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The Menlo Park City Council did not appoint a new District 5 council member as expected Wednesday night, Dec. 21. Eleven applicants are seeking to fill the rest of Ray Mueller’s term after he leaves for his new role as a county supervisor in January.
Instead, after interviewing the majority of the applicants, the meeting was continued to Monday, Jan. 9, at 5 p.m.
Following Mueller’s election to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors in November, the City Council chose to appoint a new council member rather than hold a special election. The new member must be a resident of District 5, which encompasses Sharon Heights, Sandhill and parts of West Menlo Park.
Those interested in serving had until 5 p.m. on Dec. 20 to submit an application to the city, a little over 24 hours before the council was scheduled to decide on an appointee at the special meeting Dec. 21.
At that meeting, nine of the eleven applicants answered questions from the council about their qualifications, local political decisions that they did and did not agree with, and their understanding of the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law that guarantees public access to local government meetings. Two of the eleven candidates were unavailable during their assigned interview slots. Another three people who had applied withdrew themselves from consideration prior to the meeting.
A majority of council members — Drew Combs, Cecilia Taylor and Betsy Nash — said that they did not have the time to make an educated decision, and wanted to continue the meeting.
As a result, the council will have only four members for the housing element study session set for tonight, Thursday, Dec. 22.
The new council member is expected to be appointed in time for the council’s vote on the housing element, a state-mandated plan for increasing housing development over the next eight years, which must be finalized and resubmitted by Jan. 31.
“The main levers as it relates to the housing element are already in place and are not changing,” Combs said. “So that horse has left the barn some time ago.”
He said those “main levers” are opportunity sites for new housing and zoning, and that “those decisions have already been made. Those things are already in place.”
Mueller did not plan to attend the Dec. 22 meeting but at the request of his council colleagues, said that he would attempt to prepare for it and contribute his thoughts so the council could benefit from five perspectives, rather than just four.
I find it unfathomable that the council members from district 1-4 feel its acceptable to exclude Ray Mueller, the council member from district 5, from participating in the nomination and selection of his replacement. Council member Mueller has served district 5 for 10 years and best knows the perspectives, goals, and priorities of the district.
We have 10 days until council member Mueller leaves office for his new role as county supervisor. I can’t envision any reason that the council can’t find an hour or two in the next 10 days to complete the process they publicly committed to do on Wednesday, but then changed their mind at the last minute during the meeting and with the process that they designed and agreed to, specifically to ensure that council member Mueller would participate.
If you’re a Menlo Park district 5 resident and feel that council member Mueller should participate in the selection of his replacement, please send an email to city.council@menlopark.gov and express your thoughts.
Can one imagine this Council excluding Cecilia Taylor and saying she wasn’t necessary to vote whom to appoint to represent District 1?
Of course not.
Mayor Wolosin and City Manager Murphy have been reaching out to the rest of the city council to schedule a special meeting to select the new D5 council member before Councilmember Mueller leaves office, and 3 city council members have affirmed their availability, 2 have said that they can’t participate. Which 2 councilmembers are unwilling to participate and why? Can the city council have a special session with just those 3 members so that Councilmember Mueller can participate in the nomination and selection of his successor?
Not only did the council not execute the process that they agreed to by selecting the replacement last Wednesday, they further reneged on their commitment to complete the process by the end of December as communicated to the candidates in the email from Judi Herren of Dec 20th. In that email, the following document was included (https://menlopark.gov/files/sharedassets/public/agendas-and-minutes/city-council/2022-meetings/agendas/20221221-city-council-special-agenda-packet.pdf#page=3) which stated on page D2.3:
“Should the City Council defer the appointment of a District 5 City Councilmember, by vote of the City Council, shall continue this agenda to a time and date certain. Potential meeting dates are:
• Thursday, December 22 at 6 p.m. (hybrid)
• Friday, December 23 at 6 p.m. (virtual only)
• Monday, December 26 at 6 p.m. (virtual only)
• Tuesday, December 27 at 6 p.m. (virtual only)”
Not including Councilmember Mueller in the selection of his successor is an insult to him, his years of service, and most importantly to all district 5 residents whose representative would be selected by no one elected to serve the district. All efforts should be taken to ensure Councilmember Mueller participates in this process.
Why is anyone surprised that Nash and Taylor are the blockers here.
Bothof them are obstructionists and MPK needs to rid ourselves of them…..
Roy