[0:04] Thanks for being patient with us. Uh,
[0:06] we'll call the town council meeting of
[0:08] January 13th, 2026 to order. Jennifer,
[0:12] will you take role?
[0:14] >> Council member Alberish
[0:15] >> here.
[0:15] >> Council member Brown
[0:16] >> here.
[0:17] >> Council member Gold
[0:18] >> here.
[0:18] >> Council member Walt
[0:19] >> here. Mayor Donowski
[0:21] >> here. Mortm Gold, will you lead us in
[0:23] the pledge of allegiance?
[0:44] Okay, very good. Uh, we'll move right
[0:47] into public comments. Wishing to address
[0:50] the council on any matter not on the
[0:52] posted agenda are invited to do so.
[0:54] Please note, however, that the council
[0:56] cannot undertake extended discussions or
[0:58] act on non-aggendaized items. Such items
[0:59] can be referred to staff for an
[1:01] appropriate action in the future or
[1:02] placed on a future agenda. Are there any
[1:05] members of the public that would like to
[1:06] make a comment on any matter that's not
[1:09] on the agenda this evening?
[1:12] >> Pull up Zoom. One second here.
[1:18] » I didn't know you had coffee. Coffee is
[1:20] uh whatever it takes to get you here, we
[1:23] will we'll we'll we'll do. I I see no
[1:26] public uh comment beyond the coffee. Uh
[1:28] we will uh close public comment. Moving
[1:31] right along. Uh we have a presentation
[1:33] from Yip Housing. Hi.
[1:35] >> Hi there.
[1:36] >> Welcome.
[1:37] Uh my name is Troy Wilson. I'm
[1:39] here tonight to make a brief
[1:40] presentation. Um and I'm the fund
[1:43] development director of Hip Housing. And
[1:45] so um want to share something
[1:47] encouraging tonight. uh hopefully
[1:49] encourages everyone, lifts everyone up.
[1:51] Um since 1972, HIP Housing has been
[1:54] helping lowincome San Monteo County
[1:57] residents to find and maintain
[2:00] affordable housing. And we're listed in
[2:02] all 21 housing elements in Sonteo
[2:06] County, including yours. uh as a trusted
[2:09] affordable housing partner. Um last year
[2:11] we worked with uh over 4,000 individuals
[2:15] and provided housing to over,200
[2:17] lowincome households throughout the
[2:20] entire county. Um a quick update here on
[2:23] our 2425 fiscal year. 456 individuals
[2:28] applied to our home sharing program. Uh
[2:32] 141 individuals enrolled in our
[2:34] self-suffic self-sufficiency program.
[2:38] 700 tenants were housed in our property
[2:40] management program and 153 individuals
[2:44] received assistance through our home
[2:47] readiness program. Uh on behalf of Hip
[2:50] Housing, I would like to uh thank the
[2:52] honorable mayor and the members of city
[2:55] council here. I've given you uh each a
[2:57] calendar and um
[3:00] uh it is it is of our enduring your
[3:03] enduring support of our organization
[3:04] that we uh exist and continue to do the
[3:06] great services that we provide. And uh
[3:09] this is why I'm here tonight, just to
[3:11] show you a calendar. And um each year,
[3:14] Hip Housing asks children from around
[3:16] the county in grades kindergarten
[3:17] through fifth grade uh to draw a picture
[3:21] of home and as well as give a quote
[3:23] about what home means to them. Um and so
[3:27] it tells tells us what home means to
[3:29] them. Um and this year we had had over
[3:32] 120 calendar entries and from these
[3:34] entries we selected 14 winners. uh one
[3:37] for our front cover, one for our annual
[3:39] appeal uh presentation, and then the 12
[3:42] months of the year. Um my favorite is
[3:45] the front cover that that you see there.
[3:48] Uh it was it was our first place winner
[3:50] of our calendar contest by a third
[3:52] grader uh from Hillsboro and her quote
[3:55] is uh what my home means to me is being
[3:58] loved and cared for. My home is a safe
[4:02] place.
[4:04] So, we hope that you enjoy the calendar
[4:05] and that it serves as a beautiful
[4:07] reminder throughout the year of how
[4:10] important housing is to everyone in our
[4:12] county, especially our children. Uh,
[4:15] more information about our uh, hip
[4:18] housing programs and our calendar
[4:19] contest and even more can be found on
[4:22] our website uh, hiphousing.org. Thank
[4:24] you.
[4:25] >> Thank you, Troy. Are there any questions
[4:28] for Troy?
[4:30] Seeing none, we'll thank you for your
[4:32] wonderful work on behalf of the
[4:33] community and for being here to share
[4:35] these touching and lovely calendars and
[4:38] u for all the vital work you do in
[4:39] serving the community. We really
[4:40] appreciate it.
[4:41] >> Thank you.
[4:45] And we have uh
[4:49] a double show tonight. We have the
[4:51] library annual report as well. So,
[4:52] welcome.
[4:57] » Thank you. Good evening everyone. and
[4:59] Mayor Donowski, town council members,
[5:01] and town staff. My name is Carmen Latona
[5:04] Adams, and I'm the community library
[5:05] manager for the Woodside Library. And
[5:08] I'm pleased to share the fiscal year
[5:11] 2024 2025 annual report, uh, which I
[5:15] believe is also shared with you guys in
[5:16] advance. And thank you, Jennifer, for
[5:19] advancing the slides. So, first
[5:21] established as a county free library in
[5:23] 1912, the library joint powers authority
[5:26] was formed in 1999. Our service area is
[5:29] 351 square miles made up of 11 member
[5:32] cities and unincorporated areas of the
[5:34] county. Each of our 13 libraries is part
[5:36] of a larger system offering countless
[5:38] opportunities for connection and
[5:40] exploration. We curate our offerings to
[5:42] meet the needs and interests of our
[5:44] community to help them thrive.
[5:48] And uh this year we rolled out our new
[5:51] five-year strategic plan. Our new plan
[5:54] grounds us in our shared goals to
[5:55] listen, connect, discover, and engage.
[5:58] As we put our new vision, mission, and
[6:00] goals into action, we know our continued
[6:02] success depends on the insights and
[6:04] contributions of the voices in our
[6:06] communities.
[6:08] On the next slide,
[6:10] as part of our strategic plan, we
[6:12] introduced a new vision and mission to
[6:13] guide our work, which you see there. Our
[6:16] updated mission is together we build
[6:18] meaningful connections and inspire
[6:20] lifelong curiosity. Now I'd like to
[6:22] share uh how that's been coming to life
[6:25] in our libraries.
[6:28] This is our year in numbers. Um the
[6:31] programs and collections at Santo County
[6:34] libraries are very well used. This year
[6:36] we saw 1.7 million library visitors, 2.4
[6:40] million items circulated, and over
[6:43] 11,600
[6:44] programs and events. Beyond numbers,
[6:47] each data point represents the
[6:49] connections, learning, and growth that
[6:50] happens across our community. Next
[6:52] slide. We strive to deliver services and
[6:55] offer opportunities where our diverse
[6:57] communities feel seen, heard, and
[6:59] valued. Each of our library staff brings
[7:01] unique backgrounds and experiences to
[7:03] the library. This diversity strengthens
[7:06] how we serve through responsive
[7:08] programs, meaningful outreach, and
[7:10] culturally rich collections. Next slide.
[7:14] And more numbers. Our culture of
[7:16] discovery and exploration is reflected
[7:18] in our 249,967
[7:23] active library card holders. We saw 2.8
[7:26] million website visits, 41,984
[7:30] laptop checkouts, 4 million in library
[7:33] Wi-Fi sessions, and a huge increase here
[7:37] on 23,343
[7:39] hotspot checkouts thanks to additional
[7:41] hotspots that were added to our
[7:43] collection. and we're proud to welcome
[7:45] 14,274
[7:47] new active card holders. Next slide. And
[7:51] then at the local level for Woodside
[7:53] Library, we had over 57,700
[7:56] library visitors and circulated over
[7:58] 70,000 items last fiscal year and then
[8:02] Excel.
[8:05] and also on a local level, 65,000
[8:08] digital downloads for the Woodside
[8:10] Library uh through the platform
[8:13] Libby/Overdrive.
[8:15] Our program attendance at the library
[8:17] also reached over 7,217
[8:20] people. In addition to our popular
[8:22] on-site programs, we also make it a
[8:24] point to get out into the community. You
[8:26] have likely seen us this year at the
[8:28] horse park at water hutter in Wonderlake
[8:32] and also the Kinyatta College food
[8:34] distribution site that is uh on
[8:37] Tuesday's Kinyatta. Next slide.
[8:41] So we create moments for stage for every
[8:44] stage and phase of life to foster growth
[8:46] and curiosity. I'm excited to share some
[8:49] other great accomplishments. Next slide.
[8:52] So, this is actually a video that I
[8:53] won't play today, but was shared with
[8:55] you guys and um is also on our library
[8:58] YouTube channel. It's very adorable. So,
[9:00] if you haven't watched it yet, please
[9:01] do. Um and it's about our 55 plus aged
[9:04] programs. Um we love to connect older
[9:07] adults with opportunities to stay
[9:09] active, learn new skills, build
[9:10] friendships. We create welcoming spaces
[9:13] and provide meaningful experiences to
[9:15] help older adults find connection,
[9:17] routine, and a sense of belonging. Uh
[9:19] this particular video uh takes place in
[9:22] Phoi and um I believe this library
[9:26] that's featured was the North Oaks
[9:28] community, but locally for Woodside, we
[9:30] went to Pi Ranch over in Pescadero and
[9:32] that was a very fun trip. Next slide.
[9:36] So we're also helping families spark a
[9:39] love of reading from day one through
[9:41] Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
[9:43] Children's ages 0 to 5 receive free
[9:45] books in the mail each month. Since
[9:48] launch, thousands of Sanonteo County
[9:50] kids have enrolled in this program.
[9:52] We're thankful for our partners at the
[9:53] Dollywood Foundation, the Foundation for
[9:56] Santo County Libraries, and our friends
[9:58] group who make this offering possible.
[10:00] Next slide.
[10:03] This is another video that's also fun to
[10:05] watch. It's actually the libraries at
[10:06] Giants Night. Um I believe it was in the
[10:09] spring or very early summer. So,
[10:12] together with our partners, we bring the
[10:13] library into the community in fun and
[10:15] unexpected ways. There was a library
[10:17] night with the San Francisco Giants.
[10:19] There were various libraries there, not
[10:20] just us. And uh we took our Makermobile.
[10:24] We had people browse ebooks and other
[10:26] baseball themed books that day. Uh we've
[10:29] also been to the Sanio County Fair. Of
[10:31] course, we go every year and we always
[10:33] create a very vibrant reading garden at
[10:35] the fair.
[10:36] So, wherever we go, we remind people
[10:38] that the library is always within reach.
[10:41] Next slide.
[10:43] and our staff are at the very heart of
[10:45] everything that we do. This year, our
[10:47] library champions leaned into growth and
[10:49] new ideas, turning creativity into even
[10:51] better services for our communities. We
[10:54] celebrate our team from lifelong staff
[10:56] who know our communities deeply to new
[10:58] team members who bring fresh
[11:00] perspectives. And we're also thankful
[11:02] for the support of volunteers and our
[11:03] friends groups who continuously help us
[11:05] reach even more people across the
[11:07] county. Next slide.
[11:09] And this is one more video from the
[11:12] Belmont reopening. If you weren't aware,
[11:14] they had a a refresh of their library
[11:16] space. So, it's a cute video of that
[11:18] day. Our libraries are, of course,
[11:21] community destinations. We provide
[11:22] welcoming spaces to gather, learn, and
[11:24] connect through continued upgrades and
[11:26] new spaces. We're always working to make
[11:29] them more comfortable, innovative, and
[11:31] inspiring for everyone in collaboration
[11:33] with the community and with the town.
[11:36] Okay, next up.
[11:38] So, our Woodside Library created its own
[11:40] winds in progress this past year. I'd
[11:43] like to specifically highlight our 55
[11:45] plus corner. It's a comfortable area of
[11:48] the library with views of the garden. It
[11:50] also has books um featuring different
[11:53] interests that might be of interest to
[11:55] older community members. There are also
[11:57] community resource pamphlets there,
[11:59] flyers highlighting free services um
[12:02] regarding mental wellness, health,
[12:03] transportation um mostly from the
[12:06] county. And uh our older adult
[12:09] programming is also hugely popular at
[12:12] the library. A computer basics and
[12:14] security is a um a very popular topic,
[12:18] but also wellness programs as well.
[12:21] presentations on traveling, especially
[12:23] for older adults, is very highly
[12:25] attended. And we also do maker programs
[12:27] for our older adults with hands-on
[12:30] activities. They're are highly popular.
[12:32] SL
[12:37] and
[12:39] I'd like to specifically highlight our
[12:40] partnership with the friends of the
[12:42] Wonder Lake, Wonderlake and Hutter Park.
[12:45] Uh this past summer we partnered with
[12:47] them to bring some uh wellness and uh
[12:51] art activities to both parks in the
[12:53] summer specifically for older adults.
[12:55] But um I think we had it as all ages
[12:58] mostly older adults came and um if I
[13:01] memory serves it was nature journaling
[13:04] and sound forest bathing both highly
[13:07] popular and um thanks to the friends of
[13:10] the library who supported that
[13:13] partnership with the friends of
[13:14] Wonderlick and Hutter.
[13:16] Um
[13:18] next slide
[13:20] and I'd like to highlight our high
[13:21] school summer adventure interns. This is
[13:23] Briana. But we also had another intern
[13:25] named Zoe. Uh they were both wonderful
[13:28] additions to the library, helping staff
[13:30] with numerous outreach events, programs,
[13:32] and even book displays. The kids love
[13:34] doing programs with them from crochet to
[13:36] slime. And I think there they were
[13:39] painting, and that was a lot of fun in
[13:40] that back patio. And the last slide is
[13:44] uh just a thank you to town staff and
[13:46] town council for your collaboration with
[13:48] us for championing the library in
[13:50] particular council member Brown who is
[13:53] on our uh JPA board as well as uh town
[13:57] manager Jason. Uh it's with your work
[14:00] with the governing board and operations
[14:02] committee that we can make a lot of
[14:03] these things happen. A thank you to the
[14:06] friends of Woodside Library of course
[14:08] for the ongoing support and library
[14:10] staff for their commitment and passion
[14:12] to their work and I'm happy to answer
[14:15] questions.
