HomeMy WebLinkAboutFebruary 25
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Town of Los Altos Hills
Community Relations Committee
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Parks and Recreation Building
1. Roll Call; Committee Membership
The meeting was called to order at exactly 7:00 PM by chairman Roy Woolsey. Present: Members, Roger
Burnell, Lana Einschlag, Karen Emerzian, Nena Price, Roy Woolsey. Associate member, Ron Knapp.
2. Introduction of Members of the Public; Public Comment.
Kjell Karlsson, who participated in the Town Picnic discussion.
3. Review and Approval of Prior Committee Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the last meeting were approved as distributed in draft form.
4. Review of Prior City Council Meetings. No report.
5. Possibility of Organizing TEDx Program in Town
Roy Woolsey summarized the report from Medha Rishi on the status of this item: Medha had a conference
call with the Mayor and Sarah Robustelli shortly after the January Committee meeting to go over her proposed
project plan. While the city is excited for a new initiative on behalf of our Committee, resource constraints and
execution success are big considerations. We would need several subcommittee members, including from other
Town standing committees. The Mayor recommended that we not brief Council on our TEDx proposal in their
February meeting, but rather in a future meeting after further investigating execution issues.
After some discussion, it was the consensus of the Committee that: (1) Medha prepare a PowerPoint
presentation for the Council, rather than just talking to Council, (2) the presentation include a list of possible
topics for the Los Altos Hills TEDx program, and (3) the presentation clearly explain why a TEDx program is
being proposed and what its benefit is to the Town. Ideally the presentation and possible/recommended TEDx
topics should be discussed in the next Committee meeting before presentation to Council.
6. Report on Recent Town Activities. No report.
7. Welcoming of New Residents to Town
Roy Woolsey reported that in the last month files for printing of new resident welcoming letter mailing
labels were sent to Town Hall for mailing the welcoming letter from Council to the four new residents in Town
for the month of December and nine new residents for January, and for mailing of the follow up welcoming
letter from the Committee to the thirteen new residents in Town for the months of October and November.
Roy reported that apparently relatively few new residents want their welcoming packet.
8. Los Altos Hills Town Picnic
The Committee held a lengthy discussion of possible entertainment for the Town Picnic. The Committee
reviewed various proposals and quotations obtained by Sarah Robustelli. Roger described an outstanding
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magician who gives shows in Las Vegas, and who would stroll around for the first hour giving individual magic
presentations and then give around a twenty-five minute show. Eventually it was agreed that since many Town
residents in the Picnic questionnaire voiced interest in pig races and a magician, that the Committee would plan
for both forms of entertainment at the Picnic. There could be three sets of pig races and one magician show.
The pig races would need to be conditioned on the vendor agreeing to not market any items at the Picnic, and
on the Town being able to arrange for all the shavings and hay required by the vendor. Residents seemed to
like the Kimball Hooker band last year, and Ron Knapp said we could get the same band for this year at the
same price of $900, which the Committee approved.
Committee members volunteered for major subcommittee chairs as follows: Karen Emerzian for
registration. Ron Knapp for music. The Committee will need to see if Ken Brown can handle beverages, Nick
French can handle games and Barbara Cannon can coordinate ice cream volunteers. Rather than purchasing all
of the soft drinks and having them loaded into his truck as in past years, Ron recommended that we arrange for
soft drinks to be delivered and stored in the snack shack at Purissima Park for a few days from purchase in the
Memorial day sales until the day of the Town Picnic, when Youth Commission members could help move the
soft drinks from the snack shack to the beverages canopy at the Picnic. The Committee is hoping Sarah can
coordinate this beverage storage detail.
Roy Woolsey distributed a draft of a proposed 2020 Picnic proposal and budget. It was agreed that both pig
races ($3,500) and the magician ($1,000) should be included in the budget, that pony rides ($1,500) and other
attractions should be retained, that Roy would update the budget based on final quotations from Sarah
Robustelli, and that the proposal and budget would be reviewed and approved in the next Committee meeting
for sending to Council. After the meeting Roy briefed Sarah on these items, with the request that she find out
from the pig race vendor how many pigs will be provided, whether the races can take place on the grass rather
than on shavings, and discuss eliminating sales of items from the proposal. Given the substantial increase in
price for the climbing wall and the Picnic’s limited budget, Sarah will negotiate a price reduction with the
vendor. Sarah will also hold up confirming the petting zoo ($550) until where we see where the budget stands
after the prices of other items are set.
9. Additional Items or Contributions from Committee Members. None.
10. Date for Next Meeting and Adjournment
The next Committee meeting will be held on the usual fourth Tuesday of the month in March, which is
March 24, 2020, at 7 PM in the Parks and Recreation building. The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 PM.
Minutes prepared by Roy Woolsey, March 2, 2020