Woodside Glens resident named to Town Council Woodside Glens resident named to Town Council (September 14, 2005)

** Ron Romines is an attorney who's active in Woodside civic affairs.

By Andrea Gemmet

Almanac Staff Writer

A shorthanded Woodside Town Council last week chose longtime Woodside Glens resident Ron Romines to join its ranks and serve the remaining two years left on former District 1 councilman Dave Tanner's four-year term.

Mr. Tanner resigned last month because he is moving out of his district, and is currently running unopposed for the District 4 council seat in the November election. That seat is now held by Joe Putnam.

Mr. Romines was among three applicants interviewed at a special September 6 Town Council meeting. A fourth applicant, Matt Shanks, asked that his name be withdrawn from consideration.

Mr. Romines won the vote of four of the six council members: Sue Boynton, Deborah Gordon, Carroll Ann Hodges and Pete Sinclair.

Mayor Paul Goeld cast his vote for applicant Susan Doherty, and Councilman Joe Putnam supported applicant Darrell Batchelder.

Mr. Romines is a Palo Alto-based attorney specializing in mediation and collaborative process. He has lived in the Glens since 1972 and has a long record of civic involvement.

He said he understood that council members have the sometimes lonely task of balancing individual needs with the future good of the town as a whole.

"People want to build their dream homes," he said. "There will be constant pressure for ever-increasing and intense uses of our town. The council really stands as the body that has to take the long view."

He said one of the most important issues facing the Glens is its infrastructure.

"It's a very intensively populated part of town with a very inadequate infrastructure, particularly in reference to ... fire danger," Mr. Romines said. "And not only in the Glens. I think it's true town-wide. The town faces such tremendous potential for disaster."

Mr. Romines said he would work to address those problems as a council member.

He said he had considered running for a council seat at various times over the years, but now with his children grown and his career stable, he has the opportunity to do so.

Mr. Romines is a past member of the Woodside Recreation Commission and the R-1 Committee, a precursor to the Woodside Glens Specific Plan Committee, which he chaired. He is also a team leader with his CERPP emergency-preparedness neighborhood group.

He said he is very familiar with issues that come before town officials, not only from his past commission and committee work, but also because he is the spouse of a former planning commissioner.
Appoint or elect?

At the meeting, council members spent a great deal of time deliberating whether they ought to fill the vacant council seat with an appointment or leave it open and let the voters decide in a special election next April. Ultimately, with the encouragement of several speakers in the audience, they decided to appoint Mr. Romines for the next 27 months.

By holding off until the next regularly scheduled municipal election in November 2007, Woodside avoids a special election in April that would have drained an estimated $20,000 from town coffers.

Mr. Romines was sworn in at the end of the meeting and immediately took his seat on the council dais. The next regular meeting of the town council is set for Tuesday, September 27.

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