[14:16] >> Wonderful. Thank you. Any questions for
[14:18] Carmen?
[14:20] >> I'm very happy.
[14:23] >> Very good.
[14:25] >> Well then I will simply thank you for
[14:28] being here and for everything that you
[14:29] do for the community. It's a It's always
[14:31] a great reminder of the many services
[14:33] that you provide to our constituents and
[14:35] uh it's always a lovely presentation at
[14:38] start of every year. So,
[14:39] >> thank you.
[14:45] » Okay, I think with that we will move on
[14:48] to the town manager report. Mr. Led
[14:50] Better.
[14:52] >> Yeah, thank you Mr. Mayor and uh
[14:54] Woodside Town Council. a relatively
[14:58] brief report, but uh over the holiday
[15:00] break, the town offices were closed, but
[15:03] uh we had no shortage of response from
[15:05] the public works team due to storms uh
[15:08] primarily in the first week. But over
[15:10] the last few weeks, they've been
[15:11] responsive on multiple occasions. Uh
[15:14] multiple trees were down and there was
[15:16] some uh work that was done to make sure
[15:18] that drains were clear and anything that
[15:20] got clogged was alleviated. And what I'm
[15:23] hearing is that ultimately this was
[15:24] substantially a lighter storm that been
[15:28] past years from atmospheric rivers in
[15:30] the past. But it was also very
[15:32] successful break because we did fumigate
[15:34] this in the other building for termites
[15:36] and so that's been completed. Uh the
[15:39] town is scheduling administrative
[15:41] services director interviews over the
[15:43] next two weeks. The panel will include
[15:45] staff obviously, but we will have an
[15:47] audit committee member as well as an
[15:49] admin services director from another
[15:51] local agency on the interview panel.
[15:53] More information to come in the coming
[15:55] weeks on that. And then my final
[15:57] announcement this evening is that the
[15:59] town has hired a public works director
[16:01] uh/town engineer who is currently the
[16:04] deputy engineer in Pacifica. Lewis Sun
[16:06] will be starting after Martin Luther
[16:08] King uh Jr. Day on Tuesday 120 next
[16:12] week. So Lewis brings about 20 years of
[16:14] local government experience with primary
[16:16] roles in engineering, wastewater, and
[16:18] general public works. He is a graduate
[16:21] of the Ohio State University and holds a
[16:24] master's in engineering management from
[16:26] Santa Clara University. Lewis has been
[16:29] on the peninsula doing public works for
[16:30] well over a decade and prior to that he
[16:32] was a design engineer for the city of
[16:34] Bakersfield, giving him experience in a
[16:36] broad spectrum uh in the multitude of
[16:38] disciplines across public works. So,
[16:40] I'll be very excited to bring him to the
[16:42] next meeting.
[16:44] >> And that's all I have. Looking forward
[16:45] to it. Questions for Jason.
[16:49] » Um, and Jason, we had a chance to catch
[16:52] up about this this week. So, I had an
[16:53] opportunity to catch up with a San
[16:56] Carlos council member over the holidays
[16:58] and they uh she let me know that they
[17:01] are in the midst of doing their annual
[17:05] uh strategic planning process and goal
[17:06] setting process. I was wondering if you
[17:08] could just report out on sort of the
[17:11] process that you envision implementing
[17:13] in Woodside because I think you know the
[17:15] council would be interested to hear
[17:16] that. I'd be interested to hear that and
[17:17] I think it would be interesting to for
[17:19] our residents to hear that as well.
[17:21] >> Yeah, I'm glad we're having this
[17:22] conversation just so I can get a better
[17:24] understanding of the council's uh wishes
[17:27] based off of my understanding of all the
[17:29] different planning documents and goals
[17:30] that we currently have. So you know
[17:32] going through the review process with
[17:34] the facilitator ultimately I had this
[17:37] question for them because we did find
[17:39] seven goals essentially for myself as
[17:41] well as the CIP uh the housing element
[17:45] deliverables and then ultimately um when
[17:48] we're looking at the town center area
[17:49] plan deliverables to come. And so what
[17:52] I'm seeing is really an opportunity to
[17:55] finalize the town center area plan, then
[17:58] come back with all of these different
[18:00] deliverables that we're currently
[18:01] working on and come to the council at
[18:04] that time to determine if we want to do
[18:06] strategic planning at that point. uh
[18:09] because I'm not 100% sure if it makes
[18:12] more sense for the will of the council
[18:13] to work through our current obligations
[18:15] within the planning documents that we
[18:17] have primarily the housing element the
[18:20] CIP and then the the current planning
[18:23] document that's being done by the
[18:24] entirety of the town the town center
[18:26] area plan I'm going to assume that
[18:27] there'll be a multitude of projects
[18:29] there but the way I would take it if if
[18:32] none of that was currently happening I
[18:35] personally believe more in say what the
[18:37] library has done and and that ultimately
[18:40] strategic initiative should be
[18:42] multi-year and over say a five-year term
[18:45] rather than consistently changing on an
[18:47] annual basis. And so ultimately we can
[18:50] bring in a facilitator
[18:52] uh in order to do that. But based off of
[18:54] all of the multitude of documents that
[18:56] we currently have and the obligations
[18:58] that we're committed to, I think it
[18:59] would make more sense that I would lead
[19:02] with the council what staff felt were
[19:04] the priorities from uh those multitude
[19:07] of planning documents and then we would
[19:09] game plan with you other strategic
[19:11] initiatives that you would want to see
[19:12] us work on over the coming years. and
[19:15] then the staff would go work out
[19:17] projects and bring them back to you to
[19:19] see if they fit within the trunch of the
[19:21] strategic initiative that was set. So
[19:24] that's kind of how I envision us moving
[19:26] forward and I would not and this is what
[19:28] I need feedback from the council. I
[19:30] don't envision that before January of of
[19:35] be honest with you just because of the
[19:38] litany of obligations that we currently
[19:40] have. I don't know if it's the will of
[19:42] the council. Certainly, we'll do
[19:43] whatever they desire, but I'm not sure
[19:46] if we need more planning or the view
[19:49] that I currently have is we need more
[19:51] actual delivery of the current plan that
[19:53] we have.
[19:56] >> Yeah, thank you for that. Just a quick
[19:58] followup question because um and maybe a
[20:01] little bit of history here. the the
[20:02] council I've been on for six years now.
[20:04] We we did do a facilitated
[20:08] uh goal setting process at the end of
[20:12] 2024.
[20:14] Um and I know you've I you've reviewed
[20:17] the um the agenda and the the minutes
[20:21] from from that session. Um we didn't do
[20:25] any strategic goal setting. I think
[20:27] rightfully so. last year uh we had you
[20:30] know the change the new town man you
[20:32] starting um and I hear what you're
[20:35] saying in terms of we we definitely have
[20:37] a lot going on we've got a lot of
[20:39] initiatives I'd be curious though how
[20:41] you view those initiatives where do they
[20:43] slot into the town's current goals
[20:46] because we did set some goals right that
[20:48] and I think a lot of those initiatives
[20:50] are in service of those goals so I'm
[20:51] curious like what your thoughts on like
[20:53] do we kind of already have a strategic
[20:56] plan and those initiatives that we're
[20:58] working on serve that strategic plan,
[20:59] but we haven't really just kind of like
[21:01] mapped them together.
[21:04] >> That's a great point and that's what I
[21:05] would that's my preference is ultimately
[21:07] I think we have some gaps and I think
[21:09] one of the gaps is with hazard
[21:11] mitigation. I think that we need to
[21:13] really develop and I'm working with a
[21:14] couple council members specifically Dick
[21:16] Brown currently on some opportunities
[21:19] with with hazard mitigation. And so I
[21:21] think what I'd like to do is kind of map
[21:23] out how I see the current um obligations
[21:25] that we have, come back to the council
[21:28] and start from that point to um build
[21:30] out the missing pieces of the strategy
[21:32] right now that we should be focusing a
[21:34] percentage of time all the time on
[21:36] hazard mitigation. So if that's suit if
[21:39] that suited the council that would be
[21:41] what I would desire is to take a look at
[21:43] the current deliverables that we have
[21:45] build something out and then come to you
[21:48] during the budgeting process and
[21:50] showcase to you the current strategic
[21:52] initiative as I see it and then have you
[21:55] fill in the gaps and then
[21:57] >> help guide me as to when you think it
[21:59] makes the most sense to really have a
[22:01] retreat that would involve maybe a
[22:03] deeper dive into the next five years.
[22:07] Yeah, I think that would be really
[22:08] healthy because I think you know if you
[22:10] sort of mash together the work that we
[22:13] did in 2024 where we came up with our
[22:16] strategic goals. I I would I believe
[22:20] that a lot of the initiatives that you
[22:22] are currently working on are in service
[22:24] of those goals. We haven't we just
[22:25] haven't articulated it into a strategic
[22:28] plan which I think is really important
[22:30] to have as a town. Um, it's my
[22:34] understanding it's what our peer towns
[22:36] have and San Carlos are, you know, the
[22:38] examples before us tonight as a desk
[22:40] item. Um, so I would be very supportive
[22:42] of that to to kind of formalize I think
[22:45] what's already out there into a
[22:47] strategic plan.
[22:50] >> I would definitely uh advocate doing
[22:53] that myself as well. So if it suits the
[22:55] rest of the council, that would be um I
[22:57] think that would benefit us.
[23:01] Do we do we have the um we're we're a
[23:04] lot leaner than um San Carlos.
[23:08] Uh so tell me a little bit um about the
[23:12] resources. I mean when I think about
[23:15] time and meetings and outreach and
[23:18] dollars and whatnot. Um it's a process
[23:20] when you put together strategic plan.
[23:22] Now, I think a couple years ago at Jen
[23:23] uh Council Member Wall was talking
[23:24] about, I remember we all sort of
[23:26] submitted what we thought the goals were
[23:28] and uh or kind of
[23:32] uh aggregated um and most people kind of
[23:35] agreed. So, the good news was we're all
[23:37] sort of on the same page and I kind of
[23:38] feel like we're all on the same page at
[23:40] this very moment in a shared vision, at
[23:43] least in the broadest sense. But what
[23:45] would it take um I mean what would it
[23:47] take to actually do that process
[23:49] resource-wise and would it take away
[23:51] from execution?
[23:53] >> Yeah. So that's a great point. So
[23:55] ultimately what I'm hearing is that I
[23:58] would take the strategic initiatives
[24:00] that the council put together in 2024. I
[24:02] would look at the landscape of
[24:04] deliverables that we're already
[24:05] obligated to delivering projects that
[24:07] we're currently discussing as
[24:09] initiatives. And then I would put
[24:11] together essentially a couple pages that
[24:13] showcase this that those are the
[24:15] strategic initiatives of the town. But
[24:17] thank you for pointing that out because
[24:19] it'll be Christmas before I know it.
[24:22] Honestly, this job is incredible. Uh as
[24:24] far as working for the government, time
[24:26] goes so quickly that right now we only
[24:28] have three department heads that work
[24:30] for the town and two of them are not are
[24:32] currently not here. So ultimately that's
[24:34] defaulting to our, you know, assistant
[24:37] in in public works or it's defaulting
[24:39] back over to me. So capacity honestly is an issue at the moment ultimately and
[24:44] those positions need to get filled and
[24:46] those people are going to take time to
[24:47] bring them up to speed. So it may make
[24:50] even more sense. I know this may, you
[24:51] know, just for timing purposes, um,
[24:54] incorporating the TCAP into this or
[24:56] maybe this is actually we shoot for
[25:00] July or June, but it may be more
[25:02] realistic that this gets pushed back and
[25:04] as an obligation of mine before the end
[25:06] of actual the year of 2026
[25:10] just to put together the paper and not
[25:13] to do a strategic initiative planning
[25:15] session. and it would be bringing you
[25:17] how I'm envisioning our current
[25:20] obligations and that would be our
[25:21] starting point essentially.
[25:23] So I think I would be able to do that
[25:25] with a little bit more leeway just
[25:28] thinking about the obligations that we
[25:30] currently have if we were to maybe look
[25:32] at all of 2026 giving me that
[25:34] opportunity. I would shoot to do that
[25:36] soon. But based off of the capacity of
[25:40] the organization currently, it is
[25:42] definitely we're, as I like to say,
[25:44] we're punching above our weight level
[25:46] currently.
[25:48] >> Yeah. And I that's what I would have
[25:50] thought you would have said. So that's great. I personally I I see
[25:54] exactly the thought process. I um just
[25:57] question of timing uh and we have our
[25:59] feet on solid ground.
[26:04] There any other?
[26:05] >> I have a different question on a
[26:07] different topic. Um, congratulations on
[26:09] the hire of the public works director.
[26:10] How long was that position vacant by the
[26:12] way? Just curious.
[26:18] » October.
[26:19] >> Yeah, mid October.
[26:21] >> Yeah, October. It was very I mean we rap
[26:24] we moved so rapidly on this that I mean
[26:26] I feel very very good about how quick
[26:28] the caliber of the person that we have
[26:30] coming on and how how in government
[26:33] terms that was that was a quick
[26:35] turnaround of
[26:36] >> I was just surprised that it was it was
[26:39] so short. So congratulations on doing
[26:41] that. I don't have any other questions.
[26:42] >> Thank you.
[26:43] >> Town managers.
