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PORTOLA VALLEY TOWN COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING NO. 1027, February 23, 2022
CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
Mayor Derwin called the Town Council’s Special Teleconference-only meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Ms.
Hanlon called the roll.
Present: Councilmember John Richards; Vice Mayor Sarah Wernikoff; and Mayor Craig Hughes
Absent: Councilmember Derwin and Councilmember Aalfs
Others: Jeremy Dennis, Town Manager
Laura Russell, Planning & Building Director
Cindy Rodas, Finance Director
Sharon Hanlon, Town Clerk
Attendees: Rita Comes
Nan Shostak
Rusty Day
Valerie Baldwin
Kristi Corley
Mida Jones
David Cardinal
Caroline Vertongen
Charles Zaffaroni
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Nan Shostak said, as a geologist on the Town’s Geologic Safety Committee, she was astonished to see that geologic hazards are being “simplified” out of existence during the housing planning process. At the Ad Hoc Housing Element only the San Andres fault was considered a seismic fault hazard. The other potentially active faults running through the town have been eliminated from the map they are using in planning for future dense housing. She said furthermore, liquification – when soil turns to jelly and buildings built in it sink during an earthquake – is one of the seismic hazards recognized by the State of California and the federal government, and it was not even mentioned at the meeting. Parcels with soil susceptible to liquefaction and listed as such on the Town’s Ground Movement Potential map were suggested as prime properties for the most dense new development. Other seismic hazards such as slope failure triggered by earthquakes has happened in the town, in 1906, with earthquake-triggered landslides and amplification of ground shaking. Deep unconsolidated soils were not considered. Ms.
Shostak asserted that these hazards can and should be modeled and mapped. Only the Planning Commission can recommend to the Council changes to the Town’s Geologic and Ground Movement Potential maps, and only after a publicly-noticed meeting, at which evidence for the changes is presented and discussed. The process, even if inconvenient, must be adhered to for public safety. She said the information on the maps is there for a purpose and must not be ignored. She looked forward to working with the Town on the Safety Element and hoped the Geologic Safety Committee would be included in early discussions with Urban Planning Partners.
Charles Zaffaroni, representative of the Westridge Committee, said the Committee represents the interests of over 250 property owners throughout Westridge. He stated their understanding that the Town staff is recommending that the Ad Hoc Housing Element Committee consider a proposal to rezone certain areas of the town to allow up to 20 housing units per acre and that the Housing Element Committee will meet next week to act on those recommendation. Mr. Zaffaroni said the Westridge Committee would like to know why this is being considered before they have all the information needed to assess the risks of Volume XLVII
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the proposal. He said Cal Fire is actively working on updating wildfire hazard maps for the Town, and the Woodside Fire Protection District is also completing hazard mapping for the Town. The Wildfire Safety Committee and Emergency Preparedness Committee are actively working on assessment of the evacuation capacity for the town. The Safety Element Update to identify the highest hazard areas of town as required by state law is still pending. Mr. Zaffaroni said they understand that adequate lot size and building setbacks, maximum building area and adequate separation between buildings are all critically important factors for fire prevention and seismic safety, but they wonder why there is a rush to change or eliminate safeguards in certain areas of the town before the experts have fully weighed in on the hazards of doing so. Mr. Zaffaroni said he has lived in the town almost all of his life, and residents of the town have made life decisions with an understanding that Portola Valley, as established by its founders, respects open space and cares deeply for the safety of its residents. He said the actions the Town may be poised to take do not reflect the values of the Town’s long-term commitment to thoughtful planning for community safety that made Portola Valley their choice of town for their families. He urged the Council on behalf of the Westridge Committee and many of fellow residents of Portola Valley, to await the findings of the fire safety and evacuation experts before taking significant actions with potentially devastating and life-threatening consequences.
Mayor Hughes remarked that there would be a presentation later in the meeting addressing the timeline of the Safety Element and Housing Element, which may respond to Mr. Zaffaroni’s comments.
CONSENT AGENDA
(1) Approval of Minutes – Action and Detailed Summary Minutes for February 9, 2022 (2) Approval of Warrant List –February 23, 2022
(3) Report – Annual Automated License Plate Reader System Audit (4) Recommendation by Town Manager – COVID Hazard Pay for Public Works Staff (5) Appointment by Mayor – Member to the Cultural Arts Committee (6) Recommendation by Part Time Assistant to the Town Manager – Adopt a Resolution Authorizing Submittal of Application(s) for All CalRecycle Grants for which the Town is Eligible (a) A Resolution of the Town Council of the Town of Portola Valley Authorizing Submittal of Applications(s) for all CalRecycle Grants for which the Town of Portola Valley is Eligible (Resolution No. 2880-2022)
(7) Recommendation by Town Attorney – Adoption of a Resolution Confirming the State of Emergency and Need to Continue Conducting Town Public Meeting Remotely. (a) A Resolution of the Town Council of the Town of Portola Valley Confirming Existing State of Emergency and Authorizing Continued Remote Public Meetings Under AB 361 (Resolution No. 2881-2022)
Mayor Hughes invited public comments regarding The Consent Agenda. Hearing none, he invited Councilmembers to pull any item on the Consent Agenda.
Vice Mayor Wernikoff moved to adopt the Consent Agenda. Seconded by Councilmember Richards, the motion carried unanimously, by roll call vote.
REGULAR AGENDA
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(8) Report by Planning and Building Director – Safety Element Update Planning and Building Director Russell presented an update to the Council on the Safety Element process. In her overview of the Safety Element, she explained that it is a part of the General Plan, and could be thought of as a chapter of the General Plan. The goal, which comes from state law, is to reduce the potential short- and long-term risks of death, injuries, property damage, economic and social dislocation resulting from fires, floods, droughts, earthquakes, landslides, climate change and other hazards. Safety Elements include goals and policies aimed at reducing those risks and include analysis, and integration of mapping and data to create policies and programs. Programs have a specific meaning within a Housing Element, including the future activities taken in order to further address this. Elements of a General Plan may not necessarily include all of the analysis that could be done, but they are the starting point for future for analysis that may be undertaken.
