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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAugust 23Community Relations Committee Draft Meeting Minutes August 23, 2011 Page 1 TOWN OF LOS ALTOS HILLS Community Relations Committee Tuesday, August 23, 2011, 7:30PM Los Altos Hills Town Hall - Parks & Recreation Center 1. Roll Call: (Underline those who are present) Meeting called to order (time): 7:30pm CRC Members: Roger Burnell Co-Chair, Kathy Evans Co-Chair, Barbara Cannon, Karen Emerzian, Ron Knapp, Jamie Lucia, Joan Sherlock, Barbara Waldeck, Roy Woolsey. (There is 1 committee opening) Quorum=4 Associate Members: Bill Downey, Bob Mabe, Linda Seidel, Marc Sidel (Terms are for 1 year and are confirmed at the beginning of each year in January) Town Staff Liaison: Sarah Gualtieri. Town Council Liaison: John Radford. 2.Selection of Session Secretary - (Position rotates alphabetically). Following the ABC order; Ron Knapp – May, Kathy Evans – June, No meeting in July, Barbara Cannon – August, Jamie Lucia - September, Joan Sherlock – October, Barbara Waldeck – November, No December meeting, Roy Woolsey – January. 3. Public Comment (Items not on the Agenda): Members of the Public present: _____Davena Gentry – Acterra Presentation on High Energy Homes and a new program that the Town is sponsoring to help residents get their energy bill down. There is a web sign on process and then energy tracking and an audit. From this they will make recommendations on what to do to reduce your individual household energy consumption. Some simple steps are to turn on game systems and large screen entertainment systems. Fliers are available at the town hall and there is a web site and phone number to contact with questions. 4. Committee Business Update: • Welcome visiting prospective Committee Members (Regular members are encouraged to bring a guest to each meeting) None Present. • Discuss and Revise Committee Charter – Present to Council at their Oct. 20 meeting This item was tabled till the September meeting so that a sub committee (Roger Burnell, Roy Woolsey and Kathy Evans) can meet and suggest changes to present to the committee. It will be added to the September agenda for discussion and a vote and then presented to Council at their meeting the following week. • Committee Member Announcements: Marc Sidel announced that Hidden Villa would hold an End of Summer Faire AKA Open House, on August 28th. There is special parking for LAH residents and more tickets available for LAH residents if you email Marc. This was a way for Hidden Villa to Thank the Hills community for their sponsorship and support during the year and a way to give back to the community. They really wanted to encourage Hills residents to participate and enjoy the day. Community Relations Committee Draft Meeting Minutes August 23, 2011 Page 2 Kathy Evans announced that Jamie Lucia and Joan Sherlock have both requested via email, to change their committee status to associate members, so that they do not count against the quorum when they are unable to attend meetings. Both will continue to attend CRC meetings, as they are available, and will make announcements from time to time about what committee business they are working on. This brings the CRC to 7 active members and the quorum = 4. Deborah Padovan will advertise for 3 new CRC members and have a committee table at the Hoedown with information on each committee. The CRC is encouraged to help man this table and help recruit new members. • Elect New Chair for CRC for 2011-2012: Item deferred from June meeting. Ron Knap nominated Barbara Waldeck, Karen Emerzian 2nd, Discussion opened but deferred until August meeting so that Barbara Waldeck could be present. Open with motion on the floor. Committee resumed discussion and Barbara Waldeck said she would be honored to be Chair and was voted in unanimously on one condition – that the regular meeting date be changed to the 2nd Tuesday of each month. The item was broken into two motions. The first motion was to elect Barbara as the new Chair – approved unanimously. This position will be until the end of June 2012 and a new chair will be elected at the July meeting. **The committee also voted to Change the regular CRC Meeting Date to the 2nd Tuesday each month. Approved unanimously. Kathy Evans will notify Deborah Padovan. 5. Review of Committee DRAFT Meeting Minutes: June 21st, meeting (No July Meeting) Minutes were approved unanimously as prepared, with a minor change at the end to correct the date of the LAHF Halloween event to 10/30 (not 10/23). 6. Review of City Council Meetings July 21st and August 18th – Attending committee members comment. Assign Council Meeting attendance for 2011-2012 Kathy Evans announced that the council has assigned each committee a time to speak at a regular council meeting about their committee charter. CRC is scheduled to speak at the October 20th meeting. Council Liaison John Radford explained further that this was a follow up to the last Mayors Meeting where Ginger Summit met with all the committee chairs. The rest of the Council wanted to hear the same presentations from the committees, and rather than have Ginger give an update on each committee, the committees were invited to come to the council and give their own updates, one per month. Committees were also directed to update their charters and turn in a better representation of what they are actually doing and some of the goals that they hope to add to their responsibilities. 