TOWN OF WOODSIDE
TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES June 13, 2023
Independence Hall, 2955 Woodside Road, Woodside 7:00 p.m.
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Shaw called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Present: Councilmembers Dombkowski, Fluet, Goeld, Wall, and Mayor Shaw
Absent: Councilmember Brown
Staff Present:
Kevin Bryant, Town Manager
Jean Savaree, Town Attorney
Sage Schaan, Planning Director
Cindy Safe, Administrative Services Manager
Patty Higashioka, Senior Management Analyst
Melissa Cardinale, Assistant to the Town Manager
Jennifer Li, Town Clerk
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Councilmember Goeld led the Pledge of Allegiance.
COMMUNICATIONS
Don Pugh, Glenwood Ave, stated: parking issues are detrimental to citizens and taxpayers; restaurant parking needs were studied and decided upon in 2016; the COVID-19 emergency declaration is over, and things must go back to normal; it is possible to keep outdoor dining and have better parking management; there is not enough room to support a massive increase in seating; the proposal to bulldoze open space for parking is outrageous.
PRESENTATION
Margaret MacNiven, Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, introduced Zoe Kristen-Tucker and Joshua Hugg. She spoke of the District's boundaries.
Ms. Kristen-Tucker spoke of the Wildland Fire Resiliency Program, regional trail connections (Bay-to-the- Sea Trail, Purisima-to-the-Sea Trail), and the Mountain Lion Human Interaction Study.
Council comments and questions included: appreciation for all the District does for conservation, beauty, and recreation for the community; what are the fire risk mitigation efforts; are controlled burns part of their tactics; rotational grazing practices.
In response to Council's questions, Ms. Kristen-Tucker stated: the first 30 years of the District's focus was acquiring land; now, they have paused and are working more on connecting people, creating public access, and management of the land; they have a lot of work to do on Teague Hill and they look forward to working cooperatively with the Town in the years to come; they have not considered the introduction of Tule elk, however, they use cattle for vegetation management.
In response to Council's questions, Mr. Hugg stated: they need to increase staffing for field treatment, which is a scarce resource, particularly during fire season when people are called away to help with fire suppression; they are promoting coexisting with wildlife (i.e., ecological sensitive management); controlled burns are an important tool for maintaining fuel loads and enhancing biodiversity, and they work closely with CalFire on those efforts.
Town Council Meeting Minutes June 13, 2023 Page 1
APPOINTMENTS
Report and Recommendation from the Town Council Committees Appointments Subcommittee:
a. Climate & Sustainability Committee
b. Environment & Conservation Committee
c. Recreation Committee
Ms. Cardinale stated: the Environment Committee has split into two Committees, and there are applicants for both.
Councilmember Wall stated: Councilmember Goeld and herself reviewed the applications and recommended appointment.
Councilmember Wall moved to appoint all the applicants.
Motion seconded by Councilmember Fluet and approved by roll call vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Dombkowski, Fluet, Goeld, Wall, and Mayor Shaw NOES: None
ABSENT: Councilmember Brown
CONSENT CALENDAR
Register of Demands Against the Town of Woodside from May 16 through 31, 2023.
Approval of Minutes: Regular Meetings of February 28 and March 14, 2023.
Review and Accept Public Records Act (PRA) Response Procedures.
Resolution Authorizing the Town Manager to Execute an Agreement with Springbrook to Add the Accounts Receivable Module.
Resolution No. 2023 - 7597
Resolution Authorizing the Town Manager to Enter Into an Agreement with Superion, LLC, a CentralSquare Technologies Company for Migration of Traklt.Net to CentralSquare's Community Development Cloud Hosted Environment.
Resolution No. 2023 - 7598
Resolution Authorizing the Town Manager to Execute a Contract Renewal with Urban Programmers for Architectural and Site Historical Evaluations on Projects Submitted to the Town Requiring Historical Review.
Resolution No. 2023 - 7599
Resolution Authorizing the Town Manager to Enter Into an Agreement with Cities Digital, Inc., D.B.A. "CDI" for Migration of Laserfiche to Laserfiche Cloud.
Resolution No. 2023 - 7600
Councilmember Fluet moved approval of the Consent Calendar Items 1-7.
Motion seconded by Councilmember Dombkowski and approved by roll call vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Dombkowski, Fluet, Goeld, Wall, and Mayor Shaw NOES: None
ABSENT: Councilmember Brown
Town Council Meeting Minutes June 13, 2023 Page 2
NEW BUSINESS
Mayor Shaw requested to switch Items A and B due to the number of people in the audience for Item B.
B. Discussion and Direction Regarding Reinstituting the Bicycle Committee as a Citizen Advisory Committee.
Mr. Bryant presented the staff report.
In response to Council's question about the administrative burden of staff managing committees, Mr.
Bryant stated: the weekly burden consists of creating agendas with the Committee Chairs, posting the agenda around Town and online, and tracking attendance; for the Circulation and Trails Committees, projects are produced that need to be acted upon; the Town Engineer is the primary staff liaison for those two Committees and turns those ideas into executable actions; if formed, this Bicycle Committee would be the third meeting for Mr. Rose to attend monthly.
The Public Comment Period opened at 7:43 p.m.
Steve Lubin, Palm Circle Road, expressed support for the creation of the Bicycle Committee and modifying the charter of Circulation Committee to include at least two experienced cyclists in the Committee membership.