Director Russell further explained the Town’s process, starting in August of 2021, when the Council reviewed a proposal from staff including a work program and a contract with a consultant, Urban Planning Partners, the same consultant team that is working on the Town’s Housing Element. Director Russell said the Safety Element and the Housing Element must both be updated every eight years, on the same cycle.
Since the Council decided to start the process before many other communities did, there were many unknowns early in the process. One of the goals was countywide collaboration. They expected there to be a collaborative effort led by the County that the Town would be able to participate in. There were delays related to that, and it wasn’t clear how the County’s program would go forward, so the Council decided to go ahead and get started. Director Russell noted that the countywide collaboration is just now starting, and an RFP has not even been issued yet. It is unclear how that will go forward, but it would be well behind the Town’s progress, so it was fortunate that the Town started when they did.
Director Russell said when they started the process in August timelines for other agencies were also unknown. Cal Fire is currently updating its fire maps and there were other agencies working on mapping and data, so Town staff and consultants monitored these processes to see what data might be available.
She said that many of those tools will not be available this year in time to bring them into the Safety Element process, so they have had to find other sources of information through the consultants and subconsultants. Understanding how to interpret new laws and guidelines created more unknowns, but as they are farther into the process, they have gained a better understanding of how to interpret and implement the new guidelines.
Director Russell gave a high level overview of the work that has happened so far. Tasks were prioritized so that the those that would inform the Housing Element Update process would be addressed first. She noted that the Housing Element Update process is on a very strict timeline set by state law, and the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has made the timeline tighter by increasing the amount of time that the agency itself is allowed to review their housing elements, but not giving the towns more time to develop them. To meet the Housing Element Update schedule, some tasks had to be frontloaded. The Safety Element work needed to be done first in order to inform the Housing Element process. Tasks related to fire safety have included the services of the sub-consultant, Zeke Lunder, with Deer Creek Resources, who spoke at two meetings of the Ad Hoc Housing Element Committee. Mr.
Lunder is contracted to work on both the Housing Element and the Safety Element and has done a twoday tour of the community in which he has driven every road in town and taken numerous pictures. He has also done preliminary mapping to understand areas that have a combination of slopes and vegetation coverage and given feedback on preliminary recommendations for more appropriate and less appropriate areas in which to consider additional housing development. Mr. Lunder has also been in communication with Fire Marshal Don Bullard, discussing additional mapping needs that are needed, and they are in agreement on the type of mapping that would be appropriate for the town in the future. The Fire District will be hiring their own qualified consultants to do additional mapping work. The process is going quickly, and the hope is that it will be available in the summer. In the meantime, Mr. Lunder is under Volume XLVII
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contract with the Town to continue to provide preliminary recommendations for the Safety Element process.
Director Russell discussed two coordinated evacuation studies currently underway. The first is an evacuation study led by Fehr and Peers, a premier transportation consulting firm. Fehr and Peers is also a subconsultant for the Housing Element and Safety Element. Another subconsultant, Atlas Planning, is working on a specific type of evacuation planning required under state law for Safety Elements. In particular, they have analyzed which areas of town that have only one point of ingress and egress. All of the parcels that have only one way in or out have been mapped. There will also be a memo and report to combine this with other hazards that may be present in the community, to try to assess where the hazards lie for evacuation safety. Director Russell noted that the Ad Hoc Housing Element Committee had the benefit of the evacuation maps from Atlas Planning at their meeting the previous night for consideration. The two studies will continue to be coordinated, and as the additional studies and memos are completed, they will be released to the public for comment.
Related to geologic safety, Director Russell said they have excellent mapping from many years of studying the faults and the stability of the soils in the community. She pointed out that Cotton Shires has acted as the Town Geologist for many years. The Town Geologist has been working with staff and has coordinated with Urban Planning in supplying maps to them. The Town Geologist will continue to be involved with the consultant team moving forward.
In terms of community participation and engagement, Director Russell noted that three committees have a primary role in providing input in the process. Since the town has three standing committees, a special Ad Hoc committee for the Safety Element process was not formed, but staff would draw instead from the experience and knowledge of the town’s existing committees. The Wildfire Preparedness, the Emergency Preparedness and the Geologic Safety Committees will all have a primary role in the Safety Element, and they anticipate them doing two rounds of review during the process. The first would be anticipated in April, and it would be to review some of the analysis and materials gathered. Then, a draft of the Safety Element would be brought to them probably in late May or early June. Director Russell noted that there may be a role for the Sustainability Committee with consideration of some of the climate and drought aspects. The details of their role are still under consideration.
Director Russell spoke further on community engagement, announcing plans for a community-wide outreach meeting hopefully in April or May. Details are being worked out as far as the size and format of the meeting, with the goal of maximizing community feedback on safety topics. Following that, she said that any updates to the General Plan must to go through the Planning Commission, so there would also be public hearings to receive and bring the information together. The Planning Commission has the important role of hearing the different priorities of the different parties, thinking about them from a policy perspective, and trying to balance those priorities. The Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the Town Council, who has the ultimate role in thinking through the policy language, the decision-making, and balancing the priorities.
Regarding communications, Director Russell shared that there is a website, www.portolavalley.net/SafetyElement, that provides a form for submitting comments, similar to the one the Council has been using recently, where residents can put in their name and email address. Physical addresses will not be shared publicly, but comments can be posted, providing an easy way to track them so that everyone knows that the comments have been gathered in one place and will be available in the public record. There is also a link to sign up for eNotices, which is the best way to stay up-to-date with individual initiatives that residents are interested in. There is a special e-Notice for the Safety Element towards the bottom of the page. The Housing Element Update e-Notice has over 400 people signed up, so Director Russell hoped they would get to a few hundred on the Safety Element as well. Director Russell said there would be more information coming on the webpage as they develop more specifics.
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The timeline for the Safety Element will be similar to the Housing Element in that a majority of the work needs to be done in the early to middle part of 2022. There will then be a review required by Cal Fire as well as Woodside Fire Protection District. There will be a time during the summer and into the fall as they work through the Cal Fire Review process, similar to the Housing Element, which will be in for review with Housing and Community Development. The Housing Element will be worked on first, followed by the Safety Element. Staff is working to balance the needs and stay on the critical path of both major initiatives, so that both are being finished in a timely fashion towards the end of the year. Director Russell advised that information would be posted on the Town news and social media.