[26:46] If I could just make a quick
[26:48] announcement just that uh remind
[26:49] everyone that the planning commission
[26:51] has two vacancies terms ending uh for
[26:54] districts one and three. So just any
[26:56] chance I get and sorry I didn't give you
[26:57] a heads up but just a quick announcement
[26:59] for anyone listening or anyone who wants
[27:01] to tell their friends. Um we have uh two
[27:04] terms ending and applications for
[27:06] districts one and three to serve on the
[27:08] planning commission are due by February
[27:11] 4th. Then we did send out townwide
[27:12] mailers for that and just trying to
[27:14] advertise as much as possible.
[27:17] >> Quick question. Are they are are the
[27:19] current um
[27:22] two gentlemen who hold those two seats?
[27:25] >> One has moved districts. Um so that
[27:28] becomes a complication for that one.
[27:29] That's for district one. Um and then I
[27:32] think we're still waiting to hear from
[27:34] the incumbent on district three.
[27:38] So, um, we would have to recruit in
[27:41] district 1 and district three to fill
[27:44] those seats
[27:44] >> potentially if if the incumbent in
[27:46] district 3 does not
[27:48] >> Yeah, but they must be in district.
[27:50] >> Isn't Well, there's a way to get around
[27:52] that. Yeah,
[27:53] >> there's a code provision that allows for
[27:55] the council to override that should
[27:57] someone outside of a district apply.
[27:59] >> It requires a four-fifths vote,
[28:00] >> I believe. So,
[28:04] sorry for interrupting. I just want to
[28:05] get that out.
[28:06] >> No, that's a good double.
[28:10] » Okay. Any uh comments from the public on
[28:13] the town manager report?
[28:17] Seeing none, we will close the town
[28:19] manager report and move on to
[28:21] appointments. So, the appointments
[28:23] committee, I will hand off this uh
[28:26] recreation committee, which I know
[28:27] you're going to say is the best
[28:28] committee, but there are many wonderful
[28:29] committees.
[28:30] >> I'm glad that uh people are starting to
[28:32] come around that it's the best
[28:33] committee. That's
[28:35] >> um there is one applicant for the
[28:38] recreation committee. Um and that's
[28:40] Jonathan Goldman. He comes well
[28:42] recommended by
[28:44] um Rowan McN, the chair, who as you know
[28:47] is a very discerning uh individual and
[28:50] uh the recommendation of the committee
[28:52] is that we um accept this appointment to
[28:55] the recreation committee by Jonathan
[28:57] Golden. So I will nominate him. Oh,
[29:00] unless there's an second. Oh, good.
[29:02] Okay.
[29:04] >> Okay. Uh, Council,
[29:05] >> any discussion, this gentleman, or are
[29:07] we good to go to vote? I think we're
[29:09] good to go to vote. Yeah.
[29:11] >> Council member Aberish.
[29:13] >> Yes.
[29:13] >> Council member Brown.
[29:14] >> Yes.
[29:14] >> Council member Gold.
[29:15] >> Yes.
[29:15] >> Council member Wall.
[29:17] >> Mayor Donowski.
[29:18] >> Yes. Jonathan, welcome to the recreation
[29:20] committee.
[29:21] >> This committee,
[29:22] >> one of many wonderful committees.
[29:25] Uh, we certainly look forward to your
[29:26] contributions. Um, next up, we've got
[29:29] consent agenda and we've got a big one.
[29:31] So, all items on the consent are
[29:32] considered routine and will be approved
[29:35] by one roll call motion unless a request
[29:37] is made at the beginning of the meeting
[29:38] uh that an item be withdrawn or
[29:40] transferred to the regular agenda. We do
[29:42] have an extensive list. Are there any
[29:43] items on the consent agenda that any
[29:45] member of the council would like to pull
[29:46] for further discussion?
[29:49] >> Yes, Council Member Brown.
[29:50] >> Number 12.
[29:54] » Uh 5713
[29:58] will be quick.
[30:00] Okay.
[30:04] All right. Can we get a motion for 1 2 3
[30:06] 4 6 8 9 10 11 and 14?
[30:09] >> I move to approve 1 2 3 4 6 8 9 10 11
[30:14] and 14.
[30:16] >> Second.
[30:17] >> Council member Aberish.
[30:19] >> Yes.
[30:19] >> Council member Brown.
[30:20] >> Yes.
[30:20] >> Council member Gold.
[30:21] >> Yes.
[30:22] >> Council member Wall. Mayor Donowski.
[30:24] >> Yes. We'll go in order. So number five
[30:27] goes to you, Paul. Um so five is the um
[30:31] mayor's council member committee
[30:33] appointments for 2026.
[30:35] Um, as maybe the public doesn't know
[30:37] this, but in addition to serving coming
[30:40] in here, uh, two nights a month
[30:43] approximately, um, each of us serves on
[30:46] other we we not only, um, get to be a
[30:49] liaison to some committees, uh, the
[30:52] town's volunteer committees, but we also
[30:55] there's a lot of Bay Area, state level,
[30:58] local level, county level, uh,
[30:59] organizations that we also liaison to
[31:02] that we participate on. And um I didn't I mean I'm grateful that uh
[31:09] for the two that I serve on uh that are
[31:12] outside the town. Um and of course as
[31:14] you know I also serve as liaison to the
[31:16] recreation committee. Um but I think um
[31:20] one of the things that comes up is uh um I've heard back from some committee
[31:27] chairs that they want to make sure that
[31:30] we are participating at those committee
[31:32] levels. that is that um attending our
[31:36] liaison committees. I know you know most
[31:37] of us do this but I that that they want
[31:39] to make sure that we do attend um and I
[31:42] think that it really um is a nice sign
[31:45] uh of good faith to those committees
[31:47] when a member of the town council shows
[31:49] up. I think that they appreciate that we
[31:52] do serve some purpose and we can bring
[31:53] back information here. But um I just
[31:55] wanted to make that point that these are
[31:57] serious assignments and um we should
[31:59] take them as such and attend them. So,
[32:01] that was all I wanted to say unless
[32:03] there's some pop well public comment.
[32:05] No,
[32:05] >> you know, I'm glad you pulled it because
[32:06] maybe I should just summarize this a
[32:08] little bit, too. Um, in the spirit of
[32:10] continuity, I just made the assumption
[32:12] that by and large we're all staying on
[32:14] the same uh current assignments. Uh, if
[32:17] you want to change any of those, we can
[32:18] certainly talk about those right now. I
[32:20] the material changes here, just so you
[32:21] know, is that we stripped out uh the
[32:24] climate and sustainability uh committee
[32:27] uh given the lack of members uh which is
[32:29] really folding back, I think, in
[32:30] environment. So, Hassan, you got to drop
[32:32] a committee. Uh, the town manager
[32:34] review, we changed that to recognize
[32:35] that that's now facilitated as opposed
[32:38] to um just a couple folks doing and um
[32:42] made some other changes around, you
[32:44] know, just two people on the attorney
[32:45] review because only two of the five
[32:47] council members can be there. Uh we also
[32:49] stripped out the Pulla Valley Woodside
[32:51] ad hoc committee. Um we did that after
[32:53] learning from both attorneys that those
[32:54] would be Brown Act committees, which we
[32:57] didn't realize. Um, and because I don't
[32:59] think there's a lot of strategic
[33:01] interest, at least in the immediate
[33:02] term, in looking at, um, evaluating
[33:05] options, uh, and that any tactical cost
[33:07] issues for a sheriff's contract or
[33:09] something would come up from two town
[33:11] managers, uh, and be presented. So,
[33:12] there really wasn't no need for that.
[33:14] And then a good chunk of the staff
[33:16] leaison either changed out or optimized.
[33:18] Um, so those are the major changes. Uh,
[33:21] but for the most part, as far as we're
[33:22] concerned, I I largely just kept
[33:24] everything the same. Um, is there
[33:26] anything you need to drop for time
[33:27] reasons in order to uh be able to make
[33:29] the commitments that uh Mayor Prom Gold
[33:32] was just speaking to? We can certainly
[33:34] uh work on that right now or you can uh
[33:37] we can certainly do a swap out later. We
[33:39] can just talk about it. So, but with
[33:42] that I don't have anything else to add.
[33:44] >> I had nothing else on that point.
[33:48] >> Guess we can
[33:49] >> you want to just do them all at once if
[33:51] we can.
[33:51] >> Okay, great. Uh number seven, that's you
[33:55] on leaf blowers.
[33:57] >> Uh so seven is second reading and
[33:59] adoption of an ordinance adopting a
[34:00] Woodside municipal code new section
[34:03] 94.06
[34:04] prohibition of gas powered leaf blowers.
[34:07] Um I just as a courtesy to the public if
[34:10] there was any public comment. Um it's
[34:12] just opening up. Are there any members
[34:15] of the public that would like to comment
[34:17] on the second reading for the ban on
[34:20] leaf blowers effectively in central
[34:22] Woodside gas powered leaf blowers?
[34:28] Seeing none,
[34:30] we'll move on.
[34:32] >> 13 or 12 is going over to council member
[34:35] Brown. Yeah, I only wanted to comment
[34:37] that um I've noticed on some of our
[34:40] roadways, um we've been
[34:45] building up a lot of asphalt along all
[34:47] across the roadway except is now have
[34:49] drops drop offs, sizable drop offs, um
[34:52] that could become a hazard sometime in
[34:54] the future. And so I'd like to have
[34:57] particularly on our area um have have a
[35:02] survey done perhaps of are we giving a
[35:05] full coverage that we need or are there
[35:07] any unsafe areas that we should be
[35:09] looking at um in the future to uh make
[35:12] sure we're not just adding more asphalt
[35:15] and bigger drop off.
[35:17] That's all.
[35:18] >> Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, I know
[35:20] that the town has transitioned and and Cindy, you might be able to answer
[35:24] this, but that in the past we did more
[35:26] chip seal, which added actual um depth
[35:29] to the road, and now currently our model
[35:32] is more I call slurry seal, but
[35:34] ultimately a micro seal, which really
[35:36] adds no level of depth. But maybe you
[35:39] can elaborate on that.
[35:41] >> Good evening, mayor and council members.
[35:43] Um yes, in the past we've always did um
[35:47] hot mix asphalt which is actually you
[35:49] know the hotmix asphalt where it adds an
[35:51] inch and a half we and would would not
[35:54] cover a lot of streets because it's
[35:55] expensive. Right now what we do we are
[35:57] doing is microsurfacing which is very
[35:59] thin layer of basically oil and sand
[36:02] that we put in which does not add a lot
[36:04] of um it just creates protection to the
[36:07] street. It improves the um the life of
[36:09] the street for five for 5 years, 5 to 7
[36:12] years, but it does not add a lot of
[36:15] asphalt. But um yes, we will take a look
[36:17] at the locations that um um we will
[36:21] think it's unsafe to drive, but um as
[36:24] the public lets us know, we go and
[36:25] inspect it. Yes.
[36:27] >> Thank you.
[36:30] >> Okay. And number 13, back to you.
[36:33] >> Yes. 13 is a um resolution um approving
[36:38] the uh old La Honda Road drainage
[36:40] improvement project. Um I know that this
[36:42] is specific property that it's directed
[36:44] at, but I just wanted to bring up just
[36:46] sort of an ancillary one. Um I was made
[36:49] aware just last week that there were
[36:51] some uh funds I I think that uh the town
[36:55] manager is probably aware of this as
[36:56] well. um that um and Cindy as well that there is a um uh there were some
[37:04] funds allocated
[37:06] by I think the county uh to do some
[37:10] rehab to the drainage system on Old La
[37:12] Road and I just wanted to find out this
[37:14] is sort of related to it somehow that um
[37:17] are those funds available? Do you know
[37:19] if they were spent? Do you know the
[37:20] status of that or
[37:23] >> did I catch you off guard? Yeah, I'm not
[37:25] familiar with the county uh funds for
[37:27] old La Honda road drainage. I know that
[37:29] this project specifically is this is
[37:32] very specific project uh outside of that
[37:35] um uh from some obligations of the past,
[37:38] but I'm not sure. Are you familiar with
[37:39] any county projects?
[37:40] >> No. U we did not receive any funds from
[37:42] the county for Olahonda Road.
[37:44] >> Okay. Thank you. And I'd be wondering if
[37:47] the public had any comments.
[37:48] >> Okay. Is there any member of the public
[37:51] uh that would like to comment on item
[37:53] 13?
[37:54] the uh Oblah Honda drainage improvement
[37:57] projects.
[38:00] >> Just watching.
[38:02] We are not getting any hands raised.
[38:04] >> Okay.
[38:06] >> You need a motion.
[38:07] >> We have a need a motion for 5 712 and 13
[38:10] which I think we'll take in one unless
[38:12] there's an objection.
[38:14] >> No. Okay.
[38:15] >> I'll make a motion that we approve uh
[38:17] items 5, 7, 12, and 13.
[38:19] >> Second.
[38:20] >> Council member Alberish.
[38:21] >> Yes.
[38:22] >> Council member Brown.
[38:22] >> Yes. Council member Gold.
[38:24] >> Yes.
[38:24] >> Council member Wall, Mayor Donowski.
[38:27] >> Yes. And with that, we will move on to
[38:30] new business. So, um, item A, uh,
[38:34] tonight it is my distinct honor, uh, to
[38:37] be able to introduce this next agenda
[38:39] item. Uh this is a preliminary agreement
[38:42] in principle to accept the extraordinary
[38:46] generosity and civic-minded leadership
[38:48] of two anonymous private donors who have
[38:52] indicated a desire to make the single
[38:55] biggest private gift to the town since
[38:58] Barkley Fields by funding the
[39:00] beautifification of the median on
[39:03] Woodside Road from 280 to the Alama,
[39:05] which if accepted by council and funded
[39:08] subsequently uh would greatly of course
[39:11] um improve a vital public corridor in
[39:14] our community and turn it into a
[39:15] welcoming, calmer and safer
[39:19] uh thoroughare and of course create an
[39:21] enduring and lasting civic asset for our
[39:23] citizens and the surrounding residents
[39:25] of our community here. So uh it is a a
[39:28] big moment. I'll hand it off to you
[39:30] Jason to take us through the specifics.
