Exhibit B Exhibit B
Memo To: Town of Los Gatos & Town Manager
From: Catherine Somers
Executive Director, LGCC
Brayton Gosling
President, Board of Directors
Subject: Year End Report (for completed services from 2018-19 – see
exhibit A)
$40K for Town Information Center
$5K subsidy for Town wide marketing
$3K for staff to help with facilitation of the 2018/19 Los
Gatos Leadership Program
Date: May 31, 2019
The Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce is an independent contractor that is paid a fee for
service by the Town of Los Gatos. This memo details the ways in which the Chamber is
fulfilling the scope of services outlined in the Town Contract for the following: Los Gatos
Information Center and Leadership Los Gatos.
Purpose of the Chamber of Commerce
Mission: The Los Gatos will serve the community first and foremost by being a catalyst
for business growth and success; acting as a convener of community leaders and
influencers to get things done; and serving as a champion for a thriving business
community.
Vision: The Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce will be a strong, unified voice of the spirited
Los Gatos business community… recognized as a catalyst for business growth and
advocacy. Being a champion for the town of Los Gatos, the Chamber will work to preserve
the cherished quality of life and integrity in our town … and will be admired for its skill in
listening to the concerns of all segments of the community and acting as a convener of all
for dialogue and for problem solving.
Los Gatos Information Center @ $40K
The Town of Los Gatos’ Information Center is open all year, Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5
p.m. except for scheduled holidays. Often, we will open for part of the day on a
Saturday or Sunday, particularly on Holiday or Special Event weekends. We respond to all
Los Gatos visitor and resident inquiries regarding shopping, dining, lodging, events,
relocation, general commerce, and other related visitor information topics. We distribute
Los Gatos promotional materials and replenish the brochures as needed all the while
working with the town to fulfill any relocation requests. Some say we act as a local
concierge service trying to fulfill the needs and entertain our town guests. This year, the
Chamber added a few items to our list of responsibilities including but not limited to a
social media destination marketing campaign and an attempt to form a Business
Improvement District for the Downtown core. We also led a few beautification initiatives
that are now coming to fruition. Plenty of others are on our to do list.
The Chamber also covers the rent of the Town Information Center space which is
approximately 500 sq. ft. including our meeting room. We pay for staff help as it relates
to visitor services and we maintain the only public restroom in town.
Town Marketing efforts include:
Los Gatos Dining and Places to Stay Guides (produced and maintained by the LGCC)
Los Gatos Real Estate Listings and Offices
Los Gatos Self-Guided Walking Tours – Discover Lost Los Gatos (funded by LGCC)
Los Gatos Event Venue Guide (produced and maintained by the LGCC)
Los Gatos Creek Trail, Lexington, Vasona, Villa Montalvo, and other informational
brochures
Advertising and editorial content in local newspapers/magazines including: Los
Gatos Magazine, Los Gatos Weekly, Discover Silicon Valley, San Jose Mercury
News, Content Magazine and The Metro
Los Gatos Town Map (produced and maintained by the LGCC)
Los Gatos Downtown Tourist Map (coming soon)
Santa Cruz Mountain winery maps/ Santa Clara winery maps/Livermore winery
maps
Town Wide radio advertising on KRTY/KBay
Los Gatos Local Resource Guide and Directory – (sent to 15,000+ LG residents and 3500
Monte Sereno residents produced and maintained by the LGCC)
Updated historical videos shown daily
Partnered with a firm which maintains a display rack of information promoting
tourism and things to do in Northern California
Work more closely with Visit California and Team San Jose, encouraging them to
feature Los Gatos in their tourist publications
Community wide events posted in our front windows
Weekly updates to our Chamber website and the Community Calendar
Daily updates to all social media platforms-- including Facebook, Instagram and
Twitter, Next Door and Linked In
Host/Organize multiple community-wide events – and we advertise and are
present at all of them
Weekly Town-wide event newsletter
Summer Event Guide (produced and maintained by LGCC)
Promotional posters and banners for the town promoting summer events and
other happenings
Holiday Campaign and Celebration
Host monthly Food and Wine meetings
Host quarterly Merchant Meetings
Host quarterly service organization meetings and service provider meetings
We send all requested materials free of charge via USPS. We consistently update our
website and other social media platforms on all information regarding Town and resident
and visitor events. We have a robust Community Calendar which we update on a daily
basis, posting community events. We inform community members who are on our
Constant Contact list of upcoming Town Council or Planning Commission meetings and
any other important information, such open as Town commission and committee
positions.
Additionally, the Town Information Center sells LG swag and other merchandise. Items
for sale include:
Cooking Los Gatos Style Book
Legendary Locals of Los Gatos Book
Women’s Visors
Men’s Hats
Pens
License plate frames
Note Cards
Los Gatos post cards
Tote Bags
Water Bottles
We randomly survey visitors as to what else they would like to purchase in our store.
Subsidy for Los Gatos Marketing @ $5K
This year – the Chamber spent all of this subsidy on our street pole banners. Design,
Printing, hanging etc. came to a grand total of $10K.
Leadership Los Gatos @ $3K
The Leadership Los Gatos Program was a great success again this year. 21 students
graduated on Friday May 10th with a celebration luncheon at the Toll House on the patio.
We are hopeful that most of these graduates will seek leadership positions in our Town.
We were fortunate to work more closely than ever with the Town this year on rebranding
the program and rethinking the organizational structure and purpose. As you may know,
in the past the Town gave the Chamber $10K to help with the facilitation of the program.
This then dropped to $8K as the Town took on more of the responsibilities. This past year,
the amount dropped again to $3K.
Our responsibilities include but are not limited to:
- Meeting with Town reps to determine program curriculum. Identify relevant
topics, interesting speakers, possible field trips, etc.
- Marketing of the Program. Printing the postcards and distributing town-wide.
- Soliciting possible candidates for the program from the Chamber’s own
membership
- Maintain an updated page on our website regarding Leadership, including a
link to the Application.
- Collecting all tuition payments and doing all of the accounting from that point
forward for the 8 month program.
- Preparing name tags and rosters and all other pertinent material for the first
meeting.
- Helping with Welcome Letter and making personal phone calls to each of the
participants telling them what to expect and answering any questions they
may have.
- Organizing the tour bus for the first meeting.
- Arranging speakers for a few of the sessions and planning agendas with them.
- Ordering and preparing all meals – breakfast, snack and lunch at all of the
sessions.
- Prepping for all of the sessions – being sure we would have everything needed.
- Communicated with all Service Organizations and Service Providers to attend
the Session entitled “Community Connections”.
- Wrote thank you notes as needed
- Monthly check-ins with participants.
- Coordination of all graduation festivities, luncheon, flowers, program, etc.
including billing of all guests.