MINUTES OF JANUARY 23, 2025
TOWN COUNCIL AND SANITARY DISTRICT NO. 2 BOARD
STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP SPECIAL MEETING
NOTICE TO PUBLIC:
The Strategic Planning Workshop will be held at the Corte Madera Town Council Chambers and will not be videoconferenced over Zoom.
Members of the public had the option to submit public comment by either:
1. Emailing [email protected] prior to 7:00AM on the day of the meeting.
2. Attending the meeting in-person at the Town Council Chambers, 300 Tamalpais Drive, Corte Madera.
To download the complete agenda packet for this meeting, visit https://www.cortemadera.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01232025-1458
1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
Mayor Ravasio called the Special Meeting to order at the Corte Madera Town Council Chambers, 300 Tamalpais Drive, Corte Madera, CA on January 23, 2025 at 9:07AM.
Councilmembers Present: Mayor Ravasio, Vice Mayor Thomas, Councilmembers Andrews, Beckman and Casissa
Councilmembers Absent: None
Staff Present: Town Manager Adam Wolff
Assistant Town Manager Rebecca Vaughn
Town Attorney Amy Ackerman
Finance Director Daria Carrillo
Public Works Director R.J. Suokko
Community Development Director Amy Lyle
Parks and Recreation Director Tim Barry
Communications Manager Mike Morarity
Climate Action and Adaptation Coordinator Phoebe Goulden Town Clerk/Assistant to the Town Manager Lorena Barrera
2. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF THE STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP Town Manager Adam Wolff welcomed everyone and explained the agenda and format of the workshop. He explained that the workshop is for the Town Council to discuss short and longterm priorities and objectives for the Town and therefore focus staff work. While general direction may be given to the Town Manager, the Town Council will not make specific decisions or take any actions. The Town Council may direct the Town Manager to place specific topics and items on the agenda of future, regular Town Council meetings.
Mayor Ravasio opened up the time for public comment.
Town Clerk/Assistant to the Town Manager Lorena Barrera announced that a public comment was received via email from Justin Reid and was shared with Council via email. The public comment was added to the website for the public to view.
Council also received public comment from Suzi Beatie and Julie Kritzberger.
Mayor Ravasio closed public comment.
3. DISCUSSION OF WORK PROGRAM AREA PRIORITIZATION
Town Manager Adam Wolff provided a brief overview of the development of the categories, program areas and the projects/action items. Councilmembers then followed by providing brief statements of topics of importance to them individually. Town Manager Adam Wolff then returned to the category discussion and finalized the 2025 categories based on comments made.
4. PRESENTATION OF OPERATING AND CAPITAL BUDGETS
Town Manager Adam Wolff provided a budget overview presentation and answered questions from Council. Finance Director Daria Carrillo presented a 5-year capital improvement projection and explained the different assumptions used. Carrillo and Wolff responded to questions from Council.
Council recessed for a break at 10:57AM.
Council reconvened at 11:06AM.
January 23, 2025 Corte Madera Town Council Special Meeting Minutes 2
5. PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF DRAFT 2025 WORK PLAN
Each department gave a brief presentation of the items in the work plan.
6. LUNCH
Council recessed to a lunch break at 12:22PM.
7. CONTINUED DISCUSSION OF DRAFT 2025 WORK PLAN/RECAP
Council reconvened to a working lunch at 12:39PM and staff continued the presentations of the items. A deeper conversation was held on the following items from the draft work plan:
• Item 16: Complete Town Hall projects including wayfinding signage, Haehl Archive Project, Town logo/art for Council Chambers (inside and out) • Item 36: Conduct public outreach and further design of Menke Park renovation and accessibility project
• Item 45: Work with Chamber of Commerce to develop strategies to support economic sustainability
• Item 50: Consider opportunities and options for the development of housing for staff to address long-term staff recruitment and retention needs Not specific to the work plan items, Council also discussed the following items:
• The dirt mound located outside the skate park
• Improvements to the public space beneath shade structure at Town Park Plaza • The possible rehabilitation to the existing picnic area adjacent to east side of Cove parking lot and playground
As was stated by the Town Manager at the January 21, 2025 meeting, Council also continued the discussion of the minutes for meetings.
Council provided varying comments on the current style of minutes with concerns from a few councilmembers that the minutes should include more detail and that staff should move away from action minutes. However, after further discussion and taking into account the tools that are currently available and the transparency that the Town provides by providing publicly available video recordings of Town public meetings, Council gave consensus that the minutes can remain as action minutes with the exception that staff time stamps when each agenda item is discussed in the meeting as this makes it easier for viewers to navigate to the point in the video where the item they are interested is being discussed. Council also suggested staff provide a guide for viewers to learn how transcripts for the Town’s video recordings can be accessed.
Town Manager Adam Wolff closed off the discussion by providing a summary of follow-up actions and direction.
8. ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Ravasio adjourned the meeting at 2:57PM.