Director Russell turned her presentation to the Safety Element budget. She reiterated that the process was started before all of the information was available from all of the other agencies because of its high importance and the need to get the Housing Element going and inform that process. Customizing the process to the Town’s needs has made it much more timely and much more specific. While this resulted in a potentially higher cost, Director Russell felt that a countywide effort to work together on the Safety Element would not have been nearly specific enough and would have been insufficient to meet the Town’s needs, given the multiple priorities that exist around safety in the community. In working with consultants and outside agencies, and looking at timelines, the resources have become much more clear since starting in August of 2021. She said staff is proposing budget increases for a couple of key items and would like to get feedback from the Council on how the process is going and their thoughts about the proposed budget increases.
The budget increases would be based in part on the fact that a key staff member would be going out on leave for approximately six months this year. Staff also proposed increasing the time for the subconsultant, Atlas Planning. Since this type of work is their specialty, staff feels they are qualified and well-coordinated with Urban Planning Partners. Their additional work would provide flexibility for the team at Urban Planning Partners to work on things that internal staff would have been doing and would result in an increase in the Atlas Planning time and coordination and meeting participation in order to do that.
Director Russell said that they will want additional expert consultant attendance and participation at some of the public meetings, and more time to prepare for them. She said that the further staff gets into the process, the more they realize how complex it is and how complex the coordination with the Housing Element is, so they feel additional consultant time is necessary.
Director Russell explained that with more information, staff realized that the consultation with Cal Fire would take a significant amount of staff time and resources, so part of the budget increase would be to have their consultants work directly with Cal Fire on the Town’s behalf. In this arrangement, they would have experts speaking to other experts to make sure that their Safety Element can be approved by Cal Fire. The combination of the two increases would be approximately $35,000. Staff is still working with the consultant on exact numbers and how the details would be worked out, but Director Russell wanted to inform the Council where they are at in the process and hoped to get their feedback on this approach and on the Safety Element process in general.
Councilmember Richards asked for a reminder of what the state deadline is for submittal to HCD. Director Russell advised that it was a complicated answer, and that staff would be bringing more information back to the Council as an update, because HCD has increased their review time. Realistically, she thought it will likely have to go into the grace period in early 2023 because HCD is taking so long to review. In theory, both the Housing element and the Safety Element would be approved in December of 2022, or possibly January of 2023, but it might be a little later than that. They are working through the situation and its implications with the consultants and the attorneys.
Vice Mayor Wernikoff said these are state-mandated timelines that they are working towards, and they have no control over them. Director Russell agreed and said there are significant consequences for not meeting the timelines. She said the Town Attorney has put out information on the consequences of not meeting the timelines. The information is included in some of the earlier meetings of the Ad Hoc Housing Volume XLVII
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Element Committee. They will continue to share that information so that the community can be familiar with it. She reiterated that the consequences can be significant for a community like Portola Valley in the way that they do discretionary review and process projects. There are very significant penalties that could be imposed on communities that don’t comply.
Vice Mayor Wernikoff asked for clarification about how far along the Evacuation Study is and whether it would dovetail into the Safety Element in a timely fashion. Director Russell responded that the one with the maps for the one point of ingress and egress have already been brought into the Housing Element process. Town Manager Dennis informed the Council that the evacuation study the Council approved last year has been underway for about four months. They are expecting a product from the consultant probably mid-spring. He is hoping for an April timeframe, but it could be a little later. The consultant has been working to gather a suite of data sets in order to run the scenarios that have been decided upon.
They have essentially concluded the data collection and will probably start running the scenarios and providing information to staff and the subcommittee of the Wildfire Preparedness Committee that is also involved in reviewing that draft when it comes out.
Vice Mayor Wernikoff noted that that will be within the timeline of the Safety Element. She asked Director Russell to clarify how the Woodside Fire Protection District mapping project will dovetail with this. Director Russell said their understanding was that Woodside Fire Protection District will be doing extensive mapping, similar to what Cal Fire does in terms of designating very high fire severity zones as well as a comprehensive hazard and risk assessment. They hope to have an initial product from that in the summertime. Staff recognizes that it is important information, so when it becomes available, they will integrate that information at whatever point they are at in the Housing Element and the Safety Element. If they have to pivot to make adjustments based on the new information, they will do so. This could result ultimately in revisions of the Safety Element or the Housing Element. Ideally, it could come at a perfect time, when they are in the middle of the analysis and environmental review and can slot it right in, but they will remain flexible, knowing that they are going to have to integrate that information, and it could require consideration by the full Council, depending on where they are at and what direction they need to go. Staff will continue to collaborate with the Fire District to understand their timing and try to anticipate when the mapping would be coming to try to integrate the pieces in the best possible way.
Director Russell said, while everyone is asking them to wait for the mapping information to come out, the answer is they cannot, because in order to have the Housing Element and Safety Element completed by the deadline, they must continue moving forward on the path for both of those documents, plus the environmental review required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). They are forced to continue to march forward, knowing that they may have to course correct if necessary. She felt the analysis they have done so far, particularly related to fire safety, is sufficient for the Housing Element Committee to continue what they are currently working on, and it is sufficient for the Safety Element group to be moving forward, so she felt that they have the right pieces at the right time to continue their path.
Vice Mayor Wernikoff asked about the review points for the Safety Element process relating to the three committees . One was to review analysis and she couldn’t remember what the other one was. Director Russell the other was to review the draft Safety Element. She elaborated that staff wants the committees to review early in the process. She said consultants often present memos with their initial analysis, including any preliminary recommendations or preliminary conclusions. Those will be grouped together and included in the early analysis that the three committees will consider. Then, the consultants will draft the Safety Element, and the committees will review the draft. She explained that a lot of the Safety Element is very prescribed by the State, with guidelines on how Safety Elements are completed. There are also guidelines that are specific for communities that have higher fire hazard. There is not as much room for different policy and interpretation as there is for a Housing Element, but rather is more formulaic.
Staff will receive the early feedback, then will follow the formula, and then check back in with the committees to see how well they were able to capture their local knowledge.
