City Manager Update
Daniel Barros, City Manager
Each New Year gives us time to pause and reflect on the past year, to chart a new course for the upcoming year (along with a fresh New Year Resolution), and to embrace the changes that a new year brings. Your Town government is no different – staff and the City Council undergo the same period of reflection as well.
At the Council level, the most significant changes occur at the December City Council reorganization. During this annual event a new Mayor and Vice Mayor are appointed by the Council as a whole. Unlike some larger cities, Colma does not directly elect a Mayor – your Mayor is appointed by her/his peers on the Council. Vice Mayor Carrie Slaughter was appointed as the new Mayor and Council Member Helen Fisicaro was appointed as the Vice Mayor at our December 9, 2025 City Council Reorganization.
Also upcoming for 2026 is the addition of a new City Council Subcommittee. At the December 10 City Council Meeting, Council approved the formation of the Culture and Arts Committee (CAC) to help support key initiatives within the Town’s Strategic Plan. Culture and Arts serve as living reflections of a town’s history, preserving the stories, traditions, and values that shaped its identity. Through local art, music, and festivals, communities celebrate their heritage while keeping it vibrant for future generations. Historic architecture, public murals, and performances connect people to their shared past, creating pride and belonging. As the Town evolves, the arts help bridge old and new, inspiring innovation rooted in tradition.
The Culture and Arts Committee will meet at Town Hall on the second Tuesday of each even numbered month at 3:30 PM beginning on February 10, 2026. These meetings are open to public and public participation is welcome and encouraged in these discussions.
Happy New Year 2026
Brad Donohue, Director of Planning & Public Works
On behalf of the Town of Colma’s Engineering, Public Works, Planning and Building Departments, we would like to wish everyone a Happy, Healthy and very Prosperous New Year!
The department is undertaking several high-profile projects that we believe will not only enhance the visual appearance of our roadways throughout the Town but will also provide higher levels of safety for those who walk, bike and use public transportation to navigate throughout the Town. To highlight a few of the projects that are in various stages of design; the redesign of Hillside Boulevard from Serramonte Boulevard to Lawndale Boulevard, El Camino Real from the Colma BART Station to Arlington Drive in South San Francisco, Serramonte Boulevard from Junipero Serra Boulevard to El Camino Real. All these projects are in various stages of design, they all have common themes that will be incorporated into the design, accessibility for all that walk, bike or other modes of transportation, safety, traffic calming, healthy and sustainable landscaping. The success of these projects will need community input from both residential and business communities. Staff will work with City Council to have public forums to gather the community’s perspectives and input on these various projects during various phases of the design. This is an exciting time of change, projects like this can change the image of Colma going forward, we so look forward to working with you soon.
Keeping up with the needs of the environment always proves to be challenging. I believe we can all say we want a trash free world, clean water and air, but this takes work. My departments have taken on the challenge and as a group we have made great strides in perfecting our work efforts, yielding positive results. I would also like to acknowledge our commercial and residential communities; we have seen great progress in positive lifestyle changes that give us hope that our environment little by little is improving. One example, as a group we are using less water and that was demonstrated by the Town sponsored water conservation program, through water conservation efforts, the Town was able to grant back to property owners that conserved water during the year a rebate on their annual sanitary sewer charge. If you would like to know more about this program, please feel free to contact our Public Works Department 650-75-7-8888.
As always, I would be amiss if I did not thank our Maintenance Crew, Louis Gotelli, Vicente Gonzalez and Ryan Rodriguez for the work that they have produced over the last year. They do a fantastic job of keeping our facilities up and running, streets and drainage systems operational and landscaping looking good!
On behalf of the Public Works and Planning Departments thank you for all your efforts in making Colma a great place to work and live. If we can be of any assistance in the future, please don’t hesitate to call or drop by, we are here to serve you!
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