.
This gives flexibility within the
organization to have at least an interim
set, right? You are you you now have
some some level of control. You can have
maybe a more long-term approach looking
to fill the position or hypothetically
my goal is is that wherever I am, as
weird as this sounds, my goal is to work
myself out of a job, right? My goal is
to put the organization in a position
where I'm no longer needed and then I
can ultimately do more at a higher
level. Uh but right now that would be
the goal is to get somebody in the
position that we are grooming over a
multitude of years. So the first special
project because I would also see that
this position would have special project
uh opportunities and that would be the
housing element deliverable. So, we have
many ordinance updates that need to be
done and completed within um the housing
element for compliance with HCD. They're
very lowhanging fruit. Uh and so
considering this person's very strong
legal writing and understanding of, you
know, resolutions, ordinances, staff
reports, uh they would be my liaison to
organize within a meeting that we will
be having here very soon on what those
deliverables are, how many of these
ordinances can we get done. they would
be the go-between to orchestrate that
work and then manage that work product
that's going to take the planning
manager and the town attorney in order
to facilitate getting that in front of
the council. So that is kind of the
overarching view of how I see the
position and then ultimately I imagine
that we're going to have a multitude of
projects that come out of the town
center area plan. So this is increasing
the capacity of the organization.
Tonight you approved a contract for
Shawn Rose Engineering. That is to
increase the capacity of the projects
that we can deliver. That is my um goal
here through this alteration is to
increase the capacity of our delivery
but also to increase the capacity of our
customer service to the community. So
these moves are important to me as they
offer what I consider to be social
mobility within an organization which
helps develop and retain talent. So the
addition of an assistant town manager
will allow for increased organizational
management. One of the things that
happens here is that inevitably
uh especially in government it's
difficult to make a decision. People
cavitate at that decision and ultimately
in my role I have to make a decision
with the information that I have. I have
to make the best decision that I can
make at that time. And there's instances
where I'm at the library JPA meeting in
San Monteo or I'm at the CEO's office.
I'm offsite. an action could be taken
and a decision maker needs to be created
in order for that action to be taken and
right now the town of Woodside lacks
that. So this would also rectify that
issue as I see it. So if there's any
questions I'd be happy to answer them.
>> Thank you. Questions for Jason?
» Okay. Yeah. Sorry.
>> Go ahead. Yes. Council member Wall.
>> So, couple questions. What is the salary
delta between the I'm looking at the
exhibit A, but it looks like the
assistant the town manager is not listed
here, which I understand because they
this is being limited. What's the what's
the salary delta between assistant town
manager and assistant to do?
>> Yeah, that's a that's a great question.
And ultimately, what I'll have to do is
look up the current salary schedule on
our website right now to tell you what
that is. So, if you can give me a
second,
>> while you're doing that, so I think I'm
really supportive of this of this
change. I think like giving you more um
creating a position that is scoped in a
way that will give you more um
management efficiency
um I think is is fantastic. I'm curious
because what way this is playing out,
right? Like we have an assistant town
manager, Melissa. Looks like she is
going to be our new assistant town
manager. Um, I think that's my
interpretation of how this is being
presented. Um, I'm curious to what
extent is our current assistant to the
town manager, Melissa, is she already
doing the things that are on the job
description that you're finalizing?
>> Yeah, that's a great point. She's
physically doing a lot of those things
now. And what this would alleviate is it
would give her the ability to train
someone else and hold them accountable
to physically doing it. And so people
are interesting, right? And managing
people is fascinating. Quite frankly, uh
the dynamics of people is interesting.
It never is a black and white situation.
And so it's very common for someone who
is attempting to get something done,
especially before I came on scene here,
working with the department heads,
working with people, and ultimately
maybe not gaining the traction uh to
have them have the buyin. And so what
happens is is that this position, the
administrative assistant position uh or
the assistant to the town manager
position regardless of uh this is just
reality is that some people poo poo that
position. They poo poo uh they they
disregard it, right? It doesn't mean
anything to them. That that person's not
managing them. I'm not saying that
that's what's transpired here, but
ultimately what I'm seeing is that this
individual that we're talking about is
doing the work and doesn't have the
ability to delegate and manage some of
the people that we can hold accountable
that ultimately should be doing some of
this work because they're managing their
own departments.
>> Yeah. So, who will be reporting to the assistant town manager?