7. The 2011 Town Picnic: Recap Picnic –DRAFT **Attendance update: 2011 picnic attendance is estimated at 2,200 residents Barbara Waldeck took over the meeting at this point and led the remaining picnic discussions. Everyone was directed to review the DRAFT report that was presented and send his or her comments to Kathy Evans directly. Do not hit “reply all” as this would be a Brown Act violation. Kathy indicated that she had already made some additions beyond what was presented, by adding in the staff comments to the report. Kathy said she would take peoples additions and comments and then forward to Roger Burnell, so that he could add the formatting and logo before bringing back to the committee next month for a vote. Kathy and Roger will meet as a subcommittee, between now and the Community Relations Committee Draft Meeting Minutes August 23, 2011 Page 3 next meeting, to get this done, so that a final approved Picnic Report can go onto the September council agenda along with the request for $30k for next year’s picnic. Committee Picnic Recap – Present Reports and discuss plans for 2012: The committee received an e copy of the DRAFT picnic report and will review and send corrections to Kathy Evans before the next meeting. John Radford asked for the executive summary of the picnic and was happy with the record turn out and felt that the budget of $30k would be sufficient for next years picnic as well. We also briefly discussed the need to discuss alternative menu options because of our diverse resident population and the apparent increased preference for vegetarian options. The 1/2 chicken will not work in the future, and we might return to just hamburgers and hot dogs where we can control portions better and increase the number of residents served. A more detailed discussion is tabled till the September meeting. Everyone agreed to get the Pirate back – and try to mix up the entertainment to 3 main acts and rotate each year. Ron Knapp gave Roger Burnell the business card of an alternate Pirate if the first pirate was not available. Kathy Evans has given Sarah Gualtieri a recommendation fro a castle act that was also highly recommended. Roger will try to reserve the main entertainment and report back to the committee. • Ice Cream / Toppings / Cups / Transportation / Ice: Marc Sidel • Car Show / Signs / Reservations / Tickets / certificates / awards: Bill Downey, Bob Mabe • Tent Rental / Stage Rental / Chairs & Tables: Linda Seidel / Sarah Gualtieri • Balloon Arch for Car Show / Dry Ice Order: Linda Seidel • Music (Jazz Unlimited): Ron Knapp • Sodas / Wine / Beer / Cups / Ice / Transportation / volunteers: Ron Knapp • Inflatable Events / Train / Rock Wall: Roger Burnell • Pig Races / Other Entertainment options for 2012: Sarah Gualtieri • Fire Department Food and Menu Reservation / Meal Tickets/Confirmation Letter: • Auto (on-line) Registration and Reminder Calls: Sarah Gualtieri • Signs / Event Map / Additional Parking Signs / Shuttle Signs: Sarah Gualtieri • Robotics Club / Lionel Trains / Committee Tables / Dignitaries Invited: Sarah Gualtieri • Contest Games -Frisbee, Parks and Rec. sand table, Face Painting: Nick French • Pony Rides: Sarah Gualtieri / LAHHA / PRPC volunteers • Shuttle Bus and Parking Signs / Ports Potties / Garbage Cans: Sarah Gualtieri • Registration: Karen Emerzian / Barbara Cannon • Committee Participation: Kathy Evans 012 Picnic: Items to Secure: Entertainment / Food / Music / Rentals 8. Sub Committees Reports: • Neighborhood Network – Joan Sherlock (absent) • Youth Commission – Sarah Gualtieri (absent) / Kathy Evans reported that the YC has started meeting the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month. They will be hosting a Halloween Dance on 10/22 and need a venue. Karen Emerzian suggested the Elks club in Palo Alto. They are also looking for a home in the Hills with parking as a venue or the parking area at Foothill College. They have a DJ paid for by Sallie Morgan and Nick French, the duo who helped with the picnic games area. The YC will also be sponsoring Community Relations Committee Draft Meeting Minutes August 23, 2011 Page 4 a Leadership Conference at Hidden Villa on February 4th, and may need help finding good public speakers to cover some of the topics. The committee also discussed the new limit of 20 YC members and voted to exceed this limit if a school was not represented – aka Pinewood. Roger Burnell pointed out the importance of including Pinewood on the YC because of their location in LAH, as well as reserving the right to add qualified new applicants if they filled a need on the commission. John Radford agreed, and said he would not support the 20-member limit requested by staff, especially if schools were not represented. The committee all agreed that the process should get more competitive, but that there should also be a way to add members if they were well qualified and came from an under represented school. The whole point of the YC is to bring Hills kids together to create opportunities for Hills kids to meet each other. Excluding them because a quota is full is counterproductive, and does not send the community the correct message and does not accomplish the goal of reaching out to more teens. Kathy Evans brought up the fact that the Park and Rec. room needed to purchase 6+ additional wooden folding chairs for the conference table, so everyone on the YC would fit and have a seat. Currently we are short several chairs to seat the YC and the 2 liaisons. Sometimes parents also stay to listen to the meeting, as well as prospective new members; so additional chairs are needed soon. John Radford said this should not be a problem and to talk to Carl Cahill to get this done. Wood chairs would be less likely