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Vice Mayor Wernikoff wondered if, after the separate committee-level meetings, the committees will have a role to play within their normal committee meeting times. Director Russell said they will have to see how the committee chairs want to handle it. They may handle it at their normal scheduled meeting time, or they may wish to schedule a special meeting either for this topic or for their other regular topics, so that they can cover everything they want to cover with them. Staff would work with the Chair of each of the committees, talking about how the meeting would be structured, including, for example, presentation by staff and consultants, packet materials to review in advance, or question and comment periods.
Mayor Hughes asked about the budget amendment, whether it would be for the work through June, or if it covered the whole remainder of the process, continuing into next year. Director Russell said it is what they expect for the increase for the whole process. Some of it would be for the current budget year because they are preparing for a staff member to be on leave, which crosses over both years. She would have to think about the exact details, but it would likely result in some during the current budget year and some in next year’s budget.
Mayor Hughes commented on the fact that they may need to redo things once the fire draft maps come out and asked how much extra work might be involved with that or if they might need another adjustment at that point. Director Russell thought these budget increases would not cover those costs unless it was perfect timing. Mayor Hughes said, given it will probably be after July 1st when they get the maps from Woodside Fire, and at some point early in the next fiscal year they may need to assess the extra work that would be needed, they may need to revise things a little more. Director Russell recommended that staff work with the Fire Marshal, monitor the process, and then probably schedule an item before the Council to advise where they are at on the Housing and Safety Elements and what impact they think the Fire District’s process might have on them, and then present options for going forward, including budget implications of those options.
Mayor Hughes wondered if they would have an issue with capacity for the consultants where they’ve allocated everybody because everybody in the state is trying to get their Safety and Housing Elements finalized, and don’t have capacity, or if they have enough extra room to squeeze in more work for the Town if needed. Director Russell thought that capacity could be an issue, and they are probably fortunate to get additional capacity from the consultants to cover the staff member on leave. She said it will be one thing staff will have to evaluate and bring back to the Council. They will be working with the consultants throughout the process and updating them every Thursday morning on what is going on. If they anticipate needing their time, they will get on the consultants’ calendars to at least get priority.
Mayor Hughes invited comments from the public.
Rita Comes said there has been a lot of participation by the residents on different committee and commission meetings, and letters sent to the Town about the Safety Element over the past couple of years. She hoped those voices would be incorporated into the reports of the consultants. She wondered if the comments and letters were being held and collated. somewhere to ensure that they are included. She felt when people have taken time out of their lives to participate in these issues of safety it would be a waste if their voices were not included in the outcome, and it shouldn’t be solely the voices and education of the consultants prioritized over the residents.
Rusty Day asked if the development or revision of the Safety Element will include elucidation or a definition of the town’s safety goals and safety policies and objectives. He asked who will be developing it and what role the three committees will play in delineating and defining what the goals, policies and objectives are. He commented that under the government code, in addition to elaborating goals, policies, objectives and programs, it also calls upon the Town to establish a set of feasible implementation measures, including avoiding or minimizing wildfire hazards associated with new uses of land, locating certain public facilities, when feasible, outside of high fire risk areas, and identifying methods to minimize damage if they are located in high fire hazard severity areas; designing adequate infrastructure for any Volume XLVII
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new development located in a very high fire hazard severity area, including safe access and egress for emergency response vehicles; et cetera. Mr. Day asked who is developing those implementation measures for the Safety Element and what role the committees will play in reviewing, assessing and defining those before the Safety Element is drafted. He also asked what the target deadline is for submitting the proposed draft Safety Element to Cal Fire and Woodside Fire Protection District, so that they can review it in time for the Town to approve it by the end of the year.
Valerie Baldwin said she was at the Housing Element meeting the previous evening. She commented that the Housing Element is coalescing around using the Nathhorst Triangle Area, and she was concerned about whether they are considering the impact on the neighboring homes if it were to be approved. She lives on Echo Lane, behind Ron Ramie’s garage, and a four-story apartment building looming over the back of her yard by her house would be a major impact on their life there, and she was concerned that nobody seems to be considering the impact on the neighbors. She was also concerned that the maps they had at the meeting showing where the Housing Element sites were going to be recommended did not have all of the information on them. It was not stated whether they would continue to flesh out the maps, but there is a map from Cotton and Associates showing a major ground eruption at the corner of Alpine and Portola during the 1906 quake. Regarding the comment that little faults weren’t put on the map because they weren’t active, Ms. Baldwin said she thought it sounded active to her, and she was worried that they might be ignoring things so that they can put everything in the Nathhorst Triangle to avoid putting the rezoning in other areas of the town. She also mentioned that there is a major underground river that goes under her house, which normally follows fault lines, and which is not on the map either, so she wondered if they would be fleshing the maps out further for a better understanding of what was going on.
Nan Shostak questioned what the plan is for an earthquake followed by wildfire in the Safety Element, a fire that perhaps would start in town with not enough time for proper evacuation, and if this is one of the scenarios being considered by the consultant. If not, she felt it needed to be. She commented on the fault described by Ms. Baldwin at the corner of Alpine and Portola in front of the Café Deli and Ramie’s Garage, possibly extending in front of the Fire Department. She said that it was a rupture in 1906, but it was not considered in the Housing Element Committee meeting, and was brushed aside as not being important. She felt that the faults are very important and present a potential hazard that has to be considered, even if inconvenient for the housing process and RHNA numbers.
Kristi Corley wondered about Mr. Lunder’s role and the comment that he drove the town’s streets for two days. She wondered how many extra hours per week he is putting into the work he is doing in Portola Valley.
Mina [phonetic] Jones commented on the committee that was going to consult with Cal Fire, presumably about fire risk and hazard. She said she would like to see Woodside Fire Protection District mentioned alongside Cal Fire. She thought it should be both of them, because her understanding was that it would be five or six months later than the projected due date of July 26th for the Woodside Fire District report.
Seeing no further public comments, Mayor Hughes closed the comment period and invited Planning and Building Director Russell to answer questions.