Ehsan Farkhondeh, Alta Vista Road, stated: the Circulation Committee does not exclude cyclists; the Committee balances the shared public resource; a bicyclist is undefinable; a Bicycle Committee is unnecessary; limited resources need town-wide input and be measured on a town-wide metric.
Kim Hansen, resident, expressed opposition for the creation of the Bicycle Committee.
The Public Comment Period closed at 7:50 p.m.
In response to Council's question for clarification on Mr. Lubin's comment about the Committee charter, Mr. Bryant stated: it states that the Town Council should appoint two concurrent members of the Trails Committee to the Circulation Committee.
Council comments included: support for keeping the Circulation Committee as is; users are well-served by the holistic approach to traffic; Circulation Committee meetings are well-attended and get direct contact with the Sheriff's Department and the Town Engineer; a question for a later date is the purpose of concurrent membership when the Town should have a variety of volunteers; the winter storms have made roads challenging for bicyclists, however, it is not a good reason to change things; a suggestion to evaluate how volunteers are appointed so that the outcome is diverse membership; not seeing a reason to recreate a Bicycle Committee; 13 emails were received from bicyclists expressing support for a separate Committee; encouraging the Circulation Committee to proactively obtain opinions from bicyclists; encouraging anyone interested to attend the public Committee meetings and provide input; inevitably, a spot will open up for them to join; compliments on how well the Circulation Committee is run; Woodside is not against cyclists.
A. Presentation of the 2023-25 Proposed Budget
a. Overview of the 2023-25 Proposed Budget
b. Department Budgets
c. 2024-28 Proposed Capital Improvement Program
d. Wrap-up Discussion and Town Council Direction
Mr. Bryant presented the staff report.
Council and staff discussion included: PARS is separate; a suggestion to continue allocating funds for the Woodside Road Median Beautification Project to improve traffic, safety, calmness, and natural beauty; some projects were moved out of the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for better allocation of resources; how stable the 10-year forecast looks because there is not much variation for a small Town Council Meeting Minutes June 13, 2023 Page 3
municipality; the budget is designed to be conservative; whether investing for inevitable emergency costs is needed; the General Fund and Road Fund supported the emergency work to repair damage caused by the winter storms; 20% of the budget is the Sheriff's contract with a 7% cap in the annual increase; Town Hall personnel changes in the Administration & Finance Department and the Public Works Department; compliance requirements for the Housing Element regarding monitoring ADUs; attracting talent to the ASRB; starting review of the Western Hills Development Standards and the Town Center Area Plan after approval of the Housing Element; having enough budgeted for the Planning Department to meet the demands of advanced planning; Safety Services is where funding a part-time grant writer could enhance the Town's Defensible Space and Home Hardening Matching Fund Program; regarding Automated License Plate Readers, Flock has applied for permits; upgrades to the permit software and Town website; emergency response funds; something new in the CIP is emergency access improvements; working with internet service providers to connect the Runnymede and Greer neighborhoods; settling on a permanent solution for the top of Old La Honda Road after Highway 84 reopens; the inefficiency of a $10,000 spending limit, which has not changed since 1996.
The Public Comment Period opened at 9:06 p.m.
Chip Swan, resident, thanked Council for a great job.
Mr. Bryant introduced Brandon Miyake, a summer intern.
The Public Comment Period closed at 9:07 p.m.
Additional Council and staff discussion included: Mr. Bryant will discuss with the Library Director how to utilize the library funds to benefit the community; allocating funds for emergency expenditures; raising the spending limit for the Town Manager to $35,000; support for Planning staff to deal with advanced planning complexities; continuing the momentum for further beautification of the Woodside Road median.
REPORTS
C. Town Manager's Oral Report on January and March Storm-Related Proclaimed Emergencies.
Mr. Bryant stated: emergency paving work on Old La Honda Road finished this morning, three to four days ahead of schedule; two lanes are open except for the top; the Town needs to think about a long-term solution for the traffic light operation.
D. Mayor and Councilmember Communications.
Councilmember Dombkowski thanked all for attending Volunteer Fair, which was sparsely attended by the public.
Councilmember Wall spoke of the Council of Cities dinner hosted by the Town of Atherton, which included an overview of their new Town Center.
Councilmember Fluet spoke of: the Arts & Culture Committee meeting where a suggestion was made that the Town have Facebook and Instagram accounts to advertise events on; a C/CAG meeting where affordable housing funding and opposition to SB 450 was discussed; encouraging all to spread the news Mayor Shaw spoke of: hopes of having a panel discussion on homeowners insurance; a roundtable meeting that occurred with the Chairs of the volunteer committees, where they discussed communication, attendance, engagement, difficulties running meetings post-pandemic, handling disruptive volunteers, and other challenges they face.
Councilmember Goeld spoke of: updates to the Volunteer Handbook; encouraging the Chairs of Committees to report to Council later in the year before the reappointment meeting; a suggestion to rotate Chairs attending Council meetings to provide a short report on what they are working on and Town Council Meeting Minutes June 13, 2023 Page 4
whether there are any issues.
Mayor Shaw likes the idea of having a roundtable with the Chairs three times a year.
COMMUNICATIONS
ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Shaw adjourned the meeting at 9:46 p.m.
APPROVED:
Mayor of the Town of Woodside
Town Council Meeting Minutes June 13, 2023 Page 5