Featured - page 97

A person was fatally struck by a southbound Caltrain at the Main Street crossing in Redwood City just before 4 p.m.

The incident involved Train No. 156. None of the over 400 passengers were injured.

It marked the 11th Caltrain-related fatality this year.

The victim’s identity has not yet been released.

Terence T. Kyaw has been named the new Public Works Services Director of Redwood City, the city announced Monday.

The 26-year veteran of the department has been the acting Public Works director since June.

“With his education and experience, TK is well-grounded in the breadth of Redwood City’s Public Works operations, and has developed strong working relationships with Public Works staff and the community,” City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz said in a statement. “TK is solutions oriented, values collaboration and is committed to continuous improvement and staff development. His appointment will serve the City well now and into the future as we move forward with several major capital investments to support the community’s infrastructure needs.”

The Public Works Services Department maintains the City’s water, sewer, storm drain, trees and sidewalks, and streets infrastructure, and supports the city’s environmental initiatives and programs. Kyaw began his career in public works, working his way up from an equipment services worker to fleet manager before becoming the assistant director in 2012, according to the city.

“I look forward to building upon an already strong relationship with the local community to support public works operations, furthering staff training and professional development and providing the best value and quality of services to our customers,” Kyaw said in the city’s statement.

For more information about the Redwood City Public Works Services Department click here.

The Redwood City Council approved salary increases for the city manager and city attorney on Monday.

In a council vote that was unanimous among the present councilmembers, with members Diane Howard and Shelly Masur absent, City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz received a 5.86 percent salary bump, increasing her annual salary to $295,006.

City Attorney Veronica Ramirez received a 5 percent increase, growing her annual salary to $251,606. Ramirez also received a one-time bonus of 5 percent, or $11,981, for “exceptional performance,” city staff said.

The increases are part of an annual evaluation of council-appointed positions timed with the employees’ annual performance evaluation, according to the city. Both Ramirez, who has served as City Attorney since 2016, and Diaz, who began as City Manager in 2015, received salary increases last year, according to city documents.

“Salary adjustments are made with consideration given to employee performance, total compensation relative to the City’s survey market of benchmark cities, and the current financial conditions of the City,” according to city staff.

On social media, community members challenged whether raises for top-paid city staff make sense given the city’s budget woes. The city just pushed for, and passed, a half-cent sales tax in the Nov. 6 election to plug projected city budget deficits. The expected shortfalls are in large part due to growing public employee pension costs, a crisis affecting cities statewide.

No members of the public spoke at Monday’s council meeting to oppose the salary increases.

In terms of salary comparisons to other city managers in California,  Diaz’s total compensation in 2017, including base pay and benefits, ranked 43rd on a list of 571 California jurisdictions, and third highest among San Mateo County cities. Diaz’s compensation was less, and in some cases substantially less, than managers of 17 California cities that are comparable in population or have fewer citizens than Redwood City (population 86,380). They include Palo Alto (69,721), where the city manager made $327,692 in total compensation and South San Francisco (67,082, $333,018).

Here are the 2017 total compensation comparisons for the city managers in San Mateo County below, courtesy of the State Controller’s office.

If you need more time to read that library book or watch the movie you’ve checked out, San Mateo County Libraries is now providing it to patrons through a newly launched Automatic Renewals system.

All eligible items will automatically renew one day before the due date. The new system aims to help patrons avoid overdue fines.

San Mateo County Libraries along with city libraries (such as those in Redwood City) and the Peninsula Library System now offer automatic renewals on checked out items unless patrons owe fines over $15.

Those who entered an email account into the library system will receive a notification that lists which items were successfully renewed and which were not, if applicable. Patrons will continue to receive pre-overdue notices for checked out items.

Items deemed not eligible for automatic renewal are those that are on hold for other patrons, those that have reached their renewal limit (each city or college library system has their own renewal limit), non-traditional items and devices and items that have already expired.

A Redwood City Council transition event set for Monday, Dec. 10 will say farewell to outgoing councilmembers and to swear in new members.

The event will begin at 6:15 p.m. with a reception celebration with refreshments at City Hall, 1017 Middlefield Rd.

Outgoing councilmembers Jeff Gee and John Seybert will be recognized for their service. Newcomers Giselle Hale and Diana Reddy, along with incumbent Diane Howard, were top three vote-getters in the Nov. 6 election, which saw tremendous voter turnout.

The council meeting will follow the transition event.

*This story has been corrected to fix a typo in an outgoing councilmember’s name.

No one was injured, thankfully, when a vehicle was accidentally driven into a home on Elm Street near Magnolia Avenue in San Carlos about 5:19 p.m. Sunday, according to the Redwood City Fire Department, which posted this above photo on its Instagram account.

Both the building and car suffered damages.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known.