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The town of Woodside’s investigation into Town Manager Jason Ledbetter is complete, two months after he released a 14-page whistleblower report detailing allegations ranging from housing element malfeasance to discrimination among Town Council members.
The town enlisted a third-party attorney, David Stallard from Stallard Panebianco P.C., a workplace investigation firm, to review Ledbetter’s claims soon after the report was made public. Stallard’s investigation found that, out of Ledbetter’s 11 allegations, all but one had insufficient evidence to prove true. Only his allegation that Mayor Pro Tempore Paul Goeld told Ledbetter about closed session discussions on his hiring process was sustained.
“Town Council is determining what, if any, corrective action is warranted by the one sustained finding,” according to a press release issued by the town on April 24, The council is reviewing whether Ledbetter’s offer to take a buyout and resign — which came with a threat to make his report public — can serve as cause for dismissal. Until then, Ledbetter will remain on paid administrative leave.
Ledbetter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A second, separate investigation into Ledbetter’s allegations of violations of the state’s open meeting law is being conducted by the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
Days leading up to Ledbetter’s departure
Ledbetter was placed on paid administrative leave in mid-February, following a closed session council meeting on Feb. 18 in response to the release of his whistleblower report to council members and the town attorney the day before.
Public records obtained by The Almanac show that Ledbetter called Town Attorney Jean Savaree on Feb. 17 to inform her that he would be calling out sick for the whole week.
An email from Savaree sent to Town Council members details her conversation with Ledbetter. In it, Ledbetter said that he would be filing a whistleblower report and gave his settlement terms, which included a year’s worth of pay, continued medical benefits and accrued paid vacation.
A screenshot of a text message shows that Savaree attempted to call Ledbetter back to better understand his terms. Ledbetter responded, “Hold a closed session and I will discuss after that. My whistleblower report speaks for itself. I will cease communicating with you until you’ve held a closed session.”
The investigation’s findings
The report by Stallard states that nine witnesses were interviewed and documents including emails, text messages, photographs and video recording were reviewed for the investigation.
In it, Goeld admitted to telling Ledbetter that Councilmember Jenn Wall accused Goeld of gender discrimination during the hiring of Ledbetter as town manager. Due to his confession, the investigator found it was more likely than not that Goeld shared information about the closed session with Ledbetter.
In Ledbetter’s whistleblower report, he alleged that Wall was mistreating him due to his gender. He detailed frequent late night and weekend text messages, aggressive questioning over town matters and her alleged preference for the town to hire a female candidate as town manager.
The investigator found that “Wall’s denial of the allegation is more credible than Ledbetter’s account because documents and witness accounts corroborated that her actions were all related to town business.”
Ledbetter reported his complaints to the town attorney that he was being “bullied” by Wall. His allegations that Savaree did not take reasonable action also were not sustained in the investigation.
According to the report, witnesses said that Ledbetter “frequently vented about his relationship with Wall and was factually inaccurate in his belief that the prior town manager left due to Wall’s treatment.” Investigators reviewed Ledbetter’s digital diary, saying they found only detailed emotional responses rather than facts.
Allegations of councilmen’s sexist and racist language
The whistleblower report claimed that Goeld used derogatory terms to describe Palestinians and that he and Mayor Bryan Dombkowski made jokes about “goyim” during a dinner meeting with Ledbetter.
The investigator found that Goeld and Dombkowski’s accounts of the dinner support that it was “implausible” that the alleged derogatory terms, which included the N-word, were used in a public place by a public figure in an upscale restaurant. Ledbetter also did not mention these comments in his journal and witnesses shared that Goeld “did not speak in that fashion.”
Dombkowski told the investigator that he did not know what “goyim” meant prior to the complaint. The investigation report noted a decline in Ledbetter’s credibility after investigators noticed that he incorrectly pronounced “Ashkenazi” and there was no mention in his journal of the detailed comments cited in his whistleblower report.
The town’s investigation could not find enough evidence to support in Ledbetter’s claims that Dombkowski routinely made disparaging comments about Wall’s physical appearance. Three witnesses, including two who showed a bias against Dombkowski, said they have never heard him speak that way. There also were no mentions of the disparaging comments in Ledbetter’s journal, investigators said.
Housing project delays and ‘burying’ speed limit proposal
Ledbetter alleged that Dombkowski and Goeld both pressured him to delay housing projects in their districts in order to improve their reelection chances. Finding Ledbetter is a “less credible reporter” than Goeld, his accusations against the council members were not sustained, in light of the fact that the town council approved the housing element, a state-mandated blueprint for expanding housing production in Woodside at all affordability levels.
Ledbetter claimed that he was pressured by Dombkowski to delay work on a Raymundo Road housing project including in the approved housing element. He also alleged that Goeld asked him not to take any action to find a housing developer for the low-income housing site located on High Road.
But as witness interviews revealed that they heard in 2025 that Dombkowski was not seeking reelection this November and that the housing element lists the High Road development as its top deliverable, investigators determined there was not enough evidence to support Ledbetter’s claims.
Ledbetter also accused Dombkowski of pressuring him to “bury” a proposal to lower the speed limit on Woodside road during school hours in response to safety concerns. In February, the Woodside Town Council voted to approve sending a request to Caltrans to lower the speed limit in front of Woodside Elementary School to 15 MPH. Ledbetter’s report alleged that the mayor said a lower speed limit would affect his daily commute.
Dombkowski denied these accusations and witness interviews supported this, the town’s investigation found.
Other allegations made against Dombkowski include his having an aggressive manner toward Planning Commissioner Matt Garr and of sharing confidential closed session information with former Council member Chris Shaw were all found to have insufficient evidence.
According to the town, the investigation by the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office is still under way. In March, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said that it would be looking into Ledbetter’s claims of Brown Act violations. Ledbetter recently confirmed to The Almanac that he was interviewed by Wagstaffe’s team.
