The Woodside Town Council ushered in Chris Shaw as Woodside's mayor for 2023, while it said goodbye to Sean Scott, whose council seat will not be on the ballot until 2024 due to redistricting.

The Town Council voted in Shaw, who was next in line for mayor, to the role during a Tuesday, Dec. 13, meeting. The council chose Jenn Wall for the mayor pro tem position at the same meeting.

"While we're shuffling here I would like to speak on behalf of all of the patience from my wife over the last 12 months," said outgoing Mayor Dick Brown. "Who's put up with an awful lot of sleepless nights on my part that I'm sure kept her awake. And a lot of talking about issues that she had no idea what I was talking about, but I talked about them because it had to do with the town."

The Town Council, which is currently a seven-member body, is making the move to five members when it switches from the old "from-district" to a "by-district" elections system which began on Nov. 8.

The council now stands at six members after Paul Goeld was sworn into a two-year term on Dec. 13 to replace the vacancy in District 4 left by John Carvell, who resigned on July 1. Goeld previously served on the council from 1999 to 2007.

The council swore in Dick Brown (District 3) and Dombkowski (District 2), who ran for office this fall. Brown ran uncontested, while Dombkowski faced off against two other candidates.

Scott, who now lives in District 1 and joined the council in 2018, which will be on the ballot in 2024. He could choose to run then, but he wasn't eligible for any of the seats on the ballot this November, according to Town Manager Kevin Bryant.

Shaw, a lifelong equestrian who has founded several health care startups, has been a Woodside resident since 1994, according to his bio on town website. He was first elected to the council in 2015, and this will be his second time as mayor after serving the same role in 2018.

Wall, an attorney who moved to Woodside in 2012, joined the council during an uncontested election in 2020, according to her town bio. Before joining the council, she was a Planning Commissioner, and has also served as a member of the Circulation Committee, according to The Almanac's archives.

Listen to a recording of the meeting here.