[39:33] >> Yeah, thank you Mr. Mayor. This is a
[39:35] very spectacular moment for the town of
[39:37] Woodside. And so ultimately, as you
[39:39] alluded to, I'm told this is very
[39:41] similar to the Barkley Field Project
[39:43] that uh utilized the community donation
[39:45] and the Woodside Community Foundation in
[39:47] order to initiate the Barkley Field
[39:49] Project. The Woodside Community
[39:51] Foundation and the town of Woodside are
[39:53] back with another project that has been
[39:55] initiated by donors who wish to remain
[39:57] anonymous within the community to
[39:59] complete the 2026. The other thing that
[40:01] makes this really remarkable is that
[40:02] this project was on the 2026 capital
[40:05] improvement project list and that the
[40:07] town had ultimately set aside just
[40:10] $200,000
[40:11] to continue to move down and work the
[40:14] medians on 84 from essentially town
[40:17] center to Alama de las pulga. So we
[40:20] already had prioritized this as an
[40:22] initiative for the community in the town
[40:25] and now we're getting a donation to
[40:27] complete the entirety of this project.
[40:29] So, $2.5 million. Uh, we have a design,
[40:32] we have a a conceptual design currently.
[40:35] So, what would happen here ultimately is
[40:38] if you guys do approve this uh agreement
[40:41] this evening between us and the Woodside
[40:43] Community Foundation that we would
[40:46] anticipate that the actual donation
[40:48] would happen here in the next couple
[40:50] weeks. Once that donation happens,
[40:51] there's some obligations within the
[40:53] agreement that we have with the Woodside
[40:55] Community Foundation that initiate
[40:58] actions happening. So, we have a concept
[41:00] design. As soon as those obligations are
[41:02] met, the town then works to complete an
[41:05] engineered design. We would then spend
[41:08] 2026 doing that combined with working
[41:10] with Calrans on an encroachment permit
[41:13] because it is their median. We would
[41:15] also have to work with the county on the
[41:17] final uh median is actually doesn't
[41:20] belong to us as you get right in front
[41:21] of the high school. So we'd have to work
[41:23] with the county on utilizing and
[41:25] maintaining that median for them. And
[41:27] then in 2027, we would anticipate being
[41:30] able to break ground in the interim. We
[41:33] would get a final design back over to
[41:35] the landscape committee. and then
[41:36] inevitably to bid that project out, you
[41:39] guys would also see the final design and
[41:42] have approval of that design as well.
[41:44] So, if there's any other questions, I
[41:46] think that kind of explains kind of the
[41:47] broad 30,000 ft view, but really want to
[41:51] congratulate the town, the council, and
[41:53] obviously the mayor who has been working
[41:56] on this uh this predates me. And so to
[41:58] have two and a half million of really
[42:01] civic philanthropy money that's going to
[42:03] benefit this community uh is really
[42:06] remarkable and just um a testament to
[42:09] what a privilege it is to work here in
[42:11] Woodside to be honest with you.
[42:13] >> Thank you. Um any questions on the staff
[42:17] report from council?
[42:26] » We're all in awe. So comments, comments,
[42:29] uh questions, uh whatever. Uh
[42:32] >> we got comments.
[42:32] >> Yes. Yes, sir.
[42:33] >> That I really really want to thank uh
[42:35] you making this thing happen. I don't
[42:38] think we'd be where we are without it.
[42:40] Um you've been involved in the
[42:42] beginning, did found the donors,
[42:46] put the whole thing together. And a lot
[42:48] of thanks goes to Brian for that.
[42:51] >> And whoever else was on your team, I'd
[42:52] like to know who they were, too, because
[42:53] it was it's a great project.
[42:56] Well, that's a very kind
[42:58] acknowledgement. I'll just just be very
[43:00] clear. Um, this is occurring uh solely
[43:02] because of the generous civic-minded
[43:05] individuals here. Uh my role has been
[43:08] nothing but a resource
[43:10] uh and uh just helping them understand
[43:13] opportunity and how they could transform
[43:16] the town of Woodside as it relates to
[43:18] our capital project wish list and uh to
[43:20] assist in facilitating um the mechanics
[43:23] and the community around uh making their
[43:27] vision a reality. But uh certainly
[43:30] appreciate your comment.
[43:34] » How many now or taking? Well, I Oh, uh,
[43:38] questions for staff. That went right
[43:39] into comment. Sorry about that. Um, are
[43:42] there any other questions for staff?
[43:44] Okay, we will take public
[43:47] comment. Thank you, Jen. Uh, are there
[43:50] any members of the public that would
[43:51] like to comment on item A?
[43:58] Seeing none, we will go back to council
[44:00] deliberations and comments. uh which
[44:03] case I'd like to jump in with Michael.
[44:05] Um so yeah, I would just like to extend
[44:07] my gratitude and thanks to the donors.
[44:10] Um I think this uh we we've already seen
[44:13] the the first stage of the
[44:16] beautifification project which is really
[44:17] lovely. Um it really transformed the way
[44:21] uh Woodside looks when you when you
[44:22] enter Woodside. I think it was, you
[44:24] know, very tastefully done and I'm
[44:25] really really excited to see um how the
[44:28] rest of the project turns out. And so if
[44:31] you're out there, anonymous donors,
[44:33] thank you. We really appreciate this.
[44:37] >> And I'll just acknowledge that the chair
[44:39] of the landscape committee, Peggy Mloud,
[44:41] has just entered the room and we're a
[44:43] little bit ahead of schedule. So we're
[44:44] in the midst of it. But welcome.
[44:48] And you're of course welcome to make
[44:50] comments. We kind of went through public
[44:51] comment, but if there's anything you'd
[44:53] like to say at any time, feel free. Um,
[44:55] any other deliberations or comments?
[44:57] >> I do. I have a comment. Um, so first of
[45:00] all, uh, just
[45:03] immense gratitude
[45:05] to the town manager, to the staff, and
[45:07] especially to the mayor, um, for their
[45:10] efforts on this. Um, I'm just reminded
[45:13] when we when we did the original project
[45:15] that council member Wall was just
[45:17] referring to, um, and, uh, the, uh, I
[45:22] remember we were referred to as the
[45:23] front porch. um the usiders out there
[45:28] and um I I think this is just going to
[45:30] be a spectacular project and it's going
[45:32] to really set the tone as people cross
[45:35] the Alamita and go in front of the high
[45:36] school in Menllo Country Club that um
[45:39] I'm hoping it's going to be something
[45:40] that's um I know that it's going to be
[45:42] something really beautiful. Um but we
[45:44] really do appreciate it and I think that
[45:47] um we were expecting something about
[45:49] onetenth of what it actually turned out
[45:52] to be and I think that um really I know
[45:54] that the work that the that the town
[45:56] manager and our mayor did uh to this was
[46:00] no small task and I think that I know
[46:01] that didn't take a lot of arm twisting
[46:03] and we have very generous donors. We're
[46:06] very lucky in that regard, but um this
[46:08] is really just a spectacular result and
[46:11] um we esiders who are actually pretty
[46:13] well represented here tonight. There's
[46:14] at least three of us in the room um
[46:16] really do appreciate uh the efforts that
[46:18] were made here and uh in this
[46:20] beautifification of our front porch. We
[46:22] do um it's a very nice thing to do and
[46:25] um um I just can't thank you guys enough
[46:28] for for for this. Um, I remember that
[46:32] when this came down, the the the
[46:34] original project, which goes roughly
[46:36] from the 280 freeway um to uh just a few
[46:41] hundred yards or so uh to the west, that
[46:44] the very first person
[46:47] who said we need to do something from
[46:50] the 280 heading east was our mayor. Um
[46:54] he volunteered it. He didn't require any
[46:56] proddding at all. And um you know this
[46:59] is really just a major step in getting
[47:00] that done and uh I just wanted to say
[47:03] that we really do appreciate it and uh
[47:05] thank everybody and especially the
[47:06] donors for making this possible.
[47:09] >> Great. I'll also just mention that the
[47:12] um it's really the uh the work of the
[47:14] Woodside landscape committee uh really
[47:18] on the pilot project west of 280 and um
[47:22] at a cost of $165,000 93 of which came
[47:25] from the community uh uh really was the
[47:29] uh the genesis of this what was going to
[47:31] be possible and the things that we
[47:33] learned from that you know CALR works at
[47:35] night and all sorts of things really
[47:36] helped us sort of price out uh what this
[47:39] could be uh from a total cost uh point
[47:41] of view. So hopefully uh we are going to
[47:44] be able to see farther standing on the
[47:46] shoulder of of giants. So thank you
[47:48] again for the uh preliminary work that
[47:50] you all did to get this uh this idea up
[47:53] and up and moving. Appreciate it.
[47:57] Any other comments?
[48:01] And I will just maybe uh wrap up um this
[48:07] item just by uh acknowledging that this is a very
[48:12] noble expression of generosity uh to
[48:15] consider a civic gift of this magnitude
[48:16] for the greater good and it is both
[48:19] humbling and inspiring uh for all of us
[48:22] to be able to potentially accept an
[48:23] extraordinary gift uh like this in the
[48:26] intermediate future here. Um, this is
[48:29] going to be a really a landmark
[48:31] opportunity to uh improve the aesthetics
[48:33] and the traffic calming uh nature uh of
[48:37] uh for a group of what we we we think is
[48:40] conservative, but 9 million vehicles a
[48:42] year uh use this piece of the road. So,
[48:45] uh a real big impact and um and it also
[48:48] supports in many ways our strategic
[48:50] initiatives around the town center area
[48:52] plan. It expands upon and complements
[48:54] the work that we've been doing on
[48:55] circulation and safety for the area and
[48:58] it will create as I think was just
[49:00] beautifully mentioned for the front
[49:02] porch but a sense of continuity and
[49:03] union with our residents that are east
[49:05] of uh 280. So um really a
[49:09] transformational gift and um uh
[49:13] absolutely honored uh and looking
[49:15] forward to working with these donors uh
[49:17] to see this vision to its natural
[49:19] completion.
[49:22] So I think with that we would entertain
[49:24] a motion.
[49:25] >> I'd like to move to approve the
[49:28] resolution approving the agreement
[49:29] governing funding for the median
[49:31] landscape improvement project.
[49:35] >> Second
[49:36] member Alberish.
[49:37] >> Yes.
[49:38] >> Council member Brown.
[49:38] >> Yes.
[49:39] >> Council member Gold.
[49:41] >> Yes.
[49:42] >> Council member Wall. Mayor Donowski.
[49:44] >> Yes. Thank you.
[49:49] » Unbelievable. Um, relatedly in a way is
[49:53] business item B, which is a resolution
[49:56] requesting
[49:57] uh a 35 mph consistent speed limit on
[50:00] Woodside Road um between uh uh all the
[50:04] way down to the alam. I think headed off
[50:06] to to you all, Jason.
[50:08] >> Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is
[50:10] Jason Leer, the town manager, and uh
[50:12] thank you uh council members for the
[50:14] town of Woodside. So, we had a request
[50:17] come in from members of the community
[50:20] that primarily live on the east side of
[50:25] uh the 280 uh requesting that this
[50:28] section of 84 from Alama Deas Pulgus.
[50:32] And I want to just um rectify a misnomer
[50:36] here in the staff report is that it is
[50:39] essentially leading into the 25 mph
[50:42] section of the town. So ultimately would
[50:45] be advocating here is 435 from Alama
[50:48] until you reach the 25 mile per hour of
[50:50] the existing town center. When I first
[50:53] received this job and I was consistently
[50:55] coming um from a motel on El Camino over
[51:00] here uh to uh interview and and to meet
[51:03] the staff and to do Mayday. I was really
[51:06] blown away at the different miles per
[51:08] hour speed limits just entering into the
[51:11] community and then exiting and the fact
[51:13] in some instances um you couldn't even
[51:15] see the mile per hour speed limit
[51:17] because it was blocked by foliage and
[51:19] that people were just seemingly speeding
[51:21] uh and and this is a response
[51:24] essentially I think to that and the
[51:26] difficulty that it is to make a
[51:28] left-hand turn out of some of these
[51:29] communities uh because people are
[51:32] speeding at an excess rate and so We're
[51:35] advocating that if you do pass this, doesn't guarantee anything happens.
[51:40] This basically lets the state of
[51:42] California, California Department of
[51:43] Transportation know that the agency
[51:46] approves of the request and they take
[51:48] that request seriously. They have a
[51:50] process at which they will analyze this
[51:52] request. We would assume that there
[51:54] would be a traffic study. There would be
[51:55] a time frame before there was a response
[51:58] back to whether or not they would
[51:59] facilitate this technical request. But
[52:02] to answer more questions about this and
[52:04] to give an opportunity to someone who is
[52:06] highly involved, I'd say one-third of
[52:08] the management within the public, we do
[52:10] have Dan Duker here this evening and I'm
[52:12] not sure Dan if you wanted to come up
[52:14] and give a couple comments about this
[52:15] request and what it means to uh the
[52:18] members that have made it.
[52:22] » So, um when you guys came in, Wendy
[52:24] Buckley, who runs the HOA in Woodside
[52:27] Hills was here. She had just um gotten
[52:30] back from a long trip and so she was
[52:31] tired so she left but she wanted to be
[52:33] here to tell you the same thing I will.
[52:35] So um one of the top requests from our
[52:38] residents so so um I got to be careful
[52:40] which hat I'm wearing. So I I serve on
[52:42] the circulation committee and I'll tell
[52:43] you what we've been doing on this in the
[52:44] circulation committee in a second but I
[52:46] also run one of the HOAs east to 280.
[52:49] And so the three uh the three of us who
[52:51] run the three big HOAs there um we field
[52:54] complaints from our residents all the
[52:56] time and one of their top requests and
[52:58] the top things they're afraid of is
[53:00] making left turns onto Woodside Road out
[53:03] of Menllo Country Club out of the high
[53:05] school out of Northgate and Southgate
[53:08] and more road and a high road. And why
[53:10] are they scared of that? Because traffic
[53:12] moves as fast as 60 miles an hour down
[53:14] the hill. There's limited visibility.
