running a little bit behind and my
apologies. Uh we'll start with a call to
order. Jennifer, will you take role?
Council
>> member Alberish
>> here.
>> Council member Brown.
>> Council member Gold here.
>> Council member Wall here.
>> Mayor Donowski
>> here. Thank you. Uh and it's pledge of
allegiance to kick things off. Would you
guys like to lead us at the microphone?
>> We'll we'll help you out. We won't leave
you out there.
All right.
>> Okay.
To the flag of the United States of
America to
stand nation under God, indivisible
with
all.
>> Good. Thank you.
>> All right. We'll move right on to public
communications. Um, any members of the
public that would like to comment on any
item that's not on the agenda are
invited to do so now. Just remember that
we can only do five of these, three
minutes each. Uh, and we can't act on
any non-aggendaized items. Those can be
referred to staff for a future agenda.
Are there any members of the public that
would like to make a comment?
So Ben, yeah. Okay.
Yeah.
You wanna uh Thomas, you want to come
in?
>> Uh yes. Thank you very much. Uh good
evening uh council folks. I just wanted
to
uh share a bit of sad news that the town
lost a a great volunteer and a longtime
member of the Woodside Open Space
Committee uh with Dick uh Hendrickson
who passed away January 11th. And I just
thought you uh might want to be aware of
that if you weren't already. He did a
lot of great work uh helping us with the
duskyfooted uh woodrat and the uh golf
course, helping them to facilitate some
mitigation and help protect this uh very
important species. So, I just wanted to
make the town council aware of his
passing and might want to recognize all
of the effort that he put forth for the
community.
>> That's an excellent idea. Uh, thank you,
Tom. Um, we'll we'll put that on the on
the list. We appreciate the heads up.
Thank you.
Any other members of the public?
Okay, seeing none, we'll close public
comment and we will move on to a
presentation for the public works
department for 2025's accomplishments. I
hand that off to you Cindy or Yes. Okay.
Or Jason, I don't want to preempt, but
looking backwards here a bit.
>> Good evening, Mayor and Council. um take
this opportunity to present the
accomplishments that we had. We did
public works projects in 2025.
The first project was Kenya uh crosswalk
project. We installed two crosswalk
projects u crosswalks
rapid flashing beacons. One was at
Kenyatta road and Romero road. There was
already an existing crosswalk but um so
sorry the first button was Kings
Mountain. So let's talk about Kings
Mountain. This is Kings Mountain at
Highway 84. There was no crosswalk
there. So, uh on the right side you see
the um after picture where there was
cross um high visibility crosswalk that
was installed with the rapid flashing
beacon.
The location at um Kenyatta and Romero
already had a crosswalk, but we improved
that by installing the rapid flashing
beacon. The total project cost was um
$293,000.
The project was completed in April 2025.
The next project, the solar um um we did
the re-roofing of town hall and
Independence Hall and also install the
solar panels. The um the last step of
the project connecting the solar to the
PG&E grid is going to happen this week,
this Friday. Uh the total pro cost of
the project was 80 84,000
2025 road rehab project. Um we
microsurface 5 miles of road. Um the
here are some pictures some of the
roads. Uh on the left you seek hill
before and after
Northridge Lane.
Um the total cost of the project was
$632,000.
Uh 2025 hazardous tree removal project.
A total uh 33 eucalyptus and pine trees
or um were removed and two defensible
spaces. one was Jonson Preserve and Trip
Road.
This project costed us $421,000.
Um and the project was completed in um
August 2025. There are some pictures
before and after.
Uh this is on Kinyatta Road um Wineyard
Hill.
The small project this came out of the
circulation committee um Glenwood
Avenue. Um there's already a three-way
stop there, but we added these uh
flashing stop signs.
This was um recently completed like
probably August, September, August time
frame.
There was some um interior painting done
in the museum
before and after pictures.
