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Following a year marked by passionate debates over housing in Menlo Park, the Menlo Park City Council completed its annual reorganization, selecting Betsy Nash as the city’s new mayor. She succeeds Councilmember Drew Combs, who has served as mayor since December 2024.
In Menlo Park, the mayor’s role is largely procedural. The mayor presides over City Council meetings, helps guide discussion and works with the city manager to set meeting agendas. The position does not carry veto authority or additional voting power.
Beyond running meetings, the mayor serves as the city’s official representative for ceremonial purposes and is typically consulted when the city issues press releases that include City Council statements, according to the city’s procedures manual. The mayor also signs ordinances and other official documents adopted by the council. Nash, who served as vice mayor before her new role, was the mayor in 2022 as well.
The vice mayor typically becomes mayor at the conclusion of their term. The council selected Councilmember Jennifer Wise as vice mayor for the coming year during the reorganization meeting on Dec. 9. Wise is one of two new councilmembers and represents District 5. The mayor and vice mayor are selected by a majority vote of the City Council each December and serve one-year terms.
The other new councilmember is Jeff Schmidt, who represents District 3. While the City Council did not publicly discuss its reasoning for selecting Wise over Schmidt, Nash noted that a District 5 representative has not served as mayor since Ray Mueller in 2019, while the most recent mayor from District 3 was Jen Wolosin in 2023.
Combs said highlights of his term included traveling to Galway, Ireland — Menlo Park’s sister city — and presiding over impassioned meetings during discussions of the city’s housing element implementation.
“My kids don’t know any reality other than me going to city meetings,” Combs said. “This service is at times fun. It certainly has its challenges. But what I hope they’ve seen is that anything worth being a part of, anything that is of value, is also worth sacrificing for.”
“You often have a different perspective on things, and I think it really does add to our conversations and push, certainly me and I think all of us, to look at things slightly differently,” Nash said to Combs during the meeting.
Combs has been the sole dissenting vote on several City Council decisions.
“While I know a lot of the comments tonight are about what I’ve done for Menlo Park in my time, I am appreciative of all that I feel Menlo Park has done for me,” Combs said.
“What I hope is that this place is not better because of my time here, but that it is impacted and further appreciates the diversity of opinion that makes it special,” he added.
Nash takes on the mayoral role as the council continues to navigate housing debates that dominated much of the past year. In November, residents will vote on whether to require a citywide vote on redeveloping the downtown Menlo Park parking lots.
