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Menlo Park will continue to pay its planning commissioners a $200 monthly stipend after a 4-0 vote of the City Council at its March 11 meeting. Council member Cecelia Taylor was absent.
The pilot program began in February 2024, and will return to the council annually for review.
The city asked planning commissioners to provide feedback on the program, and most commissioners said that they appreciated the stipend as recognition. One commissioner commented that in lieu of a stipend, they would prefer investment in training, additional Menlo Park “swag” (e.g. T-shirts and jackets) and special recognition events.
Council members commented that the amount commissioners are paid may be too little to actually incentivize recruitment, with Council member Jeff Schmidt saying that “what’s left over after taxes can maybe buy you a cup of coffee.” But Mayor Drew Combs said that if the stipend makes commissioners feel more valued, it is worth continuing the program.
When the stipend pilot program was originally implemented, the council said that it hoped a stipend would help with recruitment and retention of commissioners.
The stipend only applies to planning commissioners and not any other advisory body member because “the council recognizes the proportionally higher legislative, technical and procedural demands placed upon the Planning Commission,” according to a staff report on the issue.
Paying planning commissioners costs the city $16,800 annually if all commission seats are filled.
Council members are paid $950 a month to represent their district. The Menlo Park Council members voted to increase the council’s monthly stipend from $640 monthly to the current amount — the first increase since the year 2000.
Menlo Park is currently trying to fill 16 vacancies across the city’s seven commissions — five on the Finance and Audit Commission, four on the Housing Commission, two on the Complete Streets Commission, two on the Parks and Recreation Commission, one on the Planning Commission, one on the Environmental Quality Commission and one on the Library Commission.