And then a crew, we have contractors do
ongoing tree removal. When we get a
request about dead trees or um fallen
tree branches, which the crew cannot,
it's too big for the crew. We have um
private companies, contractors do that
work for us. Some of the pictures for
these trees. Um
it's going through and the town crew
work. This is all town crew. The four um
crew members we have. I see the tree
trimming. They do the weeds.
uh trail maintenance. A lot of trail
maintenance happens over the course of
um I would say the entire year.
Um some of the uh weed work you see here
and on the right is also trail
maintenance. We installed these are
special projects we install. We have a
new picnic bench up front in town hall.
Um right across the parking lot here. Uh
on the top uh you see the uh guardrail
that was damaged that was also done by
the crew. And this is Berkeley Fields on
the right where um we had the um the SD
installed.
This is night work where this is
emergency work where the crew comes in
um when there's uh you know the tree
fell. This was a recent work. This was
in December.
Storm clearing happens in October and
it's ongoing during the storm.
>> Thank you. Had any questions I'd have to
answer.
>> Wonderful. Thank you. Any questions for
Cindy or the public works team?
>> Quick comment. I just wanted to thank
you guys for the
>> unbelievable work you do, especially the
storm clearing and the uh the night work
and it's pretty treacherous out there
and it does not go unnoticed. We
appreciate it.
» I'll second that. Uh one of the great
things that happened to me is uh I get
to walk my dogs in the morning. I see
the crew out there at 7 in the morning
clearing culverts in front of a
rainstorm or uh a bunch of seasons of
debris uh along roadsides. Uh they do
the crew is amazing. Uh I think
managerally you all do so much with
pretty limited resources. It's always
impressive what you are able to
accomplish and I do think we're entering
a new period for public works with an
expansionary period with civic
philanthropy coming into the mix and
that's going to be very exciting. a lot
of wonderful projects ahead and um uh
and I didn't mean to uh jump over you uh
Lewis. I I want to officially welcome
you to the town. Uh thank you for
bringing your 20 years of experience uh
and your leadership. Uh we're looking
forward to partnering with you and
maintaining and improving all this vital
infrastructure uh here in the town of
Woodside. So, welcome aboard.
Thank you. Thank you.
>> Uh there question
Great. Yeah, we're just commenting.
>> Yeah,
» we can we can be formal for sure. Um,
are there any members of the public that
would like to speak on that presentation
that we just saw?
>> Hansen has raised her hand.
>> Hey, wonderful job. Uh, Miss Hansen,
welcome.
>> Hi, thank you very much. Uh the one
question I have is about uh solar and
PG&E. Um multiple
uh citizens have had frustrations with
the process to um install solar as well
as get PG to accommodate hooking up to
the grid. So my question is
uh when was the town hall solar
installed? Uh what is the expectation
for when that will be activated? Um
thank you very much.
>> Great Cindy or Jason.
>> Yeah, Cindy's very well aware of this.
>> Um the solar panels were installed in
the beginning of the year 2025, but we
had issues with scheduling or a
contractor had issues with scheduling
the solar. We hope it's going to be done
this Friday and um that's what we
received the date as as Friday the 30th.
So hopefully it's done.
question
that on that PCE
project and and sort of how that solar
uh project came to be.
>> Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of
information on the PCE. I came just
during the installation but um I it's
yeah I think Yas worked on the um
coordination with PCE and I worked on
the installation of the so of the roof.
I did not prepare the answers.
>> That That's okay. Cindia Brandy who does
sustainability work with the uh PCE. We
have met with PCE. They're going to be
rolling out more grant giveaways to the
community. And so we will be providing
that information on our um social media
accounts to get the next round of grant
funding that they are attempting to get
out to the public which has more battery
back storage I think is what they're
looking at. And so we did work with one
of the um programs that they had
originally and Brandy, our
sustainability uh team member, worked
with PCE and we still work with PCE.
