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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCivic Calling Corporation dba Holly 04.01.2026 Town of Los Altos Hills Page 1 of 5 Short form Updated 4/26/22 AGREEMENT THIS AGREEMENT is made and entered into on the 1st day of April, 2026 by and between the TOWN OF LOS ALTOS HILLS (hereinafter referred to as "TOWN") and Civic Calling Corporation DBA Holly (hereinafter referred to as "CONTRACTOR"). In consideration of their mutual covenants, the parties hereto agree as follows: 1. CONTRACTOR. Shall provide or furnish the following specified services and/or materials: Classification and compensation benchmarking services as described in Exhibit A. 2. EXHIBITS. The following attached exhibits are hereby incorporated into and made a part of this Agreement: Proposal from CONTRACTOR dated December 2, 2025 3. TERMS. The services and/or materials furnished under this Agreement shall commence April 1, 2026 and shall be completed by March 31, 2029, unless terminated pursuant to Section 5(f). 4. COMPENSATION. For the full performance of this Agreement: a. TOWN shall pay CONTRACTOR an amount not to exceed thirty-one thousand eight hundred twenty-seven dollars and zero cents ($31,827.00) within thirty (30) days following receipt of invoice and completion/delivery of services/goods as detailed in Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this Agreement and only upon satisfactory delivery/completion of goods/services in a manner consistent with professional/industry standards for the area in which CONTRACTOR operates. TOWN is not responsible for paying for any work done by CONTRACTOR or any subcontractor above and beyond the not to exceed amount. b. Town shall not reimburse for any of CONTRACTOR's costs or expenses to deