Los Altos/Los Altos Hills
2025 Joint Volunteer Awards Committee
Meeting Agenda- 7:00 PM
Monday, March 31, 2025
Manzanita Conference Room at Los Altos Community Center
1. Establish a Quorum – Roll Call
2. Public Comment
3. Approval of Minutes from February
4. Introduction of 2024 Committee Members
5. Introduction of new Committee Members and City Liaisons
6. Review of 2024 event
7. Review of Bylaws
8. Elect committee chair and vice chair
9. On-boarding process – Lindsay Carpenter
10. Presentation of alternate Event Ticketing System study – Sumita Chandra
11. New Business
12. Confirm date of next meeting
13. Adjourn
JVAC Minutes February 10, 2025
Present:
Sandy Mingia Kelly Davis
Lindsay Carpenter Sumita Chandra
Ben Gikis
Meeting was called to order at 7:01. Quorum was established.
Dennis Young and Ginny Lear, both members of the public, were present.
Minutes from the November 25th meeting were approved as read (Kelly/Ben)
Treasurer’s Report: Ben handed out the Financial Results from the 2024 luncheon in Don’s absence. Total income was $14,670. Total expenses were $10,679.35 which results in a net gain of $3,990.65. Discussion was tabled until Don can join us.
Sandy suggested an additional caterer, Eisenhower Catering, that is more full-serve and includes meat on their buffet. We will consider them along with Cellar Door Catering, which we used in 2024. She also remarked that our 2024 event required a lot of work on the part of the Committee members. We learned that much of that work can be offloaded to the professionals next year. Sandy also shared that both cities are looking into a different funding model for the Committee’s event in the future.
A debrief of the 2024 luncheon ensued, sharing what did and didn’t work.
The following suggestions grew out of the discussion:
1. Cap attendance at 160 people based on space available at the Community Center.
2. Plan for 2 food stations rather than 1. Each station requires 2 tables.
3. It is vital to have access to the room at 9:00 AM and the kitchen earlier for event set-up.
4. Cellar Door Catering was very easy to work with and did an excellent job.
5. Ensure that all committee members receive set-up duty assignments and are advised of when they are needed.
6. Givebutter, an event sign-up app for non-profits, is being used by Los Altos Rotary Club. LAVA is using Humantix. Both will be part of an analysis to understand how to avoid the costs of using Eventbrite.
7. Review types of name tags and how to streamline check-in procedure.
8. Review process of plaque presentation to Awardees for 2025.
9. Recommend staying at Community Center Grand Oak Room with some minor revisions.
10. Overall, attendees and the committee expressed positive comments about the event.
It was recommended to postpone election of 2025 Committee Chair and Vice Chair until a later meeting when the 3 Los Altos and 1 Los Altos Hills vacancies have been filled (Ben/Lindsay). Sumita will be updating the website and agreed to be the Web Master. Sandy asked Lindsay to be Secretary again for 2025 and she agreed.
Los Altos Liaison is Neysa Fligor, Los Altos Hills Liaison is not known.
The next meeting will be March 31, 2025, at the Los Altos Community Center.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:48 PM.
Respectively Submitted
Lindsay Carpenter
JVAC COMMITTEE 2024
Work Committee Descriptions & Assignments
CHAIR – Sandy (Los Altos Hills)
Coordinates & runs meetings (confirms time/location/date) Completes and distributes Agenda (email to Cities & JVAC Commissioners 1 week before the meeting) Confirms Speaker
Collects and compiles committee nominee ranking forms
Keeps Items (Banners, Pins etc.)
Calls all JVAC nominated awardees
Emails all JVAC “no’s” nominators
Emails all “yes” nominators
Manages JVAC Email
Requests funds from Cities in January 2024
CHAIR-ELECT (2025 CHAIR) Rebecca (Los Altos)
Coordinates all duties for Chair if Chair is unavailable Books venue and acts as the point person to venue
Suggests pricing for tickets based on luncheon costs
Coordinates all A/V needs with venue
Handles Tasting at Event Location
Invites/Coordinates Certificates from Local Politicians Assists Chair as needed
SECRETARY – Lindsay
Takes all meeting minutes and distributes to JVAC Commissioners within 1 week Sends JVAC approved minutes to City Clerks within 1 week.
TREASURER – Don
Manages PO Box
Handles checks/manages checkbook
Pays bills
Keeps cash box
Manages bank relationship
Works with Webmaster and Reservations to ensure the online credit card service Creates and distributes the budget
WEBMASTER – Jenny? and Sumita
Updates and manages the website
Update and manages the website reservation system (set-up fields, food choices, tables requests) Manages payment service
Ensures all information is accurate
Changes and updates information as needed
Gives ticket purchase details in a spreadsheet to the Reservations team MARKETING – Rebecca
Handles all advertising within each city
Organizes advertisements in Town Crier
Performs all marketing needs including social media
Designs and has program printed
Creates flyers for social media, advertising and invitations NOMINATIONS – Don, Rebecca and Kelly
Manages list of addresses
Develops nomination letter
Prints all letters and address labels
Coordinates mailing
Coordinates voting at Nomination meeting
RESERVATIONS – Rebecca and Lindsay
Receive attendee spreadsheet from Webmaster who manages the ticket reservation system.
Coordinate spreadsheet with attendees table assignments, meal choices, etc.
Print & organize name badges – City of Los Altos/Weinberg Kids Print meal choice cards to go with name badges
Manages check-in at event
Prints attendee lists and divides alphabetized badges into 4 equal groups Confirm 4 helpers to work the check-in tables (in addition to themselves) Sets up check-in table, provide necessary signage, extra blank name badges, pens, way to take lastminute payments, etc.
POINSETTIA FUNDRAISER – Ben & Don
Purchases poinsettias
Cares for and deliver poinsettias to venue
WINE DONATION – Kelly
Coordinates wine donations
Picks up and delivers to venue
Sends thank you notes
Provides names to Marketing committee chair for inclusion in program PLAQUES – Sumita
Orders and proofs plaques
Picks up and delivers to venue
VIDEO/AV for Awardees – Rebecca
Manages awardees and nominators video sessions
Books video shoot location and dates
Edits and develops video presentation
Creates slides for event
Manages and runs all AV needs at event (coordinate with chair-elect who is the liaison w/venue and AV provider)
EVENT MC – Dennis
Emcees event
Coordinates to have names of all honorees and speakers
Lets mayors know ahead of time if they are introducing their staff or councils Confirms with Chair-Elect and Reservations team which elected officials will be attending (cities, school boards, county, hospital boards, etc.)
www.jointvolunteerawards.com