AGENDA
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
COMMUNICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE
Agoura Hills City Hall - City Manager's Conference Room 30001 Ladyface Court, Agoura Hills, California 91301
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
4:00 PM
Please silence all cell phones and other electronic devices during the meeting.
NOTE: The Subcommittee and City staff will be participating in this meeting in-person in the City Manager's Conference Room. Members of the public have the opportunity to participate in-person in the conference room.
For public participation on items listed on this Agenda, refer to "Public Comments" below.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION (PUBLIC COMMENT)
Option A: To provide public comments in-person at the meeting Members of the public have an opportunity to attend the meeting in-person and speak or submit a written comment on any item listed on this Agenda. Public testimony is limited to three (3) minutes per speaker; a speaker’s time may not be transferred to another speaker. Written public comments submitted at the meeting are not read aloud by staff.
To request to speak in-person at the meeting. The Subcommittee will open the floor for public comment and any in-person attendee who raises their hand will have the opportunity to speak. Public testimony is limited to three (3) minutes per speaker; a speaker's time may no be transferred to another speaker.
Option B: To submit written public comments by e-mail (prior to the meeting) Members of the public have an opportunity to submit email correspondence on any item listed on the Agenda by sending an email to: [email protected]. All public correspondence received by 3:00 p.m. on the meeting date will be provided to the Subcommittee prior to the meeting. Public comments are not read into the record. Any public comments received after 3:00 p.m. on the meeting day will not be considered as part of the Subcommittee’s deliberations or entered into the official record, but will be provided to the Subcommittee the next day.
CALL TO ORDER
ROLL CALL
Mayor Pro Tem Jeremy Wolf
Councilmember Deborah Klein Lopez
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
PUBLIC COMMENTS
(This section is reserved for persons wishing to address items not listed on the Agenda that are under the subject matter jurisdiction of the City Council. Please refer to “Public Participation” above for full details on how to speak or submit written public comments under this category.)
DISCUSSION ITEMS
1. Communications Update
SUBCOMMITTEE OR STAFF COMMENTS
ADJOURNMENT
Date Posted: November 7, 2025
REPORT TO COMMUNICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE
DATE: NOVEMBER 12, 2025
TO: HONORABLE MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE FROM: NATHAN HAMBURGER, CITY MANAGER
BY: RAMIRO ADEVA, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER
MARY HADDAD, COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
SUBJECT: COMMUNICATIONS UPDATE
Over the past several months, the Communications team has made significant progress in expanding outreach, increasing engagement across all digital platforms, and supporting City Council goals through focused public information efforts. This subcommittee report will serve as a summary of these efforts, and an opportunity for the subcommittee to provide any feedback.
Social Media and Digital Growth
In the last six months, the City’s social media presence has continued to grow across all platforms. We have seen steady increases in followers, engagement rates, and overall reach. The emphasis has been on providing timely information, community highlights, and creative campaigns that connect residents with City services and events.
The following chart displays our growth across various platforms since April 2026 (excluding X). The City's X account currently has 6,605 followers, with about 400 followers gained in the month of January 2025 alone.
The City's Instagram account has gained about 1,050 new followers while Facebook has gained about 144. Staff is also excited to share that the City's Instagram page overall in the last year has gained 2,305 followers. Our strategy in the last year has been to increase video content, find creative ways to display information for the community, and take the approach of story telling rather than just organizing information. This strategy has helped the City receive significant engagement across social media platforms, even from non-followers. In the last month, some successes on social media include 20,000 views on the grand opening video for Frankie's Burritos - a new local business. We also received 3,500 views on average on each reel posted in the month of October including Reyes Adobe Days recaps. Overall in the month of October specifically, there were over 91,000 views on the City's Instagram page.
Another recent strategy the Communications Team has taken on is expanding our collaborations with social media platforms with large followings. We recently collaborated with Yelp Los Angeles for a "Day in Agoura Hills" video that generated about 9,000 views. Thanks to Mayor Pro Tem Jeremy Wolf, we also recently collaborated with LA In a Minute for a feature on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossin. This video brought over 165,000 views! Emergency Preparedness and Evacuation Outreach
During the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 budget discussions, the City Council shared the goal of expanding and enhancing emergency evacuation and preparedness information. This year’s communications focus included a major campaign around National Emergency Preparedness Month in September. The City launched a series of weekly videos that covered topics such as evacuation readiness, assembling go-bags, knowing your zone, and signing up for emergency alerts. We took the strategy to add participating partners such as LA County Fire Department as collaborators to this post, which helped us reach 5,470 views on two videos, and 11,318 views on our first video to launch the campaign.
We also took a creative approach to ongoing emergency messaging, incorporating seasonal tie-ins such as the fallthemed “Carve a Plan Before Carving a Pumpkin” post for the month of October, and we are currently planning for creative ways to continue pushing out this information during wildfire season.
In partnership with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, we hosted an Emergency Preparedness Game Night at City Hall. This interactive event provided a hands-on way for residents to test their knowledge, learn about resources, and connect with neighbors. Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, and it served as a model for future community engagement activities.
CERT Rebrand and Outreach
Another Council goal this year has been supporting the rebrand of the City’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). The Communications team has worked closely with CERT leadership to develop new marketing materials to expand its visibility in the community. Updated flyers, banners, and digital assets have been distributed, and we have significantly increased CERT’s presence across the City’s social media platforms. This renewed branding effort has helped recruit new volunteers and increase attendees at CERT's general meetings. In speaking with CERT leadership, they let us know that their recent general meetings had about 30 attendees, and this is the highest number they've seen in a while.
Strengthening Internal Capacity
Recognizing the importance of maintaining consistent communications during any period of transition or emergency, we’ve prioritized training within the City. Several staff members have completed Public Information Officer (PIO) training to strengthen our ability to respond quickly and effectively during incidents. The Communications Manager conducted 4 training sessions in the City's Community Room to teach staff about emergency communication essentials including managing social media pages, working within our Crisis Communications Plan, sending out emergency alerts, and working with media. In addition, three staff members have been trained to handle day-to-day communications tasks to ensure continuity when the Communications Manager is out of office.
Looking Ahead
Looking ahead, we will continue building on our efforts so far by continuing to expand creative public educations campaigns and engaging the community. We are looking forward to continuing to expand and grow our communications efforts, and welcome feedback from the Communications Subcommittee on the last year and what they would like to see in the future.