I've met with them now on multiple
occasions talking about how we can
incorporate some of their giveaways into
our community and get people um just
backup energy essentially so that when
they are dealing with any type of a fire
or the PSPS zone in the area that the
Miss Hansen lives in, I think they
constantly fly a helicopter out there
when they're under that um instance. And
so just trying to figure out different
energy options. So PCE will be rolling
out new grants. Uh whatever we utilize
to put solar on our building is now over
with them is my understanding.
Okay. Any other comments from the
public?
Okay. Seeing none, we will go back to
council deliberations. And it sounds
like you have some comments to make,
Jen.
>> Um so really just some more thanks. So,
um, really always impressed by the work
that the public works department does. I
mean, it's really just, you know, we
can't emphasize enough how important it
is to maintain the the beauty of
Woodside, the safety of Woodside, and
just make it a really wonderful place
for all of us to live. I wanted to
emphasize in particular the the
crosswalk uh work. So, the Kings
Mountain at Highway 84, and the Romero
at Kenyatta, I've heard nothing but
praise and thanks from the sku from the
school community. Those are both um safe
routes to school corridors and um th
those efforts by the public works
department have really made it safer for
our elementary and middle school age
children to walk and bike to school. So
that's very much appreciated by the
school community and I and I see that I
get that feedback from that community.
So I wanted to pass that on. um on the
solar EV project that was um like we
just talked about the result of a
partnership with PCE and I believe was
made more affordable um because we
partnered with PCE um and um there's a
little bit more work to do but I think
it sets uh a independence hall up to
become a building where we can actually
do um battery storage and it could be a
place um a resiliency place where if we
have big storms terms or the power goes
out in town. That's not available right
now, but in the future that that is a
possibility. I think that's a really
important um resource or could become a
really important resource for residents.
Um I always love hearing about the road
rehab project. Um those pictures were or
you know just really show in visceral
terms like the improvements that you all
make. So thank you for that. And and I
my last note kind of bundles into my
comment on the on the stop the
crosswalk. So the Glenwood Avenue
improvements as well, I would have
included that. That's also a safe route
to school corridor. So thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Yes.
>> I just wanted to comment how
every single time the president comes to
me or I do something problem.
It's very very fast response. the
community knows that appreciates that
and that's keeping going forward. Thank
you.
>> Great.
» Any other comments from council?
All right. Well, we will certainly
accept your report and thank you again.
Uh we'll move on to town manager report
and maybe just as a u important
ancillary item, we should give a report
out u at this time from close session.
If I could hand that off to you, Jean.
>> So, in close session this evening, the
town council authorized staff to engage
in initial exploratory information
gathering discussions in response to
Calrans inquiry uh regarding a potential
sale of stateowned property which is
identified on the close session agenda.
Thank you,
» Mr. Lead Better.
>> Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor and Woodside
Town Council. This is the town manager
reports. So, just to uh piggyback on the
last item and council member Wall
pointed something out that we are
currently working on behind the scenes
with PCE is to take it to the next step
and look at battery storage options and
different grants that PCE might be
running. And so that is our next step
combined with more EV options out in the
parking area. Uh town staff will hold
interviews this Thursday for the
administrative services director
position. Uh the organization continues
to move forward with focus on delivering
the following items. The old La Honda
Road storm water project in the spring
of 2026.
303 Hillside Drive is going to start
really any day now in early February. Uh
Alta Vista Alley storm water project
should be kicking off in spring of 2026.
Managing the deliverables of the sewer
capacity study. We hope to have results
back by the end of March. redesign and
CALR approval for the bike and ped
improvement project east of I280.
Transitioning the conceptual design for
the median beautifification project to a
formal engineered plan. Continuing the
TCAP process.
formalizing the housing element
deliverables, which will entail the
assistant town manager coming back to
council with staff prioritized housing
element deliverables to juxtapose that
with any other alterations that uh town
council may have on that priority list.
Right now, the deliverables that are
currently being worked on the housing
element are the TCAP themselves and the
sewer capacity study. And then finally,
very exciting news that Lewis Sun, our
new town engineer, this is his first
meeting here this evening. So, I'm going
to kick it over to him and allow him to
introduce himself.