[53:17] Um, we had a fatality a few years ago
[53:19] coming out of Memo Country Club. Um,
[53:21] there are accidents all the time. It's
[53:23] also the top area in town, I know this
[53:26] from circulation, where our sheriffs
[53:28] write speeding tickets. So, it's a
[53:30] problematic area. And so um in parallel
[53:34] to the us advocating for this as the
[53:36] leaders of the HAS for residents for the
[53:38] last couple of years if I flip on what's
[53:40] been going on in circulation. So
[53:42] circulation's been tracking this issue
[53:44] for as long as I've been there and and
[53:46] before. Um we've been working really
[53:49] hard on our relationship with Calrans
[53:50] for the last couple years and uh as a as
[53:53] a good side of the unfortunate fatality
[53:56] that happened up the hill uh this
[53:59] summer. Um, we met a gentleman named Ang
[54:02] Mong who who uh presented at circulation
[54:05] a few months ago. He's the director of
[54:08] safety for all of Calrans district 4
[54:10] covers the whole Bay Area. And so their
[54:13] attention was put on this area because
[54:14] of the fatality we had up at Skywando.
[54:17] Um, one of the things we learned from
[54:18] him in August was that there was a
[54:20] process by which we the residents could
[54:23] request them to make safety
[54:25] improvements, one of them being change
[54:26] the speed limit. And so that happened
[54:29] about August when we met him. We talked
[54:31] to him about all the issues in Woodside
[54:33] that we were worried about and uh he's
[54:35] like, "Hey, we can actually make that
[54:37] change happen. We can get the the goal
[54:38] is getting rid of the 45 mph section
[54:41] that runs from uh approximately Menllo
[54:44] Country Club to Moore Road and making
[54:45] the whole thing 35 to try to slow things
[54:48] down for the residents. Also, it'll help
[54:49] bicyclists and kids going to Woodside
[54:51] High as you won't have traffic going
[54:53] quite as fast down the hill next to the
[54:55] bike lanes. So we learned this process.
[54:57] So what he asked us to do is create a
[54:59] petition and uh he said make make a
[55:02] petition and that'll give us a sense of
[55:04] what residents want. So we did that in
[55:08] October November time frame. We did a
[55:10] single email blast. One of the
[55:11] advantages we have in the HOAs is that
[55:14] we have our emails of all the residents
[55:15] in that part of town. So we sent an
[55:17] email blast out saying hey what do you
[55:19] guys think of this idea to reduce the
[55:21] speed limit? We learned at the same time
[55:23] of the mayor's project for the
[55:25] beautifification
[55:27] uh project on Woodside Road. So we
[55:29] couched this as there's this opportunity
[55:31] to do this whole beautifification
[55:33] project and improve safety do it all as
[55:35] one thing. We had learned from Calrans
[55:37] that to call that section of road a
[55:39] parkway which enables some of the
[55:41] landscaping changes we're talking about
[55:44] that has to be 35 miles an hour anyway.
[55:46] So the things kind of all came together.
[55:48] this idea of let's ask for a uniform 35
[55:50] now we can do the parkway with the
[55:52] donations the residents will be happy
[55:54] about improved safety um within uh a
[55:57] couple of days we got more than 140 h
[56:00] households responded that survey I
[56:02] provided that under it to the council
[56:04] members but we have all the signatures
[56:06] um recorded in the online petition we
[56:08] had 100% positive support we had zero
[56:12] negative feedback so really high
[56:14] response really quick we only did a
[56:16] single email blast people were just
[56:18] really excited about it. So that's kind
[56:21] of the history and what got us on the
[56:22] citizen side of this today was this kind
[56:24] of long-term desire to improve safety
[56:26] and then this opportunistic thing that
[56:28] came together was can we support Brian's
[56:30] project which also required a reduced
[56:33] speed limit. We put them all together,
[56:35] hence the petition. You're you're making
[56:36] faces at me.
[56:38] >> No, I just want to continue to emphasize
[56:40] that definitely donor's project, but
[56:42] >> I'm sorry. The donor's project supported
[56:44] by the most honorable mayor
[56:47] Um, and I apologize. And so that's kind
[56:50] of how we found ourselves where we are
[56:52] today. Calrans then said, "Take the
[56:54] petition and then have the town council
[56:57] endorse it with a with a with a
[56:59] proposition on top of that. Send it back
[57:01] to this guy, Angroved."
[57:05] Make sense, Jason? Did I do what you
[57:08] wanted?
[57:08] >> Yeah, that makes complete sense. Thank
[57:09] you very much, Dan.
[57:10] >> You got it. Okay. Yes, Paul.
[57:11] >> Yeah. Questions for staff and Mr. Duker.
[57:15] one. Thank you for um that presentation.
[57:18] Um
[57:19] so there's a you know we all know about
[57:22] speed surveys and that sort of thing. Do
[57:24] you do I mean people drive very fast
[57:26] there. I think it's considered one of
[57:27] the most dangerous sections. It's got
[57:29] the highest rating or the lowest rating
[57:31] for danger. It's the most dangerous road
[57:35] I think classification in Calrans
[57:37] anywhere. Uh I think from the country
[57:39] club to the 280. Um they people speed
[57:42] there routinely anyway. Is there any I
[57:46] mean I know that this is sort of a
[57:47] recommendation from the council to
[57:49] Calrans. Um what do you think's going to
[57:53] happen here um when the speed survey
[57:55] shows that
[57:57] people are actually going faster than
[57:59] the current speed limit?
[58:01] >> So my hope is and what I understand from
[58:03] him is that this is not a risk of the
[58:06] speed limits cars go faster so they end
[58:08] up raising the speed limit. Right? This
[58:10] is a request
[58:11] >> they do they actually do that I guess.
[58:12] >> So this is a request to turn this is a
[58:14] request to turn it into a parkway and to
[58:16] reduce and my hope is that that's what
[58:18] happens. The idea is that the visual
[58:20] cues of a parkway you know with better
[58:23] landscaping and less kind of concrete
[58:25] and pavers and you know more more trees
[58:28] and shrubs and all that will clue people
[58:30] in kind of like sandill and that's what
[58:32] we've been thinking about or like when
[58:33] you see foothill um that'll clue people
[58:36] in it's just not an appropriate road to
[58:37] go that fast on. Um that coupled with
[58:40] the changes that are also on your
[58:42] calendar about bike ballards and the the
[58:44] bicycle safety project we discussed in
[58:46] the last council meeting. We think the
[58:48] kind of whole thing runs as a package to
[58:49] just make it safer and slow traffic down
[58:52] and make it clear it's not okay to go 65
[58:55] on that road which is what people are
[58:57] doing today. So I I think I I just don't
[59:00] know. Is there is there a risk that they
[59:02] could run a traffic a speed survey and
[59:04] raise the speed limit? I don't know. I
[59:06] hope not. But you're out of my
[59:08] wheelhouse with that.
[59:09] >> By the way, I like the idea of using
[59:11] Sand Hill as the uh comp because
[59:13] >> yeah,
[59:15] >> the speed limit is low on Sand Hill.
[59:16] >> Yeah. And that's that's the picture we
[59:18] sent to our residents. We said we want
[59:19] to make it look like this.
[59:22] >> I don't know if we're going to have the
[59:23] answer to this or not, but are there
[59:25] other factors besides speed limit that
[59:27] go into lowering a speed limit? Like
[59:29] fact that there's a big bend and people
[59:31] trying to come out, it's dangerous and
[59:33] you know
[59:34] >> all sorts of things. Are there other
[59:36] factors and inputs or is it literally
[59:37] they're going to do a speed survey and
[59:39] they could it could go against us?
[59:41] >> No, I think you rais a really good point
[59:43] and I think that uh Mr. Duker raises a
[59:45] good point. There's a total a totality
[59:47] of package here, right? We have the
[59:49] median project and we have the bike the
[59:51] bike ped project and so ultimately uh
[59:54] we're advocating for a safer location
[59:57] for people to get from point A to point
[59:58] B on different modes of transportation
[1:00:01] into our town center. And so I think we
[1:00:03] will take the angle of advocating for
[1:00:05] those improvements to be considered
[1:00:07] within dropping the speed limit that
[1:00:09] we're going to have on the other side
[1:00:11] now the bike lane as well and a pedestri
[1:00:13] well we hope a pedestrian pathway um
[1:00:15] which is calling out for the need for
[1:00:17] more safety. So we will advocate to
[1:00:20] Calrans uh those points.
[1:00:22] >> Wonderful.
[1:00:22] >> And we have him scheduled to be at the
[1:00:24] circulation meeting next month.
[1:00:27] >> Great. Um, so maybe building off of
[1:00:30] Brian's comment, um, I think this is a
[1:00:33] slam dunk. Um, this and then, you know,
[1:00:36] the the addition of like the,
[1:00:38] um, bike pedestrian project, the
[1:00:40] beautifification together, I just can't
[1:00:42] wait to see how it turns out. Um,
[1:00:48] have you guys looked at other requests
[1:00:50] for um, lowering a speed limit and kind
[1:00:53] of done some leg work to figure out what
[1:00:56] makes a request successful or what makes
[1:00:58] a request not successful? So, I want to
[1:01:01] make sure that we really, you know, put
[1:01:03] ourselves that our best foot forward to
[1:01:05] make sure that this request gets
[1:01:06] approved. Um, so I'm wondering if any of
[1:01:08] that kind of background work has been
[1:01:10] done. Not for me personally, but Cindy,
[1:01:13] what's your experience with CALR and
[1:01:15] these requests and the does the town
[1:01:17] have any experience with that?
[1:01:19] >> Um, we haven't reduced a speed limit,
[1:01:22] but typically when there's a request for
[1:01:24] speed studies um speed reduction or um
[1:01:28] just speed studies done and then the 85
[1:01:31] percentile is what is set as a speed
[1:01:33] limit. Um we I did not do any research
[1:01:37] on uh how CALR uh works but for the town
[1:01:40] streets the traffic engineer looks at
[1:01:42] the 85 percentile speed. Okay. So it
[1:01:44] sounds like we might have a little bit
[1:01:45] of risk here right if the speed limit is
[1:01:47] typically set at the 80th percentile of
[1:01:49] the flow of traffic. That would make me
[1:01:51] a little nervous that there could be
[1:01:53] some risk that like a traffic study
[1:01:55] might not cut our way. So, I would
[1:01:58] really encourage the staff to to figure
[1:02:01] out like how could we make our best case
[1:02:02] here and and and and set ourselves up
[1:02:04] for success in getting the request
[1:02:06] approved.
[1:02:07] >> Absolutely. We can do that.
[1:02:09] >> I would point out though that the 45 mph
[1:02:12] zone is a very short stretch
[1:02:16] from basically Meno Country Club to
[1:02:19] >> more
[1:02:20] >> to more road and it's not like the whole
[1:02:22] road is 45 miles an hour. So, I don't I
[1:02:26] don't think a traffic study would show
[1:02:29] any any desire to go for 45 55 miles up
[1:02:33] and down.
[1:02:35] >> Uh, Council Member Brown, that's a great
[1:02:37] point and it I just want to make sure
[1:02:39] I'm clear. So, I want to uh make this
[1:02:42] caveat. I'd like to we change the
[1:02:44] resolution to instead of Alama de las
[1:02:47] pulgasta town center we'd be very
[1:02:49] concise with where where we're asking
[1:02:51] because ultimately if there is risk now
[1:02:53] all of a sudden okay this tiny 45 mph
[1:02:56] stretch you're saying CALR is going to
[1:02:58] go to 55 and then immediately fall to 35
[1:03:00] which would make absolutely no sense I
[1:03:02] think that would safeguard us and so
[1:03:04] when you guys do vote I would
[1:03:06] >> smart
[1:03:06] >> I would um and I think you pointed that
[1:03:08] out to me Dan so so we would we would
[1:03:11] ultimately have that would be the vote
[1:03:14] Yeah, it's literally a few hundred yards
[1:03:16] where it goes up back down.
[1:03:18] >> Yeah.
[1:03:21] » Nice. Uh, any other questions?
[1:03:24] Good workshopping going on here. Um, any
[1:03:27] comments from the public? And I think,
[1:03:29] uh, we can jump right to the Zoom room
[1:03:31] because I see Elliot and Steve, you're
[1:03:34] up first.
[1:03:35] >> Hello. This is this is Steve this time.
[1:03:37] Can you hear me?
[1:03:38] >> Yes, sir.
[1:03:39] >> All right. U well I totally support what
[1:03:41] Dan said. I'm also a member of
[1:03:43] circulation committee u and I think uh
[1:03:47] there I' I've been vaguely aware of
[1:03:50] changes in in state law that allows CALR
[1:03:54] to lower speed limits uh not you know
[1:03:57] below the 85th percentile and I hope we
[1:04:00] look into that and take full advantage
[1:04:02] of it. Uh lowering the speed would make
[1:04:05] the road much more attractive for
[1:04:07] walkers and bicyclists. And there was a
[1:04:10] bicyclist fatality there maybe 10 or 15
[1:04:12] years ago in this section. So that would
[1:04:14] be another evidence of why this should
[1:04:17] be lowered. And uh thank you. I'm very
[1:04:19] happy to see the landscape going through
[1:04:21] and hope if this speed limit gets
[1:04:23] lowered to 35, it also allows us to put
[1:04:26] some oak trees in the middle of the
[1:04:27] road. U which I think there's CALR rules
[1:04:30] about speed limits and trees. So, uh,
[1:04:34] that would be another advantage. So,
[1:04:35] thank you for both these last two agenda
[1:04:39] items.
[1:04:41] >> Thank you, Steve. And the landscape
[1:04:43] committee has recommended oaks where we
[1:04:45] can. And uh, you are right that there is
[1:04:48] a uh,
[1:04:50] trees can't go where there's a 40 mph or greater speed limit on on a state
[1:04:54] highway. And it back into the room. Yes,
[1:04:58] sir.