Director Russell responded to as many of the questions as she could. Regarding Ms. Comes’ question about comments collected in the past, she explained that they have been keeping track of many of the comments, but a challenge is that much of the communication has been about a variety of topics along with encouraging the Town to undertake the Safety Element process, which they are. She said they will do their best to gather the comments and try to understand which ones they can use to inform the process. She encouraged residents if they want to ensure that their comments are integrated to use the form on the Safety Element website, to which documents can be attached. It is an easy process and an approach residents may want to take. Regarding the question about goals, policies and objectives and Volume XLVII
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how they would be developed, she said that they would be developed by the expert consultant team and then reviewed by the Town’s Committees, where staff would look at them with the committees and evaluate whether they are appropriate. She added that the Planning Commission has an important role in that as well. To the question of who is developing the specific measures required by the state law, she said that would be the consultant team. The team has extensive experience working with communities that have increased fire danger, so they feel they do have the right folks onboard to be working on that.
Director Russell said the committees would be reviewing the language as well as Planning Commission and Council.
In terms of the target deadline to submit the document to Cal Fire and Woodside Fire, she said they are still working on the exact scheduling, but expect it to be in the summer or into very early fall. On the questions and comments related to geologic mapping, Director Russell appreciated the questions and notations and said they will review them with the Town Geologist and the experts to make sure they have captured everything. In terms of an earthquake followed by a wildfire, she said those types of scenarios are not necessarily considered to that level of detail with the Safety Element, but they could be identified as “further study needed,” and potentially be a program of the Safety Element, in which they would come back and do additional analysis in the future. Regarding Mr. Lunder’s role and extra hours, Director Russell said that currently part of the $35,000 staff is proposing includes 18 additional hours from Mr.
Lunder beyond the current scope, to do additional work. The comment regarding review by Cal Fire with no mention of Woodside Fire, she said was because that slide was about increased budget numbers.
They think there will be increased cost to coordinate with Cal Fire, but there is not a cost associated with coordinating with Woodside Fire Protection District, so both agencies would be reviewing the document at the same time.
Mayor Hughes brought the item to the Council for discussion.
Councilmember Richards appreciated Planning and Building Director Russell’s excellent presentation. He did not have major questions and thought they were doing a fabulous job of “threading the moving needle,” and it sounds like they are set up for success. He was happy with moving ahead, and the additional expense seemed very reasonable.
Vice Mayor Wernikoff was also supportive of the plan as laid out and previously discussed in the Housing Element Committee meetings. She was comfortable with the budget increase and appreciated the budget report.
Mayor Hughes echoed thanks for Director Russell’s report and commented that her job seems like watching the Olympics events with “people doing backflips with weights on their feet while in a blizzard.” He congratulated her on consistently being able to make clear presentations. He also supported the budget amendment to intended to help produce the best Safety Element they can. (9) Oral Report by Finance Director – Finance Department Presentation Cindy Rodas, Finance Director, gave a presentation on the Town’s Finance Department, its role and responsibilities, recent changes experienced, and the future outlook of the department. She introduced Nicole Tanori, Finance Analyst, who came onboard in April of 2021. Ms. Rodas was very happy to have her on the team. The Finance Department is staffed with two FTEs with additional support from fiscal consultant, Jim Sako, who works on projects such as the annual budget, September revision, and the audit.
Ms. Rodas explained that the Finance Department is responsible for preserving, enhancing and supporting the Towns finances by creating an annual budget for Town Council adoption, monitoring the Town’s fiscal health, supporting Department needs, and providing accounting, human resources and auditing services that ensure the Town’s limited funds are expended in a transparent and accountable Volume XLVII
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fashion. The Town’s Finance Department’s goal is to assist in fulfilling the Council’s budgetary priorities and maintaining the Town’s fiscal health. Additional duties include human resource functions such as payroll, benefits, worker’s compensation, and risk management. Human resources and risk management are typically separate departments in both public and private sectors.
Ms. Rodas shared examples of the regular reports and processes handled by the Department annually, biannually, quarterly and monthly. Along with the town wide audit, in preparation of the Town’s basic financial statements, they also have an annual audit report which reports on the Town’s recreation class and facility rental programs held in the Community Hall Building. They prepare the Annual Street Report submitted to the State Controller’s Office, which reports on state funds received for road-related expenditures, originally including the gas tax, also known as the Highway User’s Tax Funds, and Measures A and M. This report also now includes new, road-related restricted funds, such as Measure W, Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation, also known as RMR Funds. The Department prepares the budget annually, now including a September Revision which allows them to provide updated information which may not have been available at the time of the budget adoption in June.
Ms. Rodas shared the Department’s quarterly tasks, including interest/investment processing, for new investments where previously they only had LEAF processed on a quarterly basis. Schwab investments are now included as well. They also prepare a quarterly budget update, using the Stories [phonetic] platform.
Ms. Rodas advised the Council on recent changes, including software implementation, most notably the implementation of a new finance system. Ms. Rodas said this was a huge learning experience for her, with a set of challenges, aside from kicking off the project just a few weeks before the pandemic began.
Another change is addition of new funds with specific guidelines, reporting requirements and compliance.
Looking to the future of the Finance Department, Ms. Rodas said they would look at evaluating current staffing and resources. With the many new systems implemented they have become aware of an increase in administrative work, such as scanning, new records management procedures, and capabilities for having digital records available. Another item with increased maintenance demands is the bi-monthly warrant list. The Department is looking into making this tedious bi-monthly process more efficient and looking into making it an easier process internally for staff within different departments as well as within the Finance Department. They would also like to focus on strengthening the Department responsibilities related to Human Resources, Risk Management and Finance Policies and Procedures.
With all of the new systems implemented, primarily the new finance system, come with need to update all of the policies and procedures, so looking into restructuring that and having all of these items up to date.
Town Manager Dennis expressed his pride in the Finance team and offered a reminder that Ms. Rodas started with the Town at the front desk, working on admin functions and answering phones. She went back to school, got her degree in accounting, and moved into the Finance Department about the time he started and has been the Town’s permanent Finance Director for the last few years. He said it is a wonderful thing to be able to do in their town, and he was delighted with her work. He hoped her presentation provided some additional insight into how much they do and how much the organization has changed, many changes happening after he joined the organization. He invited questions and comments regarding the Finance Department.
