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Newcomer Jason Ledbetter has big shoes to fill in taking over the position as Woodside’s new town manager. Aug. 15 marks his third month in town and he’s already diving deep into Woodside’s unique community and culture.
Hailing from the city of Yreka, Ledbetter has 25 years of experience working in local government and private industry. In his previous role as the city manager, he focused on preparing for fire, making sure the city had the water it needed and working to assure Yreka was financially secure.Now, he hopes to use his skills to address the community concerns and priorities of the town of Woodside.
Embracing the community
While in Yreka, Ledbetter noticed that “volunteerism was dying,” across the city and the United States, but he said Woodside is bucking the trend. With 11 volunteer committees, Ledbetter said the community-oriented culture was one aspect of Woodside that stood out to him.
He sees the existing volunteerism and public engagement as a positive that will have long term benefits for the community. Ledbetter calls this “one of the beauties of Woodside.”
“It truly is kind of the old school world of the community managing their own institution, which not a lot of other locations have time for,” he said.
In his first three months as town manager, he turned to the community and staff to learn more about the town, he said.
“I purposefully came here wanting to overindulge myself in assimilating,” Ledbetter said. “My focus was engaging with as many groups of people as possible.”
Over the past few months, Ledbetter maintained an open door philosophy, encouraging residents to reach out to him, schedule meetings and pushing himself to quickly broaden his knowledge on all things Woodside. He also welcomed all staff members to get to know him and took his time to meet individuals recommended to him by the council.
Top concerns: fire, storms, pedestrian safety
Coming from Siskiyou County in rural Northern California, Ledbetter is familiar with emergency preparedness and fire risk. After hearing about various concerns from the Woodside community, Ledbetter said that fire danger, hazard mitigation and atmospheric rivers should be the focus of a strategic initiative for the town.
“People enjoy Woodside because of the countryside aspect of it but the rural qualities don’t lead to preparedness very well when it comes to (evacuation),” he said.
In the next month, Ledbetter announced that there will be a vegetation removal contract presented to the council. The contract with the Woodside Fire Protection District will ensure that there are maintained efforts to remove vegetation along roads that serve as emergency outlets and are in areas of high egress and ingress.
Ledbetter also hopes to work on the town’s Storm Water Master Plan to evaluate what infrastructure improvements are needed to prevent flooding and other hazards during storms.
During his daily walks to Roberts Market and the Village Bakery, Ledbetter said it didn’t take him too long to notice the issues around pedestrian safety in Town Center.
“One of the things that we really have to focus on in Woodside is that there’s just a desire for more pedestrian safety and more opportunities for pedestrians to engage downtown,” Ledbetter said. “It goes hand-in-hand with the young families that want their children to be able to access the school on a pathway in the morning as safely as possible.”
Town Center has become a throughway for joyrides by bikers and drivers who pass through Woodside for “entertainment” and “leisure” which can cause increased traffic and unsafe driving, said Ledbetter. In order to make the area safe, he believes that there needs to be more pedestrians, families and community members using Town Center and setting the tone for what’s appropriate. He hopes to incorporate this into the Town Center Area Plan update.
Setting priorities
A compliant housing element and an upcoming update to theTown Center Area Plan leaves Ledbetter with a lot of projects to prioritize. There’s about “100 deliverables within the housing element that have to happen” and a capital improvement project list that the town has prioritized, he said.
“There (are) always too many items and not enough capacity,” he added.
As the town manager, Ledbetter’s daily routine involves evaluating the projects that the town has committed to, prioritizing certain actions and driving projects forward. Many residents will approach the town with their concerns and Ledbetter will always listen, but he said that he will always be honest about what he and the town can do.
“Nobody understands where tax dollars go and that’s an issue,” said Ledbetter, who explained that local communities often assume that all taxes are concentrated at the local level.
According to Ledbetter, 1.25% of sales tax and 10% of property tax go to the town — the rest goes to the state and county. That revenue is supplemented by grants.
Residents often come to Town Hall with requests for road improvements, crosswalks and town events such as farmers markets, but with priorities on other projects, these requests cannot always be fulfilled right away. Especially with the town’s narrow and winding mountain roads, poorly paved roadways are often a concern.
Although he understands the community’s frustrations around the lack of progress or action on certain projects, he wants residents to know that there is a long pathway to improvement. Certain projects involve traffic studies, evaluations and preparations that are necessary before actions can be taken.
Among these priorities, Ledbetter is also committed to maintaining Woodside’s history and bucolic nature. While he may face pressure from the state about housing, he’s confident that the town will be able to meet obligations and still maintain the character of the community.
“I do take it very seriously … to maintain Woodside’s rural characteristics and its magical qualities that attract people to Woodside,” he said. “It’s a really enjoyable community to come into and it’s my job to make sure that we maintain aspects of the incorporation of 1956 — open space, country roads, equestrian culture.”