>> Thank you, town manager. Good evening,
Mayor and Mayor Proam and council
members Lewis and I am honored to be
your public works director and town
engineer. Um, I'm very excited to be
part of this team and as you can see,
our public works department has done
great things in 2025 and I look forward
to working with the council, working
with our uh, city leadership and our
city staff and the community to make
improvements to do greater things in
2026. Thank you.
>> You
uh, questions for uh, the town manager
in his report?
Uh, go ahead, Jen. No, go ahead.
>> Oh, I just just two quick ones. Uh, one
was uh I may have missed a staff
meeting, so uh uh the redesign uh for
the bike lane project. Did anything uh
happen with that in terms of I mean
what's the update on uh the ask for the
bike lanes to be uh realigned?
>> Absolutely. I'm going to kick that over
to public works because I think they
have an update on how that's going.
>> So, Mayor, um if I can um clarify the
question you're asking about the um
highway 84 east of um 280 the project.
So, um that project um staff have
submitted 100% um review questions to
the consultant MV5 and this afternoon we
just received their response and the
reply back uh from our comments. So, we
have a meeting with them tomorrow. Um
Cindy, I going to be meeting with them.
We're also evaluating uh their response
and tomorrow we'll find out more. Um
staff is very well aware of the timeline
and the deadline that we have and we
will do everything make sure we get get
this project completed before that
deadline.
>> Okay. So they made comments about
whether or not they might be able to
make some adjustments in response to
public's request.
>> That's correct.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. I can give a little bit more
background. Lewis is obviously very new
here, but yeah, Shawn has continued to
work with Mr. Luben who had brought his
concerns forward. I've spoken to Mr.
Lube and he is very satisfied with what
we're attempting to do. NV5 was making
some adjustments to the engineered plan
design um at no cost to us because we
pointed out to them that there were some
discrepancies and what was technically
allowable with CALR. And so we really
pushed back to make sure that they made
some adjustments at no cost. And so
there'll be a compromise, but we think
we're going to be able to meet uh Mr.
Luben's needs ultimately through this
process. Fantastic update. Thank you. Um
and then secondly, I know we have
planning commission uh appointments
coming up. How how are how's our
candidate pool looking?
» Um so we have uh received I believe two
applications. um uh one one's out of
district which is a current planning
commissioner and one is in district one
and then I think it's district six is
the other one um that I did receive an
email from
that uh incumbent and he said he is
going to reapply uh and I think that's
all I know of unless uh Jennifer let me
think further no okay so thank you
I believe it's I think it's Three.
>> It's with three. Thank you. Thank you.
Yes. Uh yes. And district one. Um the
current incumbent has moved districts.
Uh but he has reapplied
since the council can by a four or
fifths vote potentially appoint someone
out of district, although we did have a
new applicant for district one. Right.
Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for
manager?
>> Um wall. So, thank you for the recap of
the uh housing element deliverables.
From what So, from what I understand,
you said uh the council you will be
bringing to council at an upcoming
meeting an update on our housing um
element deliverables. Is that right?
>> That's that's correct. Yeah.
>> Okay. And I heard you mention the TCAP
and the sewer capacity study, but I'm
wondering, are we going to get an update
on um progress towards the parcels and
development of the parcels that show up
on our housing element?
>> Yeah, absolutely. That will be the
backbone of um right now I'm just
showcasing that the TCAP and the sewer
are actually in the housing element. And
so those are the two current items that
we're technically working on. And then
behind the scenes, we're looking at
ultimately the two sites and then
ordinances uh that we think we can
deliver in 2026. And so we have a a
short list of those right now. And
utilizing our new assistant town manager
after we get this administrative service
director position filled. That will be a
task where she will really bridge the
gap um in driving these items forward.
And then we will be bringing to you what
we're stating are our priorities and
then you will have your opportunity to
redirect those priorities for us
ultimately. But the priorities will come
directly out of the housing element with
what we believe we should be working on
and we will come forward to you at a
later date showcasing to you what that
looks like and what the work plan looks
like.
