Menlo Watch: Residents set to take on Menlo budget Menlo Watch: Residents set to take on Menlo budget (April 27, 2005)

Fifteen have applied, and 15 have been chosen. Although the Menlo Park City Council had sought 12 city residents to serve on an ad hoc advisory committee to help craft the 2006-07 budget, the council agreed April 19 to take all 15 applicants.

Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson was the lone dissenter, saying some applicants might have a personal ax to grind. She did not name names.

Several new members are familiar faces at City Hall: former councilman Jack Morris; former planning commissioner Patti Fry; Fran Dehn, president and CEO of the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce; and housing commissioner John O'Malley.

Other members are educator Chuck Bernstein, venture capital consultants John C. Boyle and J. Michael Gullard, nonprofit consultant Shelley W. Kilday, volunteer Katie Graves-Ferrick, retired CFO Honor Huntington, consultant Hank Lawrence, Realtor E.H. Lentz, health care administrator Melody Davenport McLaughlin, sales/marking professional Kent W. Smith and venture capitalist Kai Tse.

The 2006-07 budget process will have a major emphasis on public outreach, with the city working closely with residents to find out what services they'll support and what they're willing to pay in the ongoing recession.
Some new city fees approved

Menlo Park will see some new fees and modest fee increases for city services, including a $190 hourly fee for businesses renting out the City Council chambers and a 6 percent increase in fees for gymnastics programs.

The council, though, declined on April 19 to approve a 6 percent increase in city child-care fees at the Civic Center and in the Belle Haven neighborhood. Mickie Winkler, Nicholas Jellins and Lee Duboc said they needed more information from staff to justify the potential increase, such as a comparison with the quality of other child-care programs in the area.

The council majority also declined to approve a new staff-recommended annual fee to use city off-leash dog areas. Andy Cohen and Kelly Fergusson dissented, saying they approved of all the new fees and fee increases.

For a full staff report on fee increases, go to menlopark.org, click on "City Council" and go to the April 19 agenda.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.