Mayor Hughes invited questions regarding the presentation from the Councilmembers. Hearing none, he invited public comments.
Rita Comes asked where she could find a copy of the last audit. Also, she noticed that the Finance Committee has not met since October of 2021, and their minutes are not listed on the Town website since May of 2021. She wondered if this would be changing and where to find the last audit.
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Caroline Vertongen said, as a taxpayer and a community member, she felt disappointed that when OpenGov was presented, they were told it would save staff time and would be transparent and a great idea, but none of their questions are answered. She said for example, if asking for a list of all the government agencies they are funding, which with a simple QuickBooks account could be done, unfortunately with the OpenGov system it is not available. She said there are many new funds, such as COVID fund now to do a study for the communication for the cable infrastructure in town. It is not what they are used to, and she hoped they would clarify all of their questions.
Mayor Hughes said both comments would be best answered through emails, sending links to sources of the materials they were seeking. Town Manager Dennis added that regarding the audit, he emailed a link to the audit to Ms. Comes. He said the meeting minutes are developed by the committees themselves, so the most recent meeting won’t have minutes associated with it, because they are approved at the next meeting. In the past some committees have struggled with preparing minutes, so there might be some holes there. The Finance Committee is expected to meet later this year on the items it normally works on.
It is a committee that doesn’t necessarily have set times, but rather has seasons of activity, depending on the product.
Kristi Corley remembered that there were going to be quarterly meetings, or financial reports. She asked if they were still aiming for that. She thought some other residents may want to hear the answer to Ms.
Comes’ question on the audit. Town Manager Dennis responded that for those interested in seeing the Town’s budgets and audit, they can be found at portolavalley.net/town-government/town-finance. From the departments page, click on Town Finance and they are all listed there.
Hearing no further public comments, Mayor Hughes brought the item back to the Council.
Vice Mayor Wernikoff wondered, it being several months into the full implementation of OpenGov, how Ms. Rodas was finding it on a day-to-day basis. She recalled that they were initially excited and overwhelmed about all of the new functionality. She was curious about her general thoughts on how it is going. Ms. Rodas responded that it is going well, although there is still a learning curve on a few items recently, with the first time processing 1099’s using the new system. They continue to learn, and Nicole has joined the team since April of 2021, so they have gone through a lot of training and continued development. They reach out to OpenGov on a continuous basis, providing feedback and letting them know where they can continue to tweak some items within the system. She said, overall, it is going very well. They are looking at strengthening functionality within the system, continued training and having the resources available, updating Finance procedures and getting caught up and up to date with those.
Town Manager Dennis added that one challenge in modern relationships with the types of firms they work with is turnover. OpenGov, like many firms, sees a lot of turnover, so they have cycled through a number of success managers. Also, there is a customer service portal which staff uses extensively internally to work out a variety of issues, such as vacation, sick time, et cetera. They also use it for a business license program and are looking to expand it even more. He said it is a great system and if they do an admin update, they can talk about how they use the system there.
Vice Mayor Wernikoff thanked Nicole for her attendance and said it was nice to meet her. Ms. Tanori greeted the Councilmembers in return. Councilmember Richards also thanked Ms. Rodas and Ms. Tanori for the presentation. He said he is struck by the increased complexity of their town and demands on their staff, from state laws as well as a very involved citizenry. Mayor Hughes agreed there have been many changes, and Ms. Rodas has been involved in the biggest changes, and although there have been some hiccups it has overall been a smooth and successful process. He looked forward to changes yet to come.
There may be challenges ahead in the coming cycle, as they all knew, and they would have to do a lot more housing construction as required by the State. This means they will probably have to add staff to be able to support this increase. There will be some scaling of the organization’s needs and figuring out how Volume XLVII
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to handle that will be the next challenge. He also mentioned electronic check signing was something he was excited about and looking forward to that.
(10) Colleague’s Memo from Mayor Hughes – Revisit the Committee Handbook Policies on Harassment
Mayor Hughes referred to the various challenges from various committees through COVID and before, and probably continuing after, including membership issues, managing committees, and managing interactions between committee members who may have opposing views on things, or Councilmembers who may have opposing views to committee members, et cetera, looking through the Committee Handbook whenever an issue has come up and looking at how other organizations manage similar kinds of issues, especially with people volunteering their time, but also with paid organizations where they are trying to create an environment in which people can be free to discuss their ideas. He said the Town updated their Committee Handbook to talk about non-discrimination and non-harassment, et cetera, a year-and-a-half or two years ago. They put some language in place that is fairly good in talking about what you should not do and what kinds of things are discouraged. However, in looking over the last several years at other organizations he said one thing that struck him in reading their handbooks is that the Town’s frames everything as a certain negative – what you should not do, what kind of behaviors are unacceptable – rather than including language about more positive things, encouraging everybody to take an open-minded approach, to encourage discussion and welcome comments from other people. He said his memo was about raising the question of whether they might want to go a little beyond what their current policies are in the Committee Handbook around committee membership and committee participation, and to encourage rather than to prescribe, rephrasing or adding to existing policies to encourage more cordiality, a more positive approach to the work the committees do and the work that volunteers put into the committees. He said he didn’t have a very good concrete idea, although he listed some samples from other organizations in his memo. He thought perhaps the Race and Equity Committee might be usefully involved, or possibly a Council subcommittee could be formed to draft something and bring it back to the full Council, for updating the Committee Handbook.
Mayor Hughes invited questions from the Council. Hearing none, he invited comments from the public.
David Cardinal thought this was a great idea and encouraged it. He felt that making things part of a paper document was not enough based on his experience leading teams. He suggested that some kind of team building or training with the committees might be effective.
With no further public comments, Mayor Hughes brought the item back to the Council.
Vice Mayor Wernikoff supported Mayor Hughes for bringing up the issue and felt it is very important. She thought they could do a better job in this area. As a new Councilmember with fresh eyes on the Handbook in general, she thought maybe there are other areas of the Handbook as well where some fresh eyes could be beneficial in the near future. She supported the idea of a subcommittee of the Council and suggested that looking at best practices should be leveraged as the initial step. She agreed with Mr.
