City Council

The City Council is the city's governing body. In general municipal elections, its members are elected by district to four-year overlapping terms. The Mayor and Vice Mayor each serve one-year terms and are selected annually by the City Council at a meeting in December.

The Mayor, who represents the City of Menlo Park at ceremonial and public functions, also serves as the presiding officer of the City Council. 

Drew Combs

Mayor

  • Telephone650-924-1890
  • Email dcombs@menlopark.gov
  • ProfileDrew Combs was elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022 to represent District 2. This current term ends in December 2026.

    Office hours are Saturdays from 9 -10 a.m. at Café Zoe (1929 Menalto Ave.)

Betsy Nash

Vice Mayor

  • Telephone650-380-3986
  • Email bnash@menlopark.gov
  • ProfileBetsy Nash was elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022 to represent District 4. This current term ends in December 2026.

    Office hours are available by appointment. Please send me an email.

Jeff Schmidt

City Councilmember

  • Email jdschmidt@menlopark.gov
  • ProfileJeff Schmidt was elected in 2024 to represent District 3. This current term ends in December 2028.

    Office hours are Saturdays from 9 -10 a.m. at Cafe Borrone (1010 El Camino Real).

Cecilia Taylor

City Councilmember

  • Telephone650-589-5073
  • Email cttaylor@menlopark.gov
  • ProfileCecilia Taylor was elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022 to represent District 1. This current term ends in December 2026.

    Office hours are available by appointment. Please send me an email.

Jennifer Wise

City Councilmember

  • Email jnwise@menlopark.gov
  • ProfileJennifer Wise was elected in 2024 to represent District 5. This current term ends in December 2028.

    Office hours are Tuesday mornings 8 - 9:15 a.m. at Woodside Bakery in Sharon Heights (325 Sharon Park Dr.)

Contact the City Council

To express your comments and opinions about a topic, you can contact the entire City Council (and senior staff).

Please note: All communications to the City Council and/or city staff are public records subject to the California Public Records Act. Emails sent to this address are provided to the local media and are posted on the city's website for public viewing. The email address of the sender is not disclosed on the website for security purposes. However, information contained in the body of the email, including personal contact information, can be viewed and retrieved through a search. Each City Councilmember also directly receives email sent to this address.

This feature is designed to allow public viewing of emails sent to the entire City Council. The process by which emails sent to the City Council are posted on this site is automated. Sometimes formatting within the body of the email is lost during this automated process, making messages harder to read. Typically, formatting is easier to preserve if formatted materials are sent as attachments rather than in the body of the email. However some viewers of this City Council email site may have difficulty opening attachments.

It is the city's practice to remove SPAM (unsolicited bulk email) from the City Council email log. If you believe your email has been removed in error, please contact the City Manager's Office.

You can view the City Council email log online.

City Council districts

You can view the City’s current city council districts and look up your city council representative using our interactive map.

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Council-Manager form of government

The video below highlights the value that professional local government management brings to our communities. For more information, visit the International City/County Management Association website.

Meetings, agendas, minutes and videos

Meetings are generally held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month and start at 6 p.m. with special meetings scheduled as needed. All meetings currently held virtually (online). The City Council meeting schedule(PDF, 131KB) is published in January each year.

Participate in meetings

Join meetings using the link on the published agenda and the citywide calendar.

Agendas, minutes and videos

The city website provides meeting agendas, minutes and videos for public review. For regular meetings, agendas will be posted no later than 72 hours in advance; agendas for special meetings will be posted no later than 24 hours in advance. Meeting minutes are available following approval. Videos are typically posted within 24 hours after the meeting.