Honorable Mayor Taylor and Council Members:
With the blink of an eye, the long standing Menlo Park SISTER CITY COMMITTEE, consisting of seven members, was voted unanimously to be DISSOLVED at your Tuesday, November 10, 2020 City Council meeting. On this item, there was NO discussion, very little notice and appearing on the CONSENT CALENDAR. Despite formal Agreements with cities in Ireland, Japan, China and India, no LEGAL analysis was made,. The decision to dissolve the Committee appears to be unilateral, with NO advance notice and discussion, the Committee was over, terminated and gone. INSTEAD, the motion included the hope, aspiration and desire for a 501(c)3 NON PROFIT organization to be set up. Until it does, there appears to be a VOID. Who's minding the store in the event a dignitary arrives at our doorstep, such as the MAYOR from GALWAY, IRELAND that has traveled to Menlo Park for many years to help celebrate St. Patrick's Day? There are at least two existing 501(c)3 organizations in the city that may have had an interest in being a part of the solution. One of them is the Menlo Park Historical Association (MPHA) with an active eleven member Board of Directors that meet monthly. A LETTER was submitted to the Council on this topic. Why was it not mentioned at the time this topic was on the agenda? Personally, the issue should have been continued so that an opportunity for greater INPUT from interested members of the community could have been made. That opportunity is now gone. The nail has been set in the coffin.