[1:05:00] >> I was thinking there was someone else on
[1:05:01] Zoom. Uh I'm Walker, Walker Wells. I'm
[1:05:03] also on the circulation committee. I
[1:05:04] just wanted to call out a big shout out
[1:05:06] to Dan and his work specifically as a
[1:05:10] liaison to Calrans
[1:05:12] I do think is making a very big
[1:05:14] difference. Um and um obviously Woodside
[1:05:18] specifically has this uh dynamic. we
[1:05:21] have a lot of people coming through the
[1:05:22] town and we have this huge dependency on
[1:05:26] Calrans and so I really do think just a
[1:05:29] major props to you to like you know he's
[1:05:31] doing a lot of work behind the scenes
[1:05:32] that you don't see to like really
[1:05:34] develop those relationships. Um
[1:05:38] just on that also there's another uh
[1:05:41] petition that's gathering signatures up
[1:05:43] at four corners to lower the speed limit
[1:05:45] up there as well which I think you'll
[1:05:47] hear more of uh soon. Um but uh yeah, I
[1:05:51] just wanted to call out the importance
[1:05:52] specifically for Woodside having this
[1:05:54] massive Calrans uh dependency that
[1:05:57] people like Dan who's really you know
[1:05:59] spending the time to develop that
[1:06:01] relationship will make a very big
[1:06:02] difference and they have indicated that
[1:06:05] you know uh if we were to go make a
[1:06:08] special request having the backing of
[1:06:10] the council having the signatures gives
[1:06:13] them the air cover to say hey this is a
[1:06:15] request from the town of Woodside this
[1:06:18] is not just us kind of, you know, uh,
[1:06:21] getting an email and lowering the speed
[1:06:22] limit. So, you know, gathering
[1:06:24] signatures and having these resolutions
[1:06:26] do make a very big difference.
[1:06:28] >> Wonderful. Thank you, Walker. And we
[1:06:30] will certainly echo that this is the
[1:06:32] most significant citizen petition uh
[1:06:34] that we've received since the outdoor
[1:06:36] dining parking expansion measure A. So,
[1:06:39] uh, thank you. It's really impressive.
[1:06:41] 140 odd signatures. Not so odd, but 140
[1:06:45] something.
[1:06:48] Uh any other comments from public?
[1:06:51] >> I'm looking and seeing nothing.
[1:06:54] I think with that we will close public
[1:06:56] comment and move on to council
[1:06:58] deliberations. Would anyone want to kick
[1:07:00] things off?
[1:07:02] >> Good.
[1:07:03] >> Really very enthusiastically supportive
[1:07:05] of this.
[1:07:06] >> Wonderful.
[1:07:08] Uh son.
[1:07:10] >> Yeah. Uh I've always thought that that
[1:07:12] was a a shockingly, you know, fast low
[1:07:15] traffic area. it just seems to come out
[1:07:17] of nowhere. You start driving up, you
[1:07:19] know, this normal 35 speed limit and
[1:07:21] then suddenly people are racing and so
[1:07:23] I've always thought it was dangerous.
[1:07:24] Felt uncomfortable there. Um, and I I
[1:07:27] appreciate all of your work, Dan, and
[1:07:31] uh getting getting this together and and
[1:07:34] um you know, making this happen to thank
[1:07:36] you
[1:07:39] >> others. Yeah, I also wanted to thank Dan
[1:07:41] the uh the Calrans man and um we
[1:07:44] appreciate your efforts. The uh um my so
[1:07:49] uh some really great points I think were
[1:07:52] made tonight. One, it is a very short
[1:07:54] segment where it goes up from 35 to 45
[1:07:58] and then back down to 35 just as you
[1:08:00] enter the um well as you pass by more
[1:08:04] road I think it goes uh it goes down
[1:08:06] again. So um that I think that's an
[1:08:09] important thing to to that that I think
[1:08:11] the current design is actually
[1:08:12] inconsistent because you have these
[1:08:14] changing speed limits and I think having
[1:08:16] one speed limit uh the entire way not
[1:08:19] that I don't think the resolution should
[1:08:20] be framed that way. We should focus on
[1:08:22] those few hundred yards uh for practical
[1:08:24] reasons but I think that um if we could
[1:08:27] um lobby and persuade Calrans I think
[1:08:29] that would go a long way. I'm I'm also I
[1:08:32] just wanted to mention something that
[1:08:33] Cindy had mentioned before this 85 85th
[1:08:36] percentile. The way I understand it, I
[1:08:38] was actually on a a call with Calrans uh
[1:08:41] few months ago for some other part of
[1:08:43] Woodside and um unincorporated uh county
[1:08:47] I should say. And the way I understood
[1:08:49] the way they do speed surveys, it was
[1:08:51] always kind of a mystery to me. I mean,
[1:08:52] how do they do this thing? My
[1:08:54] understanding at least this is what the
[1:08:55] CALR person said is that they actually
[1:08:57] clock 100 consecutive vehicles put them
[1:09:00] in order of speed and countdown 15 and
[1:09:03] that's the number. I mean it was almost
[1:09:05] that that I can only tell you that's
[1:09:06] what the CALR person said. Um and it was
[1:09:09] sort of like I was pretty shocked at
[1:09:10] that because um um they do count have a
[1:09:13] certain time of day that they do it but
[1:09:15] they were trying to get that and and um
[1:09:17] often speed surveys do show that the
[1:09:19] speed limit should go up not down. Uh
[1:09:21] that's because people speed a lot. Um,
[1:09:23] but I think that lobbying, this personal
[1:09:25] relationship, I think could go a long
[1:09:27] way. And I think our relationship with
[1:09:28] Calrans that actually dates back to the
[1:09:30] collapse of um, Highway 84 during, you
[1:09:33] know, what was it, three winters ago,
[1:09:36] uh, could really uh, help us here and
[1:09:38] hopefully there's a silver lining to it.
[1:09:39] But I definitely support the, uh,
[1:09:41] resolution for all the reasons said
[1:09:43] before and it'll u, I I I like the image
[1:09:46] of a sand hill road uh, in that segment.
[1:09:49] That's a that's a pretty nice image that
[1:09:51] um, we could use here.
[1:09:53] Wonderful. Thank you.
[1:09:54] >> I want to give an image to the town
[1:09:55] council. You're sitting in the We're
[1:09:58] getting ready to get on uh Woodside Road
[1:10:02] and you see the traffic light right in
[1:10:03] front of Woodside High change
[1:10:07] and the traffic begins to move. The
[1:10:09] speed goes from 35 to 45 on a speed
[1:10:12] limit and you're trying to turn left to
[1:10:14] go up the hill. I mean, your heart
[1:10:17] starts racing. Am I going to make it or
[1:10:19] not? I mean, it is scary. really scary
[1:10:22] and I think doing that one stretch can
[1:10:25] make a huge difference for a lot of
[1:10:26] people, especially me. So, thank you.
[1:10:28] >> Yeah.
[1:10:31] >> All right, that's that's great. I don't
[1:10:32] have a lot to add. That's uh it's an
[1:10:34] unsafe situation. It's inconsistent. Uh
[1:10:39] often I'm driving that stretch of road.
[1:10:41] I don't even I'm not even sure what the
[1:10:42] speed limit is. Uh so, I mean uh we do
[1:10:44] have to get some consistency going
[1:10:46] there. And uh we're doing so much
[1:10:48] wonderful work in this area. uh all
[1:10:50] these projects could come together and
[1:10:52] we could really uh really have a
[1:10:54] transformational impact here. So happy
[1:10:56] to endorse it and move it forward
[1:10:57] through the normal channels. So if we
[1:10:59] could get a motion with the adjustment
[1:11:02] to how we want to phrase that the
[1:11:03] adjustment to just the
[1:11:05] >> and at the very end it says Alama to
[1:11:07] town center if we can just replace that
[1:11:09] with um a Churchill to more.
[1:11:12] >> Churchill to Moore. Okay. If we
[1:11:14] >> is it Churchill where it's
[1:11:17] >> Yeah. Uh would someone like to make that
[1:11:20] motion? Substitution for Churchill to
[1:11:22] Moore.
[1:11:24] >> Thank you.
[1:11:26] >> I'll make it. Um uh I would like to move
[1:11:30] to approve a resolution of the town
[1:11:32] council of the town of Woodside
[1:11:33] requesting the California Department of
[1:11:35] Transportation Calrans to establish a 35
[1:11:38] mph speed limit on state highway 84 from
[1:11:42] Churchill to Churchill Road to Moore
[1:11:45] Road.
[1:11:48] Second.
[1:11:49] >> Council member Alberish.
[1:11:51] >> Yes.
[1:11:51] >> Council member Brown.
[1:11:52] >> Yes.
[1:11:52] >> Council member Gold.
[1:11:53] >> Yes.
[1:11:54] >> Council member Wall.
[1:11:55] >> Mayor Donowski.
[1:11:56] >> Yes. Thank you.
[1:11:59] Mr. Duker.
[1:12:01] Uh, moving on to new business item C,
[1:12:04] resolution modifying the town salary
[1:12:06] schedule and classification plan. Back
[1:12:08] to you again.
[1:12:10] >> Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor, and the
[1:12:12] Woodside Town Council. So this is an
[1:12:14] interesting interesting item just
[1:12:16] because of the size of the organization.
[1:12:19] So ultimately uh just to kind of cut
[1:12:21] through some of the verbiage in the
[1:12:23] staff report is is just to make it very
[1:12:26] succinct here is that we're talking
[1:12:27] about positions because we also are
[1:12:30] talking about personnel and the town
[1:12:32] council really manages the positions of
[1:12:34] the town and then the town manager fills
[1:12:37] those positions. And so I'm advocating
[1:12:39] here this evening within the staff
[1:12:41] report is an addition of an assistant
[1:12:44] town manager and a deletion of the
[1:12:48] assistant to the town manager position.
[1:12:51] Uh the staff report also requests the
[1:12:53] deletion of the administrative assistant
[1:12:56] position and replacing that with a
[1:12:58] management analyst position. And so
[1:13:01] there would be people that would be
[1:13:02] currently in these positions that would
[1:13:04] be moving into new positions and then
[1:13:06] these old positions would uh be removed.
[1:13:10] And so the full-time equivalency would
[1:13:12] be netneutral.
[1:13:13] So the management analyst position is
[1:13:15] offering social mobility within the
[1:13:18] organization to continue to develop and
[1:13:19] grow our team to take on more
[1:13:21] responsibility. Uh this move is a growth
[1:13:24] opportunity as the administrative
[1:13:26] assistant continues to assume and become
[1:13:28] a specialist within the functions and
[1:13:30] operations of our finance department.
[1:13:33] Uh the assistant to the town manager
[1:13:35] position has a draft job description
[1:13:38] that's been created and if approved this
[1:13:40] evening, the final job description will
[1:13:41] be completed by me later on this week.
[1:13:44] The role of the assistant town manager
[1:13:46] position will have a multitude of
[1:13:48] responsibilities with some of the
[1:13:49] highlights being responsible for IT,
[1:13:51] code enforcement, volunteer committees,
[1:13:53] staff management. So, I would like to
[1:13:56] see a process for hypothetically a
[1:13:59] budget, a very maybe a very meager
[1:14:01] budget for each of the uh volunteer
[1:14:04] committees because we do have noticing
[1:14:06] that happens. Ultimately, postcards get
[1:14:08] mailed out and right now that's coming
[1:14:11] out of a trunch of other monies. And so,
[1:14:13] I want to see more organization in this
[1:14:15] role would take that on. Ultimately,
[1:14:17] they would manage the liaison and then
[1:14:20] they would manage a process to get
[1:14:22] capital improvement brought to the town
[1:14:25] council from each of these volunteer
[1:14:29] committees. They would also be managing
[1:14:30] social media. And so this is beyond how
[1:14:33] we're currently doing it. This would be
[1:14:35] training individuals in the public works
[1:14:37] department on our expectations of when
[1:14:40] there is traffic or encroachment permits
[1:14:42] and things need to get noticed to the
[1:14:45] community. they would actually manage
[1:14:47] training the individual and then it
[1:14:49] would be expected that the individual
[1:14:50] department would then be uh facilitating
[1:14:53] some of this action. So it all be also
[1:14:55] be responsible for emergency
[1:14:56] preparedness. Uh the goal would also be
[1:14:59] to add flexibility within the
[1:15:01] organization to deal with what is
[1:15:02] currently happening. Obviously I was
[1:15:04] referenced this earlier this evening but
[1:15:06] we're uh a total of three department
[1:15:08] heads here in in Woodside and currently
[1:15:11] two of them are are not here. their unfilled positions. And so one of
[1:15:17] the first actions that would happen is
[1:15:18] the assistant town manager would be
[1:15:20] assigned ultimately rather than to split
[1:15:22] them up in this instance. They would be
[1:15:24] assigned if approved this evening uh the
[1:15:27] administrative services director
[1:15:29] position ultimately until we fill that
[1:15:31] position. They would I would be able to
[1:15:32] lean on that person to to provide
[1:15:34] oversight as an interim in that role.
[1:15:37] And this is a succession opportunity.
[1:15:40] Obviously, I'm just hired. I don't plan
[1:15:41] on going anywhere. And uh but ultimately
[1:15:45] something could happen to me, something
[1:15:47] could happen to a family member of mine.
