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Menlo Park Complete Streets Commission elects new chair and agrees to streamline 2026–27 work plan
Summary
The commission voted unanimously to make Sally Cole chair and Meredith Bergen‑Bailey vice chair and directed staff to return a streamlined, higher‑level work plan that keeps a separate, fluid project list and retains language about the pilot development‑project review for Council consideration.
The Menlo Park Complete Streets Commission elected Commissioner Sally Cole as chair and Commissioner Meredith Bergen‑Bailey as vice chair in a unanimous voice vote during its meeting.
Staff described chair and vice‑chair duties, which include agenda‑setting meetings with the staff liaison and occasional Council presentations. Commissioners self‑nominated and confirmed the nominations by voice vote.
The commission then spent substantial time reviewing the draft 2026–27 work plan presented by Senior Transportation Planner Katrina Mackey. Commissioners questioned whether top‑level wording should retain the Commission’s remit to provide input on transportation aspects of development projects — a responsibility reflected in prior City Council direction and currently in effect as a one‑year pilot that staff said will be reported to Council in September.
“Because the Council approved a pilot to have the Commission review certain development projects for one year, I think that language should remain until Council decides otherwise,” one commissioner said during the discussion.
Commissioners compared the commission’s long, project‑detailed work plan with shorter templates used by other Menlo Park commissions and reached general agreement to streamline the official document. The consensus direction to staff was to:
• Keep a concise, stable statement of core duties (including encouraging public engagement and onboarding new commissioners), • Move detailed, changeable project lists into a separate or annexed document for internal tracking, and • Return a redlined draft and staff report for Council consideration (the staff report will accompany the work plan on the August Council agenda; the pilot informational report is scheduled for September).
Staff said they will prepare a redline and a light staff report for the commission to review at the next meeting. No formal amendment of the work plan was adopted at this meeting.
The commission also accepted the April 8 meeting minutes after discussion about how minutes should distinguish between consensus statements and individual commissioner suggestions; a voice vote recorded ayes from three named commissioners for the acceptance motion.
