HomeMy WebLinkAboutNovember 28
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Town of Los Altos Hills
Community Relations Committee
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Parks and Recreation Building
1. Roll Call; Committee Membership
The meeting was called to order at exactly 7:30 PM by Chairman, Roy Woolsey. Present: Roger
Burnell, Barbara Cannon, Lana Einschlag, Karen Emerzian, Mansour Moussavian, Nena Price, Roy
Woolsey. Associate member: Ron Knapp. Town Staff: Sarah Robustelli. Council Liaison: Courtenay
Corrigan. Roy Woolsey noted that Michael Schoendorf has missed four meetings in a row; Roy
suggested in an e-mail to Michael that he might convert to an associate member of the Committee.
2. Introduction of Any Members of the Public
Pat Lang, a member of the Environmental Initiatives Committee, participated in some discussion, and
was particularly interested in the neighborhood contact list and Neighborhood Network Program.
3. Review of Prior Committee Meeting Minutes
The minutes of the September 26 and October 24, 2017 meetings were approved as drafted.
4. Report on Meeting with Parks and Recreation Committee
Roy Woolsey summarized his attendance at part of the October 16, 2017 meeting of the Parks and
Recreation Committee. That committee listened to a presentation on dispute resolution by Paul L.
Schechter and also talked about the Los Altos Community Foundation Dispute Resolution program.
Community Relations Committee members thought that the Committee should not duplicate the Dispute
Resolution program, but rather see that the program is well publicized in the Our Town newsletter.
The Parks and Recreation Committee also discussed the idea of a neighborhood contact list that each
resident of Los Altos Hills would compile to meet neighbors and have emergency contact information.
Community Relations Committee members felt that not many town residents would do so, and there was
some concern about privacy. Roy related that one resident on his street collected and distributed contact
information to all residents on the street, and suggested that other streets could do the same.
5. Discussion of Reactivation of Neighborhood Network Program
Roy Woolsey, Sarah Robustelli and Roger Burnell reviewed the Community Relations Committee’s
Neighborhood Network program, including the 2009 effort led by Joan Sherlock and the relation of this
program to the original Safety Committee and to the CERT program. Joan’s proposal that was approved
by the Committee in 2009 was distributed to all Committee members. Several Committee members
expressed interest in having Joan attend the next Committee meeting and describe the program in greater
detail. The Committee will consider this matter further next meeting when hopefully Joan is available.
6. Review of Prior City Council Meetings
Courtenay Corrigan summarized several issues considered at the last City Council meeting, including
the matter of a separate zip code for Los Altos Hills, short term rentals, and leaf blowers. All Committee
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members are invited to the short December 14th Council meeting, after which there will be a reception for
the new Mayor.
7. Welcoming of Town Newcomers
Roy Woolsey reported that there were nine newcomers to Town in October. Since the names and
addresses were received late in November, Roy will combine them with November newcomers and
provide mailing labels for both months to Town Hall.
A draft follow-up welcoming letter prepared by Karen Emerzian and edited last month was reviewed
in detail by the Committee. The Committee agreed to a number of editorial changes, including indenting
each paragraph, changing the last clause in the fourth paragraph to read “…and you can look for us on
Facebook, NextDoor, Twitter and Instagram”, and removing all Committee member names to shorten the
letter. The Committee then unanimously approved the letter. Roy will provide it to the City Clerk with
mailing labels for names that received the first letter two months ago to receive this follow-up letter.
8. Los Altos Hills Town Picnic
Paper copies of the 2017 Town Picnic report, approved by the Committee in September, were
available for Committee members.
Sarah Robustelli discussed an alternative train for 16 to 24 people that she has tentatively reserved
for the 2018 Town Picnic; the Committee agreed it was very attractive and unanimously approved
placing a $780 contract for this train for the picnic. Roger Burnell reported that the pirate will be
available for the featured entertainment provided he can store his large pirate ship somewhere after the
picnic, because the pirate will be appearing at the San Mateo fair the week after. The Committee
unanimously approved hiring the pirate at the price of $1,500 for the 2018 Town Picnic. Sarah will
investigate storage at the Town corporation yard. After some discussion of the food at the Town Picnic,
including discussion of the nice barbecues the firefighters used to prepare, the Committee unanimously
approved having Mavericks prepare the food again, at an estimated cost of $18,000 for 2,000 people.
9. Discussion of Results of Event Survey
Updated results for the event survey were briefly reviewed. A corporate tour (Tesla, Facebook,
Google, etc.) was most popular, with half the respondents indicating an interest in that type of event.
Nena Price has a contact for a Tesla factory tour, and she will provide the contact information to Sarah
Robustelli who will look into arranging a factory tour.
10. Additional Items or Contributions from Committee Members
Sarah Robustelli summarized several forthcoming Town activities, including the December 3rd barn
lighting, December 21st caroling, January 27th chamber music concert and technology for seniors seminar.
11. Date for Next Meeting and Adjournment
The next meeting will be the fourth Tuesday in January, which is January 23, 2018. The meeting
was adjourned at 8:53 PM.
Minutes prepared by Roy Woolsey, December 3, 2017