to scratch the floor and would look better than metal. • New Resident Outreach - Roy Woolsey announced that there were 16 new residents in June and 24 in July. All received new resident packets and a letter from the council. He also met with Deborah Padovan, the new City Clerk, and will work on what is included in the new resident packet. He said that sometimes the new name on the garbage account is for a contractor or business. He expressed concern that the packets were being sent to businesses not new residents. He asked Deborah Padovan to stop sending packets to people. Kathy announced that she has been trying to get new members interested in helping with a “Welcome Wagon” type greeting where committee members actually go visit the new residents and personally invite them to the next town event. This would eliminate the possibility of packets going to businesses. We have several openings on the committee and need to think about who could fill these positions. • Community Relations Resident Outreach – Status of Event in 2012: Roger This item was deferred from the June meeting for further discussion. Roger is still looking for something for a fall event for 2012. A Giants game was mentioned or another NASA or astronomical event. Roger explained that the CRC resident outreach events were started 7-8 years ago as a way for new residents to be invited into the community and they usually featured a wine and cheese reception or musical show. The most poplar was the Mars Rover exhibits for Hills residents. The committee prefers something in the town if possible, like at Foothill College or the Krause Center, or NASA Ames or any of the close surrounding communities, so people do not have to drive far. The Stanford reception was not thought to be a big draw. John Radford said that these events should draw more than 100 people and serve more residents to be continued. He preferred inviting new residents to events already being sponsored by the town, without the CRC having to create a new event, unless it was special or unique and there was widespread community interest. WE may want to discuss changing the CRC charter to reflect whether or not to continue sponsoring “community events” or leave that Community Relations Committee Draft Meeting Minutes August 23, 2011 Page 5 regular function to Parks and Rec. who has taken on the Hoedown, Holiday Barn Lighting, Pathways Run and Earth Day and others. It was suggested to contact the LAH History committee to see if something could be co-sponsored at the LA History Museum, on LAH history and important people. This kind of program might be of interest to a wider range of Hills residents and local school groups and would be unique. 9. CRC Volunteers and Contributions at upcoming Town Events: • Hoedown Saturday, September 10th 3-8pm (CRC committee info table – Ron) • Fall 2012 Event – Also Needs Budget Proposal - Roger • LAHfamily October Pumpkin Carving Event October 30th 3-6pm / Teen Dance 10/22 • Holiday Barn Lighting, Sunday, December 4th 1-4pm (Karen. Barbara, Ron) •Town Tree Lighting / Movie Night, December 10th 6:30-9pm (LAHFamily, Ron, Karen) this event is going to be combined with the caroling event so that everything happens on the same night. Ron usually brings cookies and sodas and wine and helps. This year the Youth commission will be hosting gingerbread houses in the P&R room. They may need some help purchasing candies. 10. Completion of any Old Business: New Resident Handbook- Kathy Evans sent everyone a DRAFT copy of the text from the old handbook. The committee had already asked for this, so that they could review the information going out to new residents. The committee already voted that a new resident handbook was needed and should include the information from the old handbook as long as it was updated. The committee already voted and agreed to create a marketing piece to pass out to new residents and include once a year in the Town newsletter. This was put into the budget for 2012 and approved by Council. Discussion was opened up to see if there was interest to split the handbook into 2 sections. One for information on the Town and committees and another for just a phone book with important numbers new residents would need to know. Information was taken from the old publication and from the town website and can easily be updated and printed as needed, when new packets are being assembled. Once the new resident handbook is compiled as a PDF it can be put on to the Town website for easy download and less paper. The discussion centered on cutting down the content and making it much shorter vs. keeping the content and encouraging people to download it themselves. The committee members were asked to send their comments on the DRAFT version to Kathy Evans. Barbara Waldeck and Kathy Evans will form a sub committee to review the comments and revise the handbook, and bring it back to the September meeting for a vote. The goal was to get the important phone numbers into the December newsletter as an insert and the print deadline for this is October 1. 11. Introduction of New Business: Aprons instead of T-shirts – continue discussion. Kathy reported that Parks and Rec. preferred green or brown or blue aprons that could be used at all Town Events. The green or brown matched the Town colors and could feature the Town logo and the word VOLUNTEER at the top. Aprons can be worn and then transferred to the next shift of volunteers. Continue to price options and discuss in September. 12. Next Meeting Dates: September 27th, 2011, 7:30 pm, 10/25, 11/22?, 12/27?, 1/24 13. Adjournment: Time - ____9:00 pm______