>> Yeah, that has not I I'm a little leery
to really say, hey, we're going to
divide the town up, right? But I will
ultimately uh they'll have technically
the organization chart that we kind of
brought for a desk item. They would be
directly under me. Everybody else would
flow up to both of us. So ultimately
they would be I would be empowering them
to make decisions and that would take
probably 12 months if I'm being
blatantly honest with you. And then over
that time period we would look at we
have opportunities obviously I think
everybody's very well aware of. One of
them that I haven't been able to enter
into yet is the building department. We
have an opportunity for management over
there managing CSG. Uh when we lost the
building official, right now that
defaults to public works. Obviously, we
have no public works director, but even
for the public works director, it's a
heavy lift. And so, you can imagine that
one of the assignments right now over
the first year could be overseeing and
getting involved in that. But
inevitably, everybody that reports to me
technically would also report up through
to Melissa as well. That's how I would
run it.
>> Sorry, I'm trying to understand. And
they would report into her and then she
to you
>> kind of. It's just not the same as an
organization of a 100 plus people. This
is 24 people. Inevitably, I am very
communicative and very engaged. And so
we would be, you could think of this as
kind of um a two-headed monster approach
is that we would not at this point I am
unwilling to to just put someone in this
position and assign them certain
departments. I really feel like they
need to work with me for that 12 months
before we explore whether or not
assigning them to an a department makes
sense or designing uh assigning specific
departments to them. But eventually we
would get to that point ultimately. That
would be my expectation.
>> How do you envision making it really
clear to staff like who can make what
decision?
>> Yeah, I want to empower that actually. I
want to I want more decision making. I
want uh and so ultimately it's training
people as to how we make that decision.
Right now all decisions are defaulting
to me. Hey, someone has a question about
this bu this building permit
application.
Inevitably, that's an email to me that
could go four or five days before
because I'm out of the office, I'm at
meetings and I'm not overlapping with
the individual. Whereas I have someone
who could physically be here who could
rectify that. So announcement would be
made. It would be made very clearly that
the expectation is is that this person
has the same authority essentially as I
do and that they could go to this person
when I am not here to have a decision
made. uh the reason that this person
uh meets my expectation is because I
have this level of trust with that
person. It's not someone on paper. I've
worked with this person for seven to
eight months now and I've seen that they
have the innate qualities that I believe
make me more successful and can branch
my management style out better uh to the
entirety of the organization.
>> So, I just want to make sure I'm hearing
correctly. This new assistant to the
town manager will have equal
decision-making authority as you.
>> Yeah, in the broad sense of daily
management. Absolutely. So the core
functions of the business. Absolutely.
Now, you know, hopefully in the broader
sense of the terms, obviously I'm the
town manager. Everything defaults to me.
Uh so I am instilling and empowering my
perspective into this person by working
with me and understanding you know what
would Jason do in this situation. That's
the ultimate goal is that I am
attempting you know for lack of better
terminology to make a miniature me.
>> Okay. Yeah. I mean I think this is a
really big in my view really big move
for the town. Um this is a a pretty
significant administrative and
management change. Um, so I would be
really uh I would really love once you
have it once you have the job
description finalized um and and a
better sense of like the roles the role
and responsibilities of the new um
assistant town manager. It would be
wonderful if Melissa could come and kind
of if you together could kind of talk to
us about the specifics of you know what
she'll be doing, the special projects
that she'll be taking on um and when you
know like you know to the extent there
will be like formal uh reporting
obligations, management
responsibilities. I think that would be
really um I would really be um very
interested in hearing that.
>> Absolutely. One of the first tasks of
this person based off of what happens
this evening is that they would be
tasked with presenting that information
to you because ultimately that would be
the growth curve of this position is
that if for some reason I can't be here,
I mean I I assume I will always be here,
but if there's overlap or a requirement
for me to be somewhere else, the
expectation is that they're going to be
the one sitting in this seat that
they're going to be presenting to you.
And so ultimately that's a learning
curve opportunity for this person is
that we would purposely throw them in
front of you to build up their public
speaking skills.
>> Right. And then were you able to find
the salary delta?
>> Yeah, I'm sorry. So right now we have a
pretty wide range and that's something
I'm would like to rectify when we get a
new admin services director. But right
now
the assistant to the town manager, this
is the monthly starts out it's very low.
Our starting ones are extremely low,
7,430.
And they've just never been changed.
Ultimately, you normally move everything
up for some reason in Woodside. It
wouldn't surprise me if that number's
been on here for more than a decade. And
then that caps out at 14,860.
And for the department head range, which
is what I'm advocating for, it's uh
starts out at 11,984
and goes up to 23,968
monthly. So there's a pretty decent
overlap with with the position as it
stands currently as it maxes at 14860
and then it's it hypothetically the
lowest point of entry is 119.84
on our salary schedule.
Okay, any other questions?
We will open up public comment then. Any
members of the public that wish to
have a question on item C?
Let me I'm sorry I've lost my Zoom
screen. There it is. Okay. Uh here comes
Walker. We got one in the room. Yes,
sir.
>> Uh no question. But uh because Jason
comes to so many of the circulation
meetings, I just wanted to give you big
props. I've been very impressed by Jason
and how he helps the circulation
committee kind of understand their role,
their scope, and how they can be
effective. I just ever since I've met
you, I've been very impressed and have
enjoyed working with you. So, yeah.
>> Thank you very much, Walker. This wasn't
planned.
Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> And I don't normally give accolades,
although I've given two tonight. Um, but
uh yeah.
>> Okay. Wow. Well, thank you very much. We
appreciate hearing that, of course.
>> I think with that we'll close public
comment. Always close with a winning
hand. Uh and we will open up any
deliberations on this item. Any member
of the council have anything to add?
I
>> think this makes sense.
» I think we can take a a motion.
>> I move that we approve the uh amendment
to the town manager employment
agreement.
>> Uh the item C too far down.
>> False.
Resolution modifier
>> that we modify the 25 28 to 2 can't read
>> six
>> 25 to 26 salary scheduling
classification plan by adding an
assistant town manager position removing
the assistant to the town manager
position adding a management analyst
position within the finance department
and deleting the administrative
assistant position.
» Second
>> council member Alberish.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Brown.
>> Yes. Council member Gold.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Wall. Yes.
>> Mayor Donowski.
>> Yes. Thank you. Uh and then finally, uh
Gan, I'm handing this off to you.
Approval of a first amendment to the
town manager's employment agreement.
>> Yes. Thank you. Good evening. Uh when
your town manager was hired, your uh
employment agreement with him provided
that he would have a six-month
performance review and thereafter a
yearly performance review. You have
completed the six-month performance
review and pursue it to the terms of the
contract. Um, each time you do a
performance review, one of the questions
to ask that you ask yourselves is,
should there be a salary adjustment? And
it is my understanding that there is a
recommendation for a salary adjustment
as a result of the six-month review that
would move uh the town manager's salary
from 300,000 to 315,000.
That is the amendment that's before you
this evening. I'm happy to answer any
questions.
>> Great. Thank you. Any questions from
council?
Seeing none, any comments from public?
» Yep. Oh, hey, Walker.
» The uh
>> is is Melissa currently the assistant to
the town manager?
>> And she is.
>> Yeah.
>> Um I the range is it is interesting. The
range I've never gotten a promotion
that's double my salary. I don't know if
that's I know there is
>> some overlapping to the ranges. Um, so
the idea would be Melissa moves into
that new role, the assistant to the town
manager, which effectively has
it's not double the max. The maxes, I
guess, are
>> what is it?
>> Yeah.
>> 75% higher. She moves into that.
>> Yeah. So, there's an overlap, I think,
of a few thousand dollars from the max
of her current role or the position's
current role into uh this uh new role.
And then ultimately, there's been no
determination as to what that salary
would actually look like. It's just it
just
>> it gives her that headroom.
>> It gives the organization I think
there's too much room at the moment. I
think that the organization just for
whatever reason it's extended 5% on the
upper limit and it has it on the lower
limit. And so when you look at the lower
limit in comparison to the rest of the
peninsula,
>> it doesn't make any sense. It's
non-existent. And so,
>> uh, it's just dragging that it's just
dragging things down at this point. So,
but ultimately what you should know is
that the salary for the position, that's
the range. And so there has to be a
negotiation between me and the employee,
the person that is attempting to be, you
know, we're attempting to place in that
position. And so between her and I, that
would end up being a personnel decision
as to where
>> in that range is appropriate. Yeah. But
it would be very uncommon for it would
be extremely questionable for somebody
to be in the current position and then
just magically at the top step. That
would be right. I'm sure that the five
people I report to would be um there'd
be a lot of questions to me about that
>> and I got to shut that down. I'm sorry
guys. Just we're we're past public
comment on that item. Uh so any public
comment? Uh I already closed that. So
any deliberation by councel
on item D.
>> Okay. Uh then I think we're ready to
take a motion on this. Anyone? Thank
you. Do it. Uh, I move that we approve
uh the first amendment to the town
manager employment agreement.
>> I'll second it.
>> Council member Aberish.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Brown.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Gold.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Wal. Mayor Donowski.
>> Yes. Thank you. And uh volunteer
committee updates if any.
>> Yeah, I have a few. Uh, this Friday,
January 16th, from 7 to 8:00 p.m. will
be a sound immersion workshop with Danny
Goldberg.
>> Pardon me. Uh, check the town's calendar
for additional 2026 dates. Wball
registration is now open for kids
between the ages of 3 to six, so through
kindergarten only. Uh, who want to learn
to play T-ball in a fun and safe
environment. Check the town's website
under the community tab for registration
information. The next arts and culture
committee first Friday event is on
February 6th from 7 to 8:00 PM with poet
Nancy Meyer interviewed by Veronica
Kornberg. Uh flyers are in the back of
the room or you can view on the town's
website calendar. The Woodside History
Committee's preservation awards ceremony
will be on May 12th, 2026. More
information to follow, but make sure to
mark your calendars for that event.
Thank you.
Council member
communications.
» I have one. Yes. March 21, mark your
calendar. That's memory day in the
United States of America. And we are
going to celebrate that with a openhouse
workshop here describing methods and how
to evaluate
the status of a person's
mental cap capability.
is are they doing great? Great. Is it
Alzheimer's? Is it uh what is it? And
then what can you do about it if uh if
you see relatives, friends, spouse
starting to suffer some of those
conditions?
>> It's wonderful. Thank you, Council
Member Brown. Council member Wallace, I
had in my calendar that you were
speaking at the youth civics event.
>> How'd that go?
>> Yeah. Um, I had a fantastic opportunity
to to come speak to a group of I think
it was 8 to 11 year olds. It was last
Friday. Um, and they were super cute and
really engaged and it was a lot of fun.
So, I really enjoyed it. And so, to the
extent other opportunities like that come up, I'd really encourage
my fellow council members to raise your
hand. Um, it's a really nice little
thing that we get to do sometimes is is,
you know, do stuff like that. So, it was
a pleasure.
>> Very nice. Thank you. Any other council
communication?
>> We've got two brief items. Um, one um at
our I think it was the last meeting or
the one before that when we were
discussing the uh bike pathways on the
um east side on the front porch of uh
Woodside that uh Steve Luben had
mentioned. He took issue with with uh
that I I never see bicycles there. Um
I've been paying very specific attention
lately and um I have to admit he is
correct. There are I didn't see a lot of
bicycles but since our last meeting I
have seen I I've lost count but it was
I'm in the six to eight range something
like that during that time period. Not a
lot but um I said never
and I was wrong. I was so I apologized
to Mr. Luben. I wanted to do so
publicly. Um, but I don't see a lot of
bicycles in that area, but I, you know,
I'm paying a lot more attention now, and
I do see the occasional, uh, usually a
pair of bicycles very early in the
morning, uh, heading west. Uh, the
second thing I wanted to mention,
speaking of the, uh, there's a little
work being done on the front porch of
Woodside. Uh, High Road, which as you
know, um, kind of a controversial area
over the last couple of years, uh, is
going to be closed
starting one week from today on January
20th, for roughly till the end of the
school year, May or June. It's a long
time, probably four, five, maybe even
six months. Uh, there's a main water
line that runs roughly from Woodside
Road uh, up the hill to the very first
sharp bend to the left. Um there's a
very large house there on the right but
um right down the middle of High Road uh
there will be construction major
construction project. Uh the biggest
inconvenience is of course going to be
to the people who live on that stretch
to Elmo Mundo and High Road going up the
hill. There's about 15 or 20 properties
there. Um they're actually not going to
be allowed to get into their properties
in and out of their properties
routinely. Um there's only going to be
certain times. It's going to be closed
from roughly I think it's 9:00 a.m. to
400 p.m. Monday through Friday, it won't
affect the people in this room too much.
It'll actually affect me. Um but um what
it means is that for the roughly 300
orund homes or so um in that bottom
area, Sight Hills, which is above it,
and Lasus Estate, which is over where I
am, um they'll all be very much affected
by it and need to use the Alama de las
exit. They won't be able to go down that
way. It'll be closed for four or five
maybe even six months as I said. Um so you're aware there's only two ways in
and out and one of them being closed
off. So um the sheriff, the fire
department, emergency services, Amazon,
UPS um are have been alerted to it, but
it's going to be closed for quite a
while and um a major inconvenience, but
um just wanted to bring it to your
attention. It's gotten a lot of
attention in that area over the last two
weeks or so.
That's it. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
for your magnanimous apology.
Uh
hey, I'm I'm always very willing to
admit when I'm wrong because it's
frequent. I have a lot of practice on
it.
>> Okay. Anything else? I think uh with
that we will uh we will adjourn at 8:45.
Thank you all.