>> Do you have any sense of when like which
council meeting we can expect that at?
the moment really my priority the
priority for the town is to get this
admin services director position filled
and if we are unsuccessful doing that my
focus has to shift to an interim option
so that we can get our budget started at
this point and so that's where if all
works out in the in the perfect world
that hopefully does exist for us through
this process then I would think that
within you know 90 days we would be back
in front of you with ultimately hey this
is kind of where we've prioritized um
the deliverables that are currently in
the housing element.
>> So, do you feel that any of do you feel
at all that our housing element
compliance is at is at risk or you or is
it more that work is happening behind
the scenes? We're moving forward, things
are progressing and you will only be
ready to kind of update the council in
90 days.
Yeah, I think if I were to look at the
housing element hypothetically right
now, we have um two actions moving
forward uh that ultimately really one of
those actions really determines
everything else that happens. So, the
sewer study is needing to get completed
before anything else truly can take off.
But I ultimately, it's hard for me to
state what HCD looks at as compliance
with, you know, uh anybody when it comes
to the housing element. So I would hate
to speak on terms of what they consider
to be us you know uh successful within
the housing itself. So within the scope
of the work that we currently have
signed up and the things that I have
listed and and the oversighted that we
have I think I'm kind of prioritizing
coming to you within the next 90 days to
gain better understanding that I
understand what the priority is and that
our priority is aligned with what the
council would like to see. But as an
example, I mean, I could just list what
those priorities are for you ultimately
right now. They're written on my
whiteboard in my office. So,
>> I guess I'm just trying to understand
the the the priority setting process
that you're talking about. So, isn't our
priority to comply with the housing
element that we got certified by HCD?
>> Yes.
There's like a 100 deliverables in that
document. And so I think that we have to
prioritize what we think are the most
important deliverables. And so that's
what I'm saying. So ultimately I've
looked through that document with the um
attorney and with the planning director
and we've kind of loosely articulated
what we think are the priorities. And so
we're about to kick that off, I guess,
ultimately. And so we will be coming to
you to make sure obviously every single
item in there is a priority
but some of them I believe are weighted
higher than others. And so uh we will be
bringing that to you to make sure that
everyone is on the same page through the
process.
>> And if I could just add that the the
housing element itself some of how the
priorities are getting set are driven by
the housing element. There's different
target deadlines for the different
deliverables. So a lot of them are
focused on uh the larger items that have
upcoming dates that we've committed to
in the housing element.
>> Makes sense. Question question for you,
Sage. Isn't there an upcoming report out
that we can you maybe
>> Yeah. So um we will in March be bringing
you uh what's called the annual progress
report. Um so that's due to HCD by April
1st of each year. Um so we always uh
make sure that comes to the council
before submitting it to HCD.
Thanks.
>> Okay. Any other questions for the town
manager?
Okay. Hearing none, uh any questions
from the public on anything that was
mentioned today?
Seeing none, we will close public and
close the item and move on to the
consent agenda. Uh, all items on the
consent will be done with a single roll
call motion unless anyone would like to
pull an item for further discussion and
deliberation. Are there any items that
any member of the council would like to
pull off the consent?
Seeing none, are there any items that
the public would like us to pull?
Seeing none, we will entertain a motion
to approve the consent calendar.
Thank you.
>> Second.
>> Council member Aarish.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Brown.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Gold.
>> Yes.
>> Council member Wall.
>> Yes.
>> Mayor Donowski.
>> Yes. Thank you. Volunteer committee
updates.
>> Yeah. Mr. Mayor Woodside Town Council.
This is Jason Le Better. The volunteer
committee updates. The next arts and
culture committee first Friday event is
on February 6th from 7 to 8:00 p.m. with
poet Nancy Meyer interviewed by Veronica
Kornberg. Flyers are in the back of the
room or you can view on the town's
website calendar and that is the only
committee update this evening. Thank
you. Uh council communications, anyone
have anything to share?
