HomeMy WebLinkAboutSeptember 24
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Town of Los Altos Hills
Community Relations Committee
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Parks and Recreation Building
1. Roll Call; Committee Membership
The meeting was called to order at exactly 7:00 PM by chairman Roy Woolsey, who thanked members for
arriving so promptly. Present: Members, Lana Einschlag, Karen Emerzian, Nena Price, Roy Woolsey.
Associate members, Ken Brown, Ron Knapp, Mehda Rishi.
It was noted that Medha Rishi and Ken Brown were appointed as associate members of the Committee at
the last meeting, and Committee members welcomed them to the Committee. Medha was appointed last
Thursday as a member of the Finance and Investment Committee. Ken, who used to be a member of the
Stanford band, was interested in beer selection, and discussed the matter with Ron Knapp during the meeting.
Roy Woolsey reported that Mansour Moussavian had submitted an e-mail of resignation from his position
as associate member of the Committee. All Committee members were disappointed with the news, and
expressed the feeling that Mansour had done a wonderful job over the years in organizing the ice cream
Sundays at the Town Picnic and in taking the lead on the Newcomer Welcoming reception last March, and that
his many contributions to the Committee would be missed.
Because there are a number of inactive associate members on the Committee roster, it was agreed that Roy
would put discussion of all associate members of the Committee on the agenda for the next Committee
meeting. Roy asked that associate members of the Committee who want to continue as associate members to
contact Roy before the next meeting so their names could be placed on the meeting agenda for reappointment.
2. Introduction of Members of the Public; Public Comment. None.
3. Review and Approval of Prior Committee Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the last meeting, prepared by Lew Jamison, were approved after making certain small changes.
The minutes of the special meeting on May 20, 2019 were also approved.
4. Report on September Committee Presentation to Council
Roy Woolsey distributed copies of the slides of the Committee’s annual report to Council, and reported on
his seven and a half minute presentation at the September Council meeting. Roy said his presentation included
a brief historical survey of the Committee and a summary of the very successful newcomer welcoming
reception last March as well as the Town Picnic. The presentation was followed with six minutes of comments
from Councilmembers in response to Roy’s request for direction from Council: It is good to have events to
attract newcomers and show them the various volunteer opportunities in Town, and to have so many residents
who want to volunteer, and we need to encourage the next generation of community volunteers at community
events. We should turn to the residents themselves for advice on events to organize, and then discuss with
Courtenay Corrigan as our Council Liaison any budget we may require for any new events. In response to a
question, Roy clarified how the Committee gets the newcomer names. Councilmembers expressed their
appreciation for all of the Committee’s effort, and Roy said he would give these comments to the Committee.
5. Review of Prior City Council Meetings. No report.
6. Report on Recent Town Activities. No report.
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7. Welcoming of Town Newcomers
Roy Woolsey reported that since the May Committee meeting, files for printing of newcomer welcoming
letter mailing labels were sent to Town Hall for mailing the welcoming letter from Council to the 15
newcomers to Town for the month of May, 14 for June, 13 for July and 7 for August, and for mailing of the
follow up welcoming letter from the Committee to the 5 newcomers to Town for the month of March, five for
April and 15 for the month of May. Letters were running a bit late because the garbage company was so busy
dealing with the transition to the new contract that submission of newcomer names was significantly delayed.
8. Los Altos Hills Town Picnic
Ron Knapp submitted his report on beverages and music for inclusion in the 2019 Town Picnic report. Roy
asked other subcommittee chairs to submit their reports so an overall report on the picnic could be compiled.
Roy will ask Sarah Robustelli for a table of budget and actual expenses for the picnic, to include in the report.
The Committee tentatively agreed that next year’s Town Picnic should be held on the usual date of the first
Sunday in June, which would be June 7, 2020. But given that attendance was somewhat lower this year than in
some recent past years, there was some discussion of whether the Picnic might be held on a Saturday rather
than a Sunday. It was agreed that members of the Committee would draft questions to ask Town residents that
could be part of a short article on planning for next year’s Picnic for the Our Town newsletter and submit them
to Roy. He will draft a short article by the October 3 deadline for the December issue of Our Town.
The Committee briefly discussed entertainment and other long lead items, and agreed that Sarah Robustelli
and Roger Burnell should be asked to do any appropriate research and provide possibilities for entertainment
for the 2020 Picnic that can be discussed in the next Committee meeting.
9. Nominations for Joint Community Volunteer Service Awards
Members were asked to think about who they might nominate for Volunteer Service Awards. Nominations
can be discussed further at the next Committee meeting.
10. Articles for December “Our Town” Issue
As noted above, Roy will use Committee input to draft a short article regarding planning for the next Town
Picnic and asking for resident input. Roy will ask Sarah Robustelli if she would like to draft a short article on
recent Town events, or if she knows someone else who would like to prepare an article. The Committee had no
other suggestions for articles for the next Town newsletter.
11. Additional Items or Contributions from Committee Members
Mehda Rishi led a discussion of TEDx, handing out information about this speaker program that is
intended to be intellectually stimulating and promote community engagement, and describing the program in
Union City that she organized before moving to Los Altos Hills. Mehda followed up with an e-mail to
Committee members containing a sample informational invite from the Union City event. A discussion of
possibly organizing a TEDx event in Town will be added to the agenda for the next Committee meeting.
12. Date for Next Meeting and Adjournment
The next Committee meeting will be October 22, 2019, the fourth Tuesday in October. The meeting was
adjourned at 8:14 PM
Minutes prepared by Roy Woolsey, September 25, 2019