Woodside council names Yost as new mayor

The Woodside Town Council chose council members Daniel Yost and Ned Fluet to serve as the new mayor and mayor pro tempore, respectively, at a meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 11.

Fluet, who won the election for the District 7 seat in November, was elected mayor pro tempore by a unanimous vote after a nomination from Yost.

Yost, still in his first term, was elected to the council in 2015.

The council member elected mayor pro tempore is typically next in line to be mayor, so Fluet is likely to become mayor after only a year on the council.

The mayor and mayor pro tem are ceremonial positions in that they manage council meetings, but they also set agendas for the council meetings in coordination with the town manager.

The seven-member Woodside council is in the unusual position of having four new members along with its three veterans: Yost; Chris Shaw, who was mayor in 2018; and Tom Livermore, who was mayor in 2017.

Yost nominated Fluet in part because he chaired a Town Council advisory committee – the Conservation And Environmental Health Committee – and because he faced opposition in his bid for election, whereas newly elected councilmen Dick Brown, Brian Dombkowski and Sean Scott all ran unopposed.

Yost explained his choice: “While I don’t begrudge anyone (who) ran unopposed – because I had that favorable position in time – I can tell from watching (Fluet), and (former) mayor Shaw before him, that it takes an extra effort to run a campaign and that should be acknowledged.”