>> Yes.
One, another one.
» Are both events the same topic?
» Elements.
Great. Thank you for doing that. Any
other communications?
>> Uh yeah, I got one. I have I have two.
Great.
>> Um so
I am hearing that this is likely to be a
robust state legislative session for
ebikes.
Um, and wanted to make uh the council
and anybody who's listening aware that
Senator Josh Becker is having a virtual
town hall on ebikes, on ebike safety at
5:00 pm uh tomorrow evening. Um, so
anybody that's interested in ebike
safety, I encourage you to attend. Um
and then
another topic I wanted to raise is there
have been a number or two um concerning
reports of um large I guess the term is
pelatons. I I I hadn't quite known to
use it in that way, but um groups of
bikers um one was several months ago um
where um a group of bikers, a pelaton um
sort of rode past some equestrians and
it it was not done in a safe way. More
recently, we learned um that there were
some Woodside Elementary School students
taking a field trip to um the the
general store um and a group of
Pelatons, you know, rode past them in an
unsafe way and there were actually some
equestrians present as well. Anyway, um
I think you know I think our wonderful
town staff is looking into this and and
figuring out you know you know is there
anything more that we could do given
that we're kind of seeing and I don't
think this is a new problem but just
because it's not a new problem doesn't
mean we shouldn't look at it and think
about what we could do to possibly
address it. I mean, I think, you know,
our, you know, arguably our number one
job is to ensure that Woodside is safe
and we're hearing reports that um that
there might be some unsafe activity
happening. And so, I guess I'm bringing
this up now um to fellow council
members, if you become aware of any any
other incidents where this happens,
please do um let me or the town staff
know so that we can incorporate that
into the kind of factf finding effort
that we're we're doing.
center.
That is a great suggestion and I will
definitely do that because as council
member Wall pointed out uh the person
that originally had brought this to our
attention uh day lit that they were at
Rosewood USA cycle. And so I I think we
we're going to be discussing this at
circulation. We do have a response back
from the attorney that we'll be
providing you tomorrow and and um a
member of the public as well. But I
think it boils down to we're going to
have a discussion at the next
circulation committee with our two uh
Sano County Sheriff officer bike patrol
and they've been brought up to date on
this as well because ultimately
depending on whether or not a bike lane
exists doesn't give us the flexibility
to make any enforcement. But we can
strategically possibly start working
better with the school so that we can
place these um police officers in very
strategic locations.
Okay. Uh any other council
communications?
Okay. I'll just mention that uh there's
a badge pinning ceremony tomorrow as we
have a bunch of promotions at the fire
department with a retirement that has
occurred and a new chief. So, uh, uh,
Jason, myself, and I believe you, Paul,
three of us will be there. Uh, we're
also
great. First hour
I have one hour. Uh,
all right. You can I'll tag you in after
the first hour. Um, and I I we didn't
really get an update quite yet, but I
know we're working on a sh a new sheriff
meet and greet for March 18 or 19. Is
that still uh being ironed out or do we
have a
>> Yeah, we lost location just because we
had two meetings in this building at
that time, but I will um the clerk is
currently working on that and working uh
with the office of um the elected
official. I believe that yeah,
Supervisor Mueller is working on that.
So, I don't know if we have any
nothing's been firmed up at this point.
>> Okay.
>> We're looking at an alternative
location, possibly the fire house
itself. All right,
>> one quick comment. Our two last um
bureau chiefs here from the uh sheriff's
department were promoted. Uh Mark and
Frank. Uh Frank is in charge of all the
jails, I think, and uh Mark Myers is the
like COO of the sheriff's department
now. He's both very welldeserved
um promotions and um
I'm glad to see them in those positions.
They're good. They're good folks.
>> Good folks. We are quite the stepping
stool.
>> Um uh okay. I think with that uh unless
there not there aren't any more
comments, we will uh agend.
Thank you all. Oh, that was sort of a a
tentative hit. Sorry about that.