Adam Wolff Out as Town Manager; Council Launches Investigation Into Closed Sessions

Tonight's agenda carries the biggest personnel shake-up Corte Madera has seen in years. The Council is set to adopt Resolution No. 38/2026, formally accepting Town Manager Adam Wolff's resignation under Municipal Code Section 2.12.240 and his December 7, 2022 employment agreement, and appointing Adam Politzer as Interim Town Manager under a new employment agreement.

The same meeting includes a second amendment to Wolff's existing employment agreement (Resolution 37/2026) — details of which aren't spelled out in the agenda — alongside a separate and pointed item: a legal services agreement with A.W. Blan Workplace Legal Services to conduct an independent investigation. That resolution also asks the Council to grant a limited waiver of the Brown Act's confidentiality rules so that meeting attendees can share what was discussed in closed sessions held on May 20, 2026 and August 11, 2026 with the investigator.

The agenda doesn't spell out what triggered the investigation, but the timing — landing on the same night as Wolff's resignation and a rewritten employment agreement — suggests the two are connected. No public comments were submitted on these items ahead of the meeting; readers should expect more detail once the resolutions are voted on and any related closed-session findings become public.

Council to Weigh Toughest Version of Tobacco and Nicotine Sales Ban

The Council will hold a public hearing tonight on an ordinance to end all retail sale of tobacco and nicotine products in Corte Madera, repealing and replacing Chapter 5.06 of the Municipal Code. Staff's recommendation is to conduct the hearing and introduce the ordinance. Late correspondence shows the fight is over which version to adopt: 'Option 1B,' the strongest draft, contains no exemptions for any product or retailer type.

“This is elitist, nanny-state, governmental over-reach, with negative impacts on some of our fellow residents and businesses. Right intent, wrong approach. Vote NO.”— Chris White, Corte Madera resident since 1990

Public health voices lined up firmly behind 1B. Dr. John Maa, a past president of the San Francisco Marin Medical Society, urged the Council to 'waive further reading and introduce version 1B,' and groups including the Public Health Institute's Prevention Policy Group, Parents Against Vaping, and a former national tobacco-policy director all wrote in with the same ask.

Not everyone agreed. Some residents argued the town should let its existing tobacco rules bed in before writing new ones, and at least one longtime resident called the proposal overreach that would hurt local businesses and residents who rely on them.

Neighbors Press Town Over Locked Gate Blocking 1906 Paper-Road Easement

The Alta Woods Preservation Group is asking the Town to take a stand on a decades-old obstruction: a locked fence at 800 Corte Madera Avenue that blocks what the group says is a public walking corridor recorded on the 1906 Chapman Park subdivision map along Alta Way.

“We believe the Town should now provide a clear direction regarding the locked obstruction.”— Karen Lorentson & Brenda Brown, Alta Woods Preservation Group

The group's five-part ask is specific: formally recognize Chapman Park property owners' private easement rights over the corridor, investigate whether the fence was ever legally authorized, require it be replaced with an unlocked, self-closing trail gate meeting Marin County Open Space District standards with public signage, avoid any settlement or permit action on the property that would extinguish the easement, and get copies of any related agreements, permits, or studies.

No staff recommendation or Council response has been posted yet, but the group's letter signals it intends to keep pressing the issue until the Town acts.