Addendum.Item #17 - Rescission of Planning Commissioner Clark Censure
Reviewed by: Town Manager, Finance Director and Community Development Director
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● (408) 354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: 04/18/2023 ITEM NO: 17 ADDENDUM
DATE: April 17, 2023
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: Gabrielle Whelan, Town Attorney
SUBJECT: Rescission of Planning Commissioner Censure
REMARKS:
Attachment 3 contains public comments received before 11:01 a.m., Monday, April 17, 2023.
Attachments Received with the Staff Report:
1. Email to HCD
2. Letter from ACLU
Attachments Received with this Addendum:
3. Public Comments
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
From: jvannada
Sent: Monday, April 17, 2023 11:00 AM
To: Town Manager <Manager@losgatosca.gov>; Gabrielle Whelan <GWhelan@losgatosca.gov>; Maria
Ristow <MRistow@losgatosca.gov>; Mary Badame <MBadame@losgatosca.gov>; Rob Moore; Rob
Rennie <RRennie@losgatosca.gov>; Matthew Hudes <MHudes@losgatosca.gov>; Wendy Wood
<WWood@losgatosca.gov>
Cc: Phil Koen; Rick Van Hoesen
Subject: Town Council Meeting 4-18-23 Item 17
[EXTERNAL SENDER]
Dear Ms. Wood, please include this in the packet for the Council meeting of 4-18-23.
We take issue with the statement that Ms Clark made that she was speaking as a
citizen, not as a Planning Commissioner.
In her last paragraph, she says the following:
“I wanted to make y’all aware of this and to see if you would be able to support our
town in any way. We put a lot of work into our General Plan and these are very
strong elements.”
In this sentence, that is a strong indication that this is a knowledgeable Planning
Commissioner speaking. She said “WE” put a lot of work into our General Plan. If
she was speaking truly as a citizen and not a commissioner, would she not have said
“They”? There were likely to have been no citizens that attended all of the meetings;
spoke nor wrote letters at the meetings. "We" were the Planning Commissioners
she is referring to.
When you join any commission, you don’t get a “bye” because
of your age, your tenure, a slip of the tongue; nor should you
get a “bye” due to your friendships on the Council nor the
staff. In reviewing the text’s sent by staff, Council, and past
Councilmembers, they are undoubtedly sympathetic to Ms. Clark’s
wanting the censure removed. But her letter proves she was
speaking as a commissioner, not a commissioner speaking as a
private citizen.