[1:15:48] This gives flexibility within the
[1:15:50] organization to have at least an interim
[1:15:53] set, right? You are you you now have
[1:15:55] some some level of control. You can have
[1:15:57] maybe a more long-term approach looking
[1:15:59] to fill the position or hypothetically
[1:16:01] my goal is is that wherever I am, as
[1:16:05] weird as this sounds, my goal is to work
[1:16:06] myself out of a job, right? My goal is
[1:16:08] to put the organization in a position
[1:16:11] where I'm no longer needed and then I
[1:16:13] can ultimately do more at a higher
[1:16:14] level. Uh but right now that would be
[1:16:17] the goal is to get somebody in the
[1:16:18] position that we are grooming over a
[1:16:21] multitude of years. So the first special
[1:16:24] project because I would also see that
[1:16:25] this position would have special project
[1:16:28] uh opportunities and that would be the
[1:16:30] housing element deliverable. So, we have
[1:16:32] many ordinance updates that need to be
[1:16:34] done and completed within um the housing
[1:16:37] element for compliance with HCD. They're
[1:16:40] very lowhanging fruit. Uh and so
[1:16:42] considering this person's very strong
[1:16:44] legal writing and understanding of, you
[1:16:47] know, resolutions, ordinances, staff
[1:16:49] reports, uh they would be my liaison to
[1:16:52] organize within a meeting that we will
[1:16:54] be having here very soon on what those
[1:16:56] deliverables are, how many of these
[1:16:58] ordinances can we get done. they would
[1:17:00] be the go-between to orchestrate that
[1:17:03] work and then manage that work product
[1:17:05] that's going to take the planning
[1:17:06] manager and the town attorney in order
[1:17:09] to facilitate getting that in front of
[1:17:11] the council. So that is kind of the
[1:17:14] overarching view of how I see the
[1:17:16] position and then ultimately I imagine
[1:17:18] that we're going to have a multitude of
[1:17:20] projects that come out of the town
[1:17:21] center area plan. So this is increasing
[1:17:23] the capacity of the organization.
[1:17:25] Tonight you approved a contract for
[1:17:27] Shawn Rose Engineering. That is to
[1:17:29] increase the capacity of the projects
[1:17:31] that we can deliver. That is my um goal
[1:17:34] here through this alteration is to
[1:17:36] increase the capacity of our delivery
[1:17:38] but also to increase the capacity of our
[1:17:41] customer service to the community. So
[1:17:44] these moves are important to me as they
[1:17:45] offer what I consider to be social
[1:17:47] mobility within an organization which
[1:17:49] helps develop and retain talent. So the
[1:17:52] addition of an assistant town manager
[1:17:54] will allow for increased organizational
[1:17:56] management. One of the things that
[1:17:58] happens here is that inevitably
[1:18:00] uh especially in government it's
[1:18:02] difficult to make a decision. People
[1:18:04] cavitate at that decision and ultimately
[1:18:06] in my role I have to make a decision
[1:18:08] with the information that I have. I have
[1:18:10] to make the best decision that I can
[1:18:11] make at that time. And there's instances
[1:18:13] where I'm at the library JPA meeting in
[1:18:16] San Monteo or I'm at the CEO's office.
[1:18:19] I'm offsite. an action could be taken
[1:18:22] and a decision maker needs to be created
[1:18:24] in order for that action to be taken and
[1:18:26] right now the town of Woodside lacks
[1:18:28] that. So this would also rectify that
[1:18:31] issue as I see it. So if there's any
[1:18:33] questions I'd be happy to answer them.
[1:18:36] >> Thank you. Questions for Jason?
[1:18:44] » Okay. Yeah. Sorry.
[1:18:48] >> Go ahead. Yes. Council member Wall.
[1:18:52] >> So, couple questions. What is the salary
[1:18:55] delta between the I'm looking at the
[1:18:57] exhibit A, but it looks like the
[1:18:59] assistant the town manager is not listed
[1:19:01] here, which I understand because they
[1:19:03] this is being limited. What's the what's
[1:19:04] the salary delta between assistant town
[1:19:07] manager and assistant to do?
[1:19:10] >> Yeah, that's a that's a great question.
[1:19:12] And ultimately, what I'll have to do is
[1:19:15] look up the current salary schedule on
[1:19:16] our website right now to tell you what
[1:19:18] that is. So, if you can give me a
[1:19:19] second,
[1:19:20] >> while you're doing that, so I think I'm
[1:19:22] really supportive of this of this
[1:19:23] change. I think like giving you more um
[1:19:27] creating a position that is scoped in a
[1:19:29] way that will give you more um
[1:19:32] management efficiency
[1:19:35] um I think is is fantastic. I'm curious
[1:19:37] because what way this is playing out,
[1:19:39] right? Like we have an assistant town
[1:19:41] manager, Melissa. Looks like she is
[1:19:43] going to be our new assistant town
[1:19:46] manager. Um, I think that's my
[1:19:48] interpretation of how this is being
[1:19:50] presented. Um, I'm curious to what
[1:19:54] extent is our current assistant to the
[1:19:56] town manager, Melissa, is she already
[1:19:59] doing the things that are on the job
[1:20:01] description that you're finalizing?
[1:20:03] >> Yeah, that's a great point. She's
[1:20:06] physically doing a lot of those things
[1:20:08] now. And what this would alleviate is it
[1:20:10] would give her the ability to train
[1:20:12] someone else and hold them accountable
[1:20:13] to physically doing it. And so people
[1:20:17] are interesting, right? And managing
[1:20:19] people is fascinating. Quite frankly, uh
[1:20:21] the dynamics of people is interesting.
[1:20:23] It never is a black and white situation.
[1:20:25] And so it's very common for someone who
[1:20:27] is attempting to get something done,
[1:20:28] especially before I came on scene here,
[1:20:31] working with the department heads,
[1:20:33] working with people, and ultimately
[1:20:34] maybe not gaining the traction uh to
[1:20:37] have them have the buyin. And so what
[1:20:39] happens is is that this position, the
[1:20:41] administrative assistant position uh or
[1:20:44] the assistant to the town manager
[1:20:46] position regardless of uh this is just
[1:20:49] reality is that some people poo poo that
[1:20:51] position. They poo poo uh they they
[1:20:53] disregard it, right? It doesn't mean
[1:20:55] anything to them. That that person's not
[1:20:57] managing them. I'm not saying that
[1:20:58] that's what's transpired here, but
[1:21:00] ultimately what I'm seeing is that this
[1:21:02] individual that we're talking about is
[1:21:04] doing the work and doesn't have the
[1:21:06] ability to delegate and manage some of
[1:21:08] the people that we can hold accountable
[1:21:10] that ultimately should be doing some of
[1:21:13] this work because they're managing their
[1:21:14] own departments.
[1:21:15] >> Yeah. So, who will be reporting to the assistant town manager?
[1:21:21] >> Yeah, that has not I I'm a little leery
[1:21:24] to really say, hey, we're going to
[1:21:25] divide the town up, right? But I will
[1:21:28] ultimately uh they'll have technically
[1:21:31] the organization chart that we kind of
[1:21:33] brought for a desk item. They would be
[1:21:36] directly under me. Everybody else would
[1:21:38] flow up to both of us. So ultimately
[1:21:41] they would be I would be empowering them
[1:21:43] to make decisions and that would take
[1:21:45] probably 12 months if I'm being
[1:21:47] blatantly honest with you. And then over
[1:21:49] that time period we would look at we
[1:21:51] have opportunities obviously I think
[1:21:53] everybody's very well aware of. One of
[1:21:54] them that I haven't been able to enter
[1:21:56] into yet is the building department. We
[1:21:59] have an opportunity for management over
[1:22:01] there managing CSG. Uh when we lost the
[1:22:04] building official, right now that
[1:22:06] defaults to public works. Obviously, we
[1:22:08] have no public works director, but even
[1:22:09] for the public works director, it's a
[1:22:11] heavy lift. And so, you can imagine that
[1:22:13] one of the assignments right now over
[1:22:15] the first year could be overseeing and
[1:22:18] getting involved in that. But
[1:22:19] inevitably, everybody that reports to me
[1:22:22] technically would also report up through
[1:22:25] to Melissa as well. That's how I would
[1:22:27] run it.
[1:22:28] >> Sorry, I'm trying to understand. And
[1:22:29] they would report into her and then she
[1:22:32] to you
[1:22:33] >> kind of. It's just not the same as an
[1:22:35] organization of a 100 plus people. This
[1:22:37] is 24 people. Inevitably, I am very
[1:22:41] communicative and very engaged. And so
[1:22:45] we would be, you could think of this as
[1:22:47] kind of um a two-headed monster approach
[1:22:50] is that we would not at this point I am
[1:22:52] unwilling to to just put someone in this
[1:22:55] position and assign them certain
[1:22:57] departments. I really feel like they
[1:22:58] need to work with me for that 12 months
[1:23:01] before we explore whether or not
[1:23:03] assigning them to an a department makes
[1:23:05] sense or designing uh assigning specific
[1:23:09] departments to them. But eventually we
[1:23:11] would get to that point ultimately. That
[1:23:13] would be my expectation.
[1:23:15] >> How do you envision making it really
[1:23:17] clear to staff like who can make what
[1:23:19] decision?
[1:23:21] >> Yeah, I want to empower that actually. I
[1:23:23] want to I want more decision making. I
[1:23:25] want uh and so ultimately it's training
[1:23:28] people as to how we make that decision.
[1:23:30] Right now all decisions are defaulting
[1:23:32] to me. Hey, someone has a question about
[1:23:34] this bu this building permit
[1:23:36] application.
[1:23:37] Inevitably, that's an email to me that
[1:23:39] could go four or five days before
[1:23:41] because I'm out of the office, I'm at
[1:23:43] meetings and I'm not overlapping with
[1:23:45] the individual. Whereas I have someone
[1:23:46] who could physically be here who could
[1:23:48] rectify that. So announcement would be
[1:23:50] made. It would be made very clearly that
[1:23:52] the expectation is is that this person
[1:23:55] has the same authority essentially as I
[1:23:57] do and that they could go to this person
[1:24:00] when I am not here to have a decision
[1:24:02] made. uh the reason that this person
[1:24:06] uh meets my expectation is because I
[1:24:08] have this level of trust with that
[1:24:10] person. It's not someone on paper. I've
[1:24:12] worked with this person for seven to
[1:24:13] eight months now and I've seen that they
[1:24:16] have the innate qualities that I believe
[1:24:18] make me more successful and can branch
[1:24:21] my management style out better uh to the
[1:24:24] entirety of the organization.
[1:24:27] >> So, I just want to make sure I'm hearing
[1:24:28] correctly. This new assistant to the
[1:24:30] town manager will have equal
[1:24:32] decision-making authority as you.
[1:24:35] >> Yeah, in the broad sense of daily
[1:24:37] management. Absolutely. So the core
[1:24:39] functions of the business. Absolutely.
[1:24:41] Now, you know, hopefully in the broader
[1:24:44] sense of the terms, obviously I'm the
[1:24:46] town manager. Everything defaults to me.
[1:24:48] Uh so I am instilling and empowering my
[1:24:51] perspective into this person by working
[1:24:54] with me and understanding you know what
[1:24:56] would Jason do in this situation. That's
[1:24:58] the ultimate goal is that I am
[1:25:00] attempting you know for lack of better
[1:25:03] terminology to make a miniature me.
[1:25:05] >> Okay. Yeah. I mean I think this is a
[1:25:07] really big in my view really big move
[1:25:10] for the town. Um this is a a pretty
[1:25:12] significant administrative and
[1:25:14] management change. Um, so I would be
[1:25:18] really uh I would really love once you
[1:25:21] have it once you have the job
[1:25:23] description finalized um and and a
[1:25:26] better sense of like the roles the role
[1:25:28] and responsibilities of the new um
[1:25:31] assistant town manager. It would be
[1:25:33] wonderful if Melissa could come and kind
[1:25:34] of if you together could kind of talk to
[1:25:36] us about the specifics of you know what
[1:25:39] she'll be doing, the special projects
[1:25:40] that she'll be taking on um and when you
[1:25:43] know like you know to the extent there
[1:25:44] will be like formal uh reporting
[1:25:46] obligations, management
[1:25:48] responsibilities. I think that would be
[1:25:49] really um I would really be um very
[1:25:52] interested in hearing that.
[1:25:54] >> Absolutely. One of the first tasks of
[1:25:56] this person based off of what happens
[1:25:58] this evening is that they would be
[1:25:59] tasked with presenting that information
[1:26:01] to you because ultimately that would be
[1:26:03] the growth curve of this position is
[1:26:05] that if for some reason I can't be here,
[1:26:07] I mean I I assume I will always be here,
[1:26:09] but if there's overlap or a requirement
[1:26:11] for me to be somewhere else, the
[1:26:13] expectation is that they're going to be
[1:26:14] the one sitting in this seat that
[1:26:15] they're going to be presenting to you.
[1:26:16] And so ultimately that's a learning
[1:26:18] curve opportunity for this person is
[1:26:20] that we would purposely throw them in
[1:26:22] front of you to build up their public
[1:26:24] speaking skills.
[1:26:25] >> Right. And then were you able to find
[1:26:27] the salary delta?
[1:26:28] >> Yeah, I'm sorry. So right now we have a
[1:26:31] pretty wide range and that's something
[1:26:33] I'm would like to rectify when we get a
[1:26:35] new admin services director. But right
[1:26:38] now
[1:26:39] the assistant to the town manager, this
[1:26:42] is the monthly starts out it's very low.
[1:26:45] Our starting ones are extremely low,
[1:26:47] 7,430.
[1:26:48] And they've just never been changed.
[1:26:50] Ultimately, you normally move everything
[1:26:51] up for some reason in Woodside. It
[1:26:54] wouldn't surprise me if that number's
[1:26:55] been on here for more than a decade. And
[1:26:58] then that caps out at 14,860.
[1:27:02] And for the department head range, which
[1:27:04] is what I'm advocating for, it's uh
[1:27:07] starts out at 11,984
[1:27:09] and goes up to 23,968
[1:27:12] monthly. So there's a pretty decent
[1:27:15] overlap with with the position as it
[1:27:18] stands currently as it maxes at 14860
[1:27:21] and then it's it hypothetically the
[1:27:24] lowest point of entry is 119.84
[1:27:27] on our salary schedule.
[1:27:33] Okay, any other questions?
[1:27:36] We will open up public comment then. Any
[1:27:38] members of the public that wish to
[1:27:41] have a question on item C?
[1:27:45] Let me I'm sorry I've lost my Zoom
[1:27:47] screen. There it is. Okay. Uh here comes
[1:27:50] Walker. We got one in the room. Yes,
[1:27:52] sir.