Cardinal’s idea of training in addition to the policy on paper. She mentioned different committees operating differently, with differences in the liaison role in each, so some training there would be wise.
Councilmember Richards agreed that it was good to take a look at this and putting a more positive spin on things is always good. He agreed with Mr. Cardinal that getting some kind of active implementation makes sense. He suggested perhaps rolling it into the yearly meeting of the committee chairs, perhaps bringing in a facilitator to help with it. He agreed with Vice Chair Hughes that looking at the entirety of the Handbook would be a good idea as well going through the year, as occasionally committee participation does present some difficult choices for people, none of them easily addressed.
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Mayor Hughes agreed also with Mr. Cardinal’s comments about training committee members. He noted another issue regarding better communicating between committees and the Council the work that Council needs them to do, versus work originated from them, and understanding how that balance works. In the past there have been committees that wanted to work on something, and it has been difficult to understand from the Council precisely what that is and allocating staff time to support those activities, versus the work the Council is specifically asking them to do. So perhaps a workload management piece or workload coordination piece would also be helpful, although his memo was more narrowly focused.
Town Manager Dennis added that as issues become more controversial and complicated, he felt it important to ensure a smooth flow of communication from Council to committees, and opportunities to make sure it is the most positive experience for residents to participate in. He noted that when new committee members come onboard, he meets with them briefly to talk about it. He hears stories about what brought them to volunteerism in Portola Valley. The majority of the time people just want to serve, so he wanted to ensure that they are always honoring that through clearly defined processes, and that if there are any issues, they can be dealt with.
Vice Mayor Wernikoff underscored that, as a volunteer in a variety of capacities over the years, she felt strongly that volunteering should be a positive experience and that people should feel good about what they are doing. She felt the goal of the memo was to assure that the town continues to get great volunteers who feel comfortable and respected sharing their points of view. She wholeheartedly agreed that they should double down on exactly the issues addressed in the memo as a first step and then address other issues over the course of the year.
The Council discussed nomination of Councilmember Aalfs and Councilmember Derwin to the subcommittee. Mayor Hughes volunteered to take the place of one of them if they declined, being the author of the memo and having looked at some of the sources for best practices, et cetera. Vice Mayor Wernikoff offered to be a backup, although with the Housing Element and Wildfire Committee she was currently quite busy. Mayor Hughes added that he was happy to be the lead member of the subcommittee and do most of the work, with a second member to confer with. Councilmember Richards was willing to be the second person.
Vice Mayor Wernikoff moved to appoint Mayor Hughes and Councilmember Richards as a subcommittee to develop changes to the Committee Handbook section regarding harassment. Seconded by Councilmember Richards, the motion passed, 3-0, by roll call vote. (12) COUNCIL LIAISON COMMITTEE AND REGIONAL AGENCIES REPORTS Vice Mayor Wernikoff said she was not able to attend the Cultural Arts Committee meeting, but said they are focused on the PV Palooza. She attended the Housing Element Committee meeting, which was Part 1 of 2, in which they are reviewing various options for the RHNA allocation. The meeting started with a presentation from Woodside Fire Protection District about their plans for fire mapping. They had a two- to three-hour discussion about the constraints of maps, taking into account such things as slope, evacuation routes, seismic issues, et cetera, and reviewed a series of maps, which helped narrow down the areas of safe, accessible opportunities for meeting the RHNA allocation. They discussed, between the committee and the community in attendance, feedback on scenarios, seeking to expand their options, both within the option areas and across town as well. They had also requested to see some potential visuals of what this type of zoning might look like, to give a more tangible sense of what zoning of up to 20 units per acres might look like, versus a townhouse, versus a cluster of smaller units. Planning and Building Director Russell will be bringing those things, as well as the results of the Housing Element Survey, to the next meeting. They are holding these back-to-back meetings to ensure that this intense content stays top-ofmind for everyone. Part 2 of the discussion would be on the coming Monday, and she encouraged everyone to attend. There were 40 to 45 members of the public at the previous meeting, and she hoped for more participation at the next meeting.
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Councilmember Richards attended a Conservation Committee meeting, where there was general discussion on an upcoming proposal by MIG, a landscape and environmental firm, to redo the Frog Pond for potential cleanup of Harding grass and other cleanup and maintenance. The Committee is hoping that they can do some of the work to possibly reduce the overall cost of the consultant. The Committee looked at the Sequoias Trail maintenance issues and what it means in terms of a proposal to address the harsh fire safety work that was done and re-establish it in a more sustainable manner. He said there was some discussion about the Open Space Committee, which was related to putting together standardized templates for a vision statement for each of the Town-owned parcels. They are also working on wording for potential checklists for ADU ministerial review for Conservation. He said there was an interesting find of a dead fox that was in perfect condition and is now being analyzed at a local lab for potential poisoning by rodenticides. The Committee discussed PV Donates, with one suggestion of getting the wildlife camera at Spring Down Pond going, and whether there was need for additional infrastructure that might be covered by PV Donates.
Mayor Hughes attended a Trails Committee meeting. One item they discussed was organization of a horse fair this year. Being outdoors, they hoped they would be able to hold this safely in regard to the pandemic status. They are working at finding the best date for that.
Mayor Hughes reported that the trails mapping subcommittee of the Trails Committee is re-doing the trails maps, adding some detail and updating and modernizing them. The subcommittee gave an example of what they have been working on to get feedback. They shared a couple trails in the Willowbrook area, how they’ve been tracking on Google maps, dropping pins where they have questions, taking photos of places that may need a sign or modification of an existing sign, gathering information about all of the trails and consolidating it in one place and into Google maps. They will come back to the main Committee with some templates and will hopefully have a finalized, updated, official Portola Valley Trails map sometime later this year.
