The two-and-a-half year fundraising campaign to pay for a new library, Town Hall and community hall in Portola Valley is over, and there is now a formal plan to recognize project donors.

A successful $500,000 matching grant put the fundraising total at $18.5 million, campaign co-chair SallyAnn Reiss said at a Jan. 9 Town Council meeting. The total includes $15.5 million in gifts and $3 million from the town's general fund.

The $1.5 million gap for the $20 million project could be covered by a loan from the county, which has a standing offer of a $4 million line of credit for the town.

The council also took its first look at a plan that showcases project donor names at various locations in the complex, using either mounted or engraved letters.

The entrances to Town Hall, the library and the community hall would bear the names, respectively, of Bill and Jean Lane, the John Arrillaga family, and the Hasso Plattner Foundation. Each of these donors gave at least $2 million.

Names would also appear inside the library near the town's history room, the reading room and a wall-mounted electronic monitor that will track energy efficiency in the environmentally designed complex. Outdoors, donor names will appear on plaques, lampposts and the back of a long bench.

Benches for town trails

Benches may begin showing up on hiking trails in Portola Valley, though probably not more often than every mile or so.

The Town Council at its Jan. 9 meeting sounded agreeable to providing places to sit and enjoy views.

Meanwhile, vandals have been repeatedly defacing and cutting down signs that prohibit dogs on trails along Coalmine Ridge, an environmentally protected area where dog-walking is banned.

Council members advised making the signs tougher, even to the point of using cast iron.

Mayor names police commissioner

Former mayor Ed Davis is Portola Valley's new police commissioner, a role that former mayor Bob Anderson filled for many years until his death in January 2007.

The police commissioner, who is appointed by the mayor, is an important liaison to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office, said Councilman Richard Merk at the Jan. 9 Town Council meeting. The town contracts with the Sheriff's Office for police services.

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