Portola Valley: Town Council opens book on town appointments Portola Valley: Town Council opens book on town appointments (January 25, 2006)

** Town will notify public when terms expire.

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

Portola Valley residents interested in the town's architecture and planning, take note. Likely to end soon is the Town Council's practice of not notifying the public of vacancies on the planning or architectural review commissions when an incumbent commissioner wants to continue serving.

Over objections on principle from Councilman Richard Merk, the council voted on January 11 to give the public at least 60 days' notice before a term ends and to require all candidates, including incumbents, to be interviewed in public by the council before appointing or reappointing an applicant to a commission.

The council also voted 4-1, with Mr. Merk opposed, to approve an ordinance extending the terms of members of the Architectural & Site Control Commission from the current one year to four years, and to stagger the terms, as is done with the Planning Commission.

Two ASCC terms will be up in January 2007, and three more in January 2009.

The first notices to the public should be posted near the end of October 2006 on the town's Web site, at Town Hall and shopping centers, and in newspaper ads.

A second council vote on the ordinance, probably at the January 25 meeting, would adopt it into law.

Mayor Steve Toben, whose idea it was to re-interview incumbents and notify the public, said he wants to inject "some fresh air" into the process.

In a phone interview, he added that while he hadn't heard complaints, he was aware of a community perception -- one he does not share -- of "a closed circle of residents" from which are drawn members of the Town Council and the two commissions.

At the January 11 meeting, resident Bill Henderson questioned changing the one-year term of the architecture commissioners, saying that it seemed to contradict "good oversight and good review" by government.

Councilman Ted Driscoll initially took Mr. Henderson's point, but said that he backed the change after concluding that giving commissioners assurance of a long term acted to balance an open reappointment process.

Of the five current architecture commissioners, chairwoman Laura Chase has served the longest, since 1991. Carter Warr has also served since 1991, but he stepped down briefly and was reappointed in 2004. Mike Schilling is in his seventh year, while Danna Breen and Sam Gelpi are newcomers.

On the five-member Planning Commission, Linda Elkind has served since 1996 and Lea Zaffaroni since 1997. Chairman Arthur "Chip" McIntosh came to the commission in 1999, and Ann Wengert and Nate McKitterick are recent appointees.

Mr. Merk abstained on the decision to re-interview incumbents and notify the public when a term expires. In an interview, he noted that reappointing incumbents, albeit without notice, has served the town well for 44 years.

"I think we're changing something under the auspices that it was broken," he said. "I don't believe we have a problem. ... At the end of a term, if a person has been doing a good job, it's historical to let them continue."

The commissioners, he added, are hard-working volunteers with demanding jobs, and they should not be put through "additional hoops." "It's not the way things are done in Portola Valley."

"My hope is that most or all of the incumbents will remain committed to service," Mr. Toben said.

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