Mayor Hughes said he has had three PV Donuts meetings, two in person on back patios, and one virtual meeting by Zoom. He said all three have been extremely successful, with comments that they were helpful and informative and that they had set minds at ease and had given better understanding of the timelines and Town processes around housing and safety. Other issues, such as building materials and budget issues and many other issues in town, were able to be discussed. These small group meetings have been running an hour-and-a-half to two hours each and have been great conversations. After experiencing such positive feedback on them, he expected there will be many more opportunities for these. He said he and Vice Mayor Wernikoff discussed holding these in a more organized manner, for example, to figure out which Councilmember might be available at which time, if they are willing to do this, and setting up a Calendly listing everyone’s availability. Residents could access the calendar and choose an open slot, with the ability to choose a slot for a specific Councilmember if they so desire. He said for the next stage, he and Vice Mayor Wernikoff would try to set this up and figure out how it works with two of them. If the other three Councilmembers wish to join on this, they could be added to the Calendly as well. He said the meetings have been everything he had hoped for in terms of getting back to sitting down with neighbors and talking about what’s going on and why things are working the way they are, what issues and concerns are, et cetera. He recommended Councilmembers participate once they get Calendly set up to manage it.
Mayor Hughes invited comments from the public.
Caroline Vertongen felt the PV Donuts meetings were a very good idea, but they don’t have a phone number. She said she has sent Mayor Hughes and Vice Mayor Wernikoff an email and did not get a response, but they would love to meet with them, and she could set up a meeting with several people.
Mayor Hughes said he had been traveling the past week and apologized for not responding to her email yet but would get back to her as soon as possible.
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(13) TOWN MANAGER REPORT
Town Manager Dennis started with news that Town Hall had been reopened to visitors and staff on Valentine’s Day. He said there was very light traffic in Town Center with visitors, but they are delighted to see visitors and each other after the Omicron surge, which was longer than expected, but it certainly helped contain infections. He said the Town Council will be holding a special meeting on March 24th at 6:00 p.m., as a community update on wildfire adaptation and resiliency efforts. The meeting will be moderated by the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center. More information will be sent out as developed in coming days.
Town Manager Dennis reiterated Vice Mayor Wernikoff’s announcement regarding an important Housing Element Committee meeting on Monday, the 28th, and two additional Housing Element Update meetings.
One will be with the Council in a joint session with the Planning Commission, on March 23rd. There will be a community meeting similar to previous ones the week of March 14th, probably on that Wednesday.
Town Manager Dennis said they have a new Sheriff’s Office Sergeant, Patrick Taylor, who succeeds Andy Hui. Andy was promoted within the Sherriff’s Office. Sergeant Taylor began his career as a deputy in Portola Valley, so he knows the community quite well. The Town will likely host a “Meet the Sheriff’s Office Staff” in late April or early May.
Vice Mayor Wernikoff asked about the schoolhouse.
Town Manager Dennis responded that they are looking to install hardware related to hybrid meetings in the Historic Schoolhouse in mid-March. If everything is working well, starting in April they will be back to having regular meetings in that facility, depending on COVID.
Town Manager Dennis announced the retirement of Sharon Hanlon, Town Clerk, who has been with the Town for 21 years and who has been Clerk for most of that time. He thanked Ms. Hanlon for everything she has done for the Town. He said that they are in recruitment for the Town Clerk position, which will close next week.
Mayor Hughes also offered his “Thank You” to Clerk Hanlon and invited public comments.
Caroline Vertongen said they will miss Clerk Hanlon, who is one of the few real connections with the residents, and every time they sent a message to her, Clerk Hanlon made sure all committee members received their emails. She was very sad to see her Clerk Hanlon go and asked the Council to work on fixing the communication error happening in the town.
Rusty Day echoed Ms. Vertongen’s comments regarding Clerk Hanlon. He said she is a wonderful, gracious interface for the Town, and they are fortunate to have her. He said Ms. Hanlon has always fulfilled her job with grace and impartiality, always following up and always with a friendly face.
Mr. Cardinal wanted to follow up on Ms. Comes’ question about the audit report. He followed the Town Manager’s link and noticed that the last audit report was for fiscal year ending June 30, 2019, and there are no reports for 2020 or 2021. He thought this was what Ms. Comes was asking about, so he wanted to renew the question of the audited financials for 2020 and 2021.
Kristi Corley also thanked Clerk Hanon for her interactions with the public, sharing that she is thorough and that they will miss her and wish her a happy retirement. She said the meeting next Monday is very important, the summary of the Housing Element which includes three locations that were described the previous night, and she wondered if they could be described further for those present who were not at the previous night’s meeting. The Nathhorst Triangle or Portola Road and Alpine are being considered, as Volume XLVII
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well as the Deli area, the Parkside Grille area, and the area of Westridge and Alpine Road. She asked for a description of those areas and why they were chosen.
Rita Comes echoed comments that Clerk Hanlon has been a joy to work with in the Town for years. She said Ms. Hanlon’s follow-through and kindness in serving residents has been a huge help. She wished for Clerk Hanlon to come back to town after her retirement to invite her to tea and perhaps walk a trail. She wished her happiness and good luck in her retirement. Ms. Comes followed up on the audit question, that the latest one posted is from 2019. At Finance Committee meetings she attended last year, and talk in the Town Council meetings, there was talk about working with the auditors. She was waiting for that information and was surprised that it is not available. She said that she, also, would like to have the information on the 2020 and 2021 audits.
David Cardinal also echoed thanks to Clerk Hanlon. He pointed out that they should not only express praise for people when they are leaving, but it is also important to remember this while they are there. He said there can be so much criticism and that staff are people. If they are doing a good job, they should hear that while they are there, and not just when they are leaving. He would like to see more balanced feedback for those who take a lot of flack from residents who are well-served by them, and that more positive feedback before the day they resign would be helpful.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
(13) Town Council Digest – February 10, 2022
(15) Town Council Digest – February 17, 2022
Town Manager Dennis commented on the item on red page 77, regarding a concern about an item in the home hardening that the Council passed as an Urgency Ordinance in December. The concerns related to the opportunity to use certain materials that are not deemed non-combustible but do have considerable benefit above regular material for decks. It is something they will be taking a look at and will likely start with the Wildfire Preparedness Committee, asking them to look at this and whether or not they want to see materials that are good but do not meet a particular standard of non-combustible, whether or not they should be included in an update.
Mayor Hughes adjourned the meeting to Closed Session, for discussion with Legal Counsel regarding anticipated litigation, with a significant exposure to litigation pursuant to Section 54956.9(b).
ADJOURNMENT [ 9:00 p.m.]
_____________________________ _________________________ Mayor Town Clerk