A contract between the city of Los Altos and the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce is moot after the chamber puts out its latest magazine and any future events or magazines put on by the chamber with city support will be taken on a case-by-case basis.
The decision came after an Oct. 28 presentation given by Kim Mosley, Los Altos Chamber of Commerce president, related to the use of funds the chamber receives as part of a contract it has with the city.
Approved in 2023, the five-year contract provided the chamber $67,500 annually in exchange for:
• Printing 20,000 copies of a Los Altos Magazine on a topic council approves with the inclusion of a Recreation Department full-page ad
• The creation of a digital edition of the magazine and the dissemination of 16,000 Los Altos Magazines to households in Los Altos and other local communities, and 4,000 Los Altos Magazines for local pickup at local coffee shops and hotels
• Operation of the Visitors Center office located at 321 University Ave. and maintenance of a community calendar
The chamber will still operate the visitor’s center despite the contract’s termination.
The presentation was a continuation of discussions related to the chamber magazine Mosley and the council had at the Oct. 14 city council meeting. The chamber was late in providing the 2024/2025 magazine edition, Mosley told council, because of unexpected hurdles. She said the chamber was on track to publish the missed edition by the end of November and the 2025/2026 magazine would be on track to publish six months after.
Members of council, including Councilmember Sally Meadows, did not support the short interval between the magazine publications, and Mayor Pete Dailey decided the best choice of action was to not adopt any amendments, but to push the conversations to a later date.
“What I would like to do is immediately bring something back that would allow the chamber to get the magazine published this time, and no more than that, and then having a second bite at the apple where we have a more comprehensive discussion about if we want to pay for the magazine going forward, and if we instead want to spend the money on some other method of promoting business in our community,” he said Oct. 14.
“Legends of Los Altos,” as pitched by Mosley last week, would bring in foot traffic and stimulate local business, she said. The three-day celebration would kick off with First Friday events, including a night show, shuttles and a potential drone show. The proposed 200-drone flight show would cost $50,000 per show – while Mosley said she aimed to receive sponsorship dollars to fund the drone show, the ultimate total for the event was $105,000.
The presentation confused members of council, as they were expecting discussions about the future of the magazine and how else the chamber could potentially use the $67,500 the city provides it. The goal of the current contract between the city and chamber is to increase the amount of visitors supporting the local economy.
“It sounds exciting, but why are we talking about this? We were here to talk about the contract and the magazine that didn’t fulfill the terms of the contract, so I’m not clear where what you just talked about falls in with the discussion about where we were going with the contract,” Meadows said after Mosley’s presentation.
Mosley said she chose to present the Los Altos Super Bowl event – though not including the phrase “Super Bowl” in its marketing because it’s an NFL trademark – for the “use of funds for the 2026 spring season.”
“What I also took away from the last meeting was that there was not significant interest in printing another magazine in the spring, and that I should consider what we might do as an alternative,” she said.
Frustration from council members stemmed from time constraints – the Super Bowl is in February – potential inclementweather and the idea that many parts of the event were “not well-thought out.” They also noted that there was no support voiced by chamber members to the council for her proposed event.
“I don’t think you served yourself well with this Super Bowl proposal. I don’t think it’s a serious proposal,” Councilmember Larry Lang said during the meeting. “The Super Bowl is in 103 days, we’re not in the position tonight to take action on that money. The earliest we can take action would be Nov. 19, and that’s 82 days to pull off a very substantial thing for the pricetag you’re saying of $100,000.”