[1:27:53] >> Uh no question. But uh because Jason
[1:27:55] comes to so many of the circulation
[1:27:57] meetings, I just wanted to give you big
[1:27:59] props. I've been very impressed by Jason
[1:28:02] and how he helps the circulation
[1:28:03] committee kind of understand their role,
[1:28:06] their scope, and how they can be
[1:28:07] effective. I just ever since I've met
[1:28:09] you, I've been very impressed and have
[1:28:11] enjoyed working with you. So, yeah.
[1:28:13] >> Thank you very much, Walker. This wasn't
[1:28:15] planned.
[1:28:17] Thank you.
[1:28:18] >> Thank you.
[1:28:18] >> And I don't normally give accolades,
[1:28:20] although I've given two tonight. Um, but
[1:28:22] uh yeah.
[1:28:23] >> Okay. Wow. Well, thank you very much. We
[1:28:26] appreciate hearing that, of course.
[1:28:28] >> I think with that we'll close public
[1:28:30] comment. Always close with a winning
[1:28:32] hand. Uh and we will open up any
[1:28:35] deliberations on this item. Any member
[1:28:37] of the council have anything to add?
[1:28:40] I
[1:28:40] >> think this makes sense.
[1:28:46] » I think we can take a a motion.
[1:28:49] >> I move that we approve the uh amendment
[1:28:51] to the town manager employment
[1:28:52] agreement.
[1:28:53] >> Uh the item C too far down.
[1:28:57] >> False.
[1:29:00] Resolution modifier
[1:29:01] >> that we modify the 25 28 to 2 can't read
[1:29:07] >> six
[1:29:07] >> 25 to 26 salary scheduling
[1:29:09] classification plan by adding an
[1:29:11] assistant town manager position removing
[1:29:13] the assistant to the town manager
[1:29:15] position adding a management analyst
[1:29:17] position within the finance department
[1:29:19] and deleting the administrative
[1:29:20] assistant position.
[1:29:24] » Second
[1:29:26] >> council member Alberish.
[1:29:27] >> Yes.
[1:29:28] >> Council member Brown.
[1:29:28] >> Yes. Council member Gold.
[1:29:30] >> Yes.
[1:29:30] >> Council member Wall. Yes.
[1:29:31] >> Mayor Donowski.
[1:29:32] >> Yes. Thank you. Uh and then finally, uh
[1:29:36] Gan, I'm handing this off to you.
[1:29:37] Approval of a first amendment to the
[1:29:39] town manager's employment agreement.
[1:29:41] >> Yes. Thank you. Good evening. Uh when
[1:29:43] your town manager was hired, your uh
[1:29:46] employment agreement with him provided
[1:29:47] that he would have a six-month
[1:29:49] performance review and thereafter a
[1:29:51] yearly performance review. You have
[1:29:53] completed the six-month performance
[1:29:55] review and pursue it to the terms of the
[1:29:56] contract. Um, each time you do a
[1:29:58] performance review, one of the questions
[1:30:01] to ask that you ask yourselves is,
[1:30:03] should there be a salary adjustment? And
[1:30:05] it is my understanding that there is a
[1:30:06] recommendation for a salary adjustment
[1:30:08] as a result of the six-month review that
[1:30:11] would move uh the town manager's salary
[1:30:13] from 300,000 to 315,000.
[1:30:16] That is the amendment that's before you
[1:30:18] this evening. I'm happy to answer any
[1:30:20] questions.
[1:30:20] >> Great. Thank you. Any questions from
[1:30:22] council?
[1:30:25] Seeing none, any comments from public?
[1:30:30] » Yep. Oh, hey, Walker.
[1:30:34] » The uh
[1:30:36] >> is is Melissa currently the assistant to
[1:30:38] the town manager?
[1:30:40] >> And she is.
[1:30:41] >> Yeah.
[1:30:41] >> Um I the range is it is interesting. The
[1:30:44] range I've never gotten a promotion
[1:30:47] that's double my salary. I don't know if
[1:30:49] that's I know there is
[1:30:52] >> some overlapping to the ranges. Um, so
[1:30:55] the idea would be Melissa moves into
[1:30:58] that new role, the assistant to the town
[1:31:00] manager, which effectively has
[1:31:04] it's not double the max. The maxes, I
[1:31:06] guess, are
[1:31:08] >> what is it?
[1:31:09] >> Yeah.
[1:31:09] >> 75% higher. She moves into that.
[1:31:12] >> Yeah. So, there's an overlap, I think,
[1:31:14] of a few thousand dollars from the max
[1:31:17] of her current role or the position's
[1:31:20] current role into uh this uh new role.
[1:31:25] And then ultimately, there's been no
[1:31:26] determination as to what that salary
[1:31:28] would actually look like. It's just it
[1:31:30] just
[1:31:31] >> it gives her that headroom.
[1:31:32] >> It gives the organization I think
[1:31:34] there's too much room at the moment. I
[1:31:36] think that the organization just for
[1:31:38] whatever reason it's extended 5% on the
[1:31:41] upper limit and it has it on the lower
[1:31:43] limit. And so when you look at the lower
[1:31:45] limit in comparison to the rest of the
[1:31:47] peninsula,
[1:31:48] >> it doesn't make any sense. It's
[1:31:49] non-existent. And so,
[1:31:51] >> uh, it's just dragging that it's just
[1:31:53] dragging things down at this point. So,
[1:31:55] but ultimately what you should know is
[1:31:57] that the salary for the position, that's
[1:31:59] the range. And so there has to be a
[1:32:01] negotiation between me and the employee,
[1:32:03] the person that is attempting to be, you
[1:32:06] know, we're attempting to place in that
[1:32:08] position. And so between her and I, that
[1:32:10] would end up being a personnel decision
[1:32:12] as to where
[1:32:14] >> in that range is appropriate. Yeah. But
[1:32:16] it would be very uncommon for it would
[1:32:19] be extremely questionable for somebody
[1:32:21] to be in the current position and then
[1:32:23] just magically at the top step. That
[1:32:25] would be right. I'm sure that the five
[1:32:27] people I report to would be um there'd
[1:32:29] be a lot of questions to me about that
[1:32:32] >> and I got to shut that down. I'm sorry
[1:32:34] guys. Just we're we're past public
[1:32:35] comment on that item. Uh so any public
[1:32:38] comment? Uh I already closed that. So
[1:32:41] any deliberation by councel
[1:32:44] on item D.
[1:32:47] >> Okay. Uh then I think we're ready to
[1:32:49] take a motion on this. Anyone? Thank
[1:32:52] you. Do it. Uh, I move that we approve
[1:32:56] uh the first amendment to the town
[1:32:57] manager employment agreement.
[1:33:01] >> I'll second it.
[1:33:02] >> Council member Aberish.
[1:33:04] >> Yes.
[1:33:04] >> Council member Brown.
[1:33:05] >> Yes.
[1:33:06] >> Council member Gold.
[1:33:06] >> Yes.
[1:33:07] >> Council member Wal. Mayor Donowski.
[1:33:09] >> Yes. Thank you. And uh volunteer
[1:33:12] committee updates if any.
[1:33:14] >> Yeah, I have a few. Uh, this Friday,
[1:33:16] January 16th, from 7 to 8:00 p.m. will
[1:33:19] be a sound immersion workshop with Danny
[1:33:22] Goldberg.
[1:33:24] >> Pardon me. Uh, check the town's calendar
[1:33:26] for additional 2026 dates. Wball
[1:33:29] registration is now open for kids
[1:33:31] between the ages of 3 to six, so through
[1:33:34] kindergarten only. Uh, who want to learn
[1:33:36] to play T-ball in a fun and safe
[1:33:38] environment. Check the town's website
[1:33:40] under the community tab for registration
[1:33:43] information. The next arts and culture
[1:33:45] committee first Friday event is on
[1:33:47] February 6th from 7 to 8:00 PM with poet
[1:33:51] Nancy Meyer interviewed by Veronica
[1:33:54] Kornberg. Uh flyers are in the back of
[1:33:56] the room or you can view on the town's
[1:33:59] website calendar. The Woodside History
[1:34:02] Committee's preservation awards ceremony
[1:34:05] will be on May 12th, 2026. More
[1:34:08] information to follow, but make sure to
[1:34:10] mark your calendars for that event.
[1:34:12] Thank you.
[1:34:13] Council member
[1:34:16] communications.
[1:34:19] » I have one. Yes. March 21, mark your
[1:34:22] calendar. That's memory day in the
[1:34:25] United States of America. And we are
[1:34:27] going to celebrate that with a openhouse
[1:34:31] workshop here describing methods and how
[1:34:35] to evaluate
[1:34:37] the status of a person's
[1:34:40] mental cap capability.
[1:34:43] is are they doing great? Great. Is it
[1:34:45] Alzheimer's? Is it uh what is it? And
[1:34:48] then what can you do about it if uh if
[1:34:50] you see relatives, friends, spouse
[1:34:53] starting to suffer some of those
[1:34:55] conditions?
[1:34:56] >> It's wonderful. Thank you, Council
[1:34:58] Member Brown. Council member Wallace, I
[1:35:01] had in my calendar that you were
[1:35:02] speaking at the youth civics event.
[1:35:05] >> How'd that go?
[1:35:06] >> Yeah. Um, I had a fantastic opportunity
[1:35:09] to to come speak to a group of I think
[1:35:12] it was 8 to 11 year olds. It was last
[1:35:15] Friday. Um, and they were super cute and
[1:35:19] really engaged and it was a lot of fun.
[1:35:21] So, I really enjoyed it. And so, to the
[1:35:23] extent other opportunities like that come up, I'd really encourage
[1:35:26] my fellow council members to raise your
[1:35:28] hand. Um, it's a really nice little
[1:35:31] thing that we get to do sometimes is is,
[1:35:34] you know, do stuff like that. So, it was
[1:35:35] a pleasure.
[1:35:36] >> Very nice. Thank you. Any other council
[1:35:39] communication?
[1:35:41] >> We've got two brief items. Um, one um at
[1:35:46] our I think it was the last meeting or
[1:35:47] the one before that when we were
[1:35:48] discussing the uh bike pathways on the
[1:35:52] um east side on the front porch of uh
[1:35:55] Woodside that uh Steve Luben had
[1:35:59] mentioned. He took issue with with uh
[1:36:01] that I I never see bicycles there. Um
[1:36:03] I've been paying very specific attention
[1:36:05] lately and um I have to admit he is
[1:36:08] correct. There are I didn't see a lot of
[1:36:10] bicycles but since our last meeting I
[1:36:12] have seen I I've lost count but it was
[1:36:14] I'm in the six to eight range something
[1:36:16] like that during that time period. Not a
[1:36:19] lot but um I said never
[1:36:23] and I was wrong. I was so I apologized
[1:36:26] to Mr. Luben. I wanted to do so
[1:36:28] publicly. Um, but I don't see a lot of
[1:36:30] bicycles in that area, but I, you know,
[1:36:32] I'm paying a lot more attention now, and
[1:36:34] I do see the occasional, uh, usually a
[1:36:36] pair of bicycles very early in the
[1:36:39] morning, uh, heading west. Uh, the
[1:36:42] second thing I wanted to mention,
[1:36:43] speaking of the, uh, there's a little
[1:36:45] work being done on the front porch of
[1:36:47] Woodside. Uh, High Road, which as you
[1:36:51] know, um, kind of a controversial area
[1:36:53] over the last couple of years, uh, is
[1:36:55] going to be closed
[1:36:58] starting one week from today on January
[1:37:01] 20th, for roughly till the end of the
[1:37:03] school year, May or June. It's a long
[1:37:06] time, probably four, five, maybe even
[1:37:08] six months. Uh, there's a main water
[1:37:10] line that runs roughly from Woodside
[1:37:13] Road uh, up the hill to the very first
[1:37:16] sharp bend to the left. Um there's a
[1:37:19] very large house there on the right but
[1:37:21] um right down the middle of High Road uh
[1:37:23] there will be construction major
[1:37:24] construction project. Uh the biggest
[1:37:26] inconvenience is of course going to be
[1:37:27] to the people who live on that stretch
[1:37:29] to Elmo Mundo and High Road going up the
[1:37:32] hill. There's about 15 or 20 properties
[1:37:34] there. Um they're actually not going to
[1:37:37] be allowed to get into their properties
[1:37:39] in and out of their properties
[1:37:41] routinely. Um there's only going to be
[1:37:43] certain times. It's going to be closed
[1:37:44] from roughly I think it's 9:00 a.m. to
[1:37:47] 400 p.m. Monday through Friday, it won't
[1:37:50] affect the people in this room too much.
[1:37:52] It'll actually affect me. Um but um what
[1:37:55] it means is that for the roughly 300
[1:37:57] orund homes or so um in that bottom
[1:38:00] area, Sight Hills, which is above it,
[1:38:02] and Lasus Estate, which is over where I
[1:38:04] am, um they'll all be very much affected
[1:38:07] by it and need to use the Alama de las
[1:38:10] exit. They won't be able to go down that
[1:38:12] way. It'll be closed for four or five
[1:38:13] maybe even six months as I said. Um so you're aware there's only two ways in
[1:38:18] and out and one of them being closed
[1:38:20] off. So um the sheriff, the fire
[1:38:22] department, emergency services, Amazon,
[1:38:25] UPS um are have been alerted to it, but
[1:38:28] it's going to be closed for quite a
[1:38:29] while and um a major inconvenience, but
[1:38:32] um just wanted to bring it to your
[1:38:35] attention. It's gotten a lot of
[1:38:36] attention in that area over the last two
[1:38:38] weeks or so.
[1:38:41] That's it. Thank you.
[1:38:42] >> Thank you.
[1:38:44] for your magnanimous apology.
[1:38:46] Uh
[1:38:48] hey, I'm I'm always very willing to
[1:38:51] admit when I'm wrong because it's
[1:38:53] frequent. I have a lot of practice on
[1:38:54] it.
[1:38:55] >> Okay. Anything else? I think uh with
[1:38:59] that we will uh we will adjourn at 8:45.
[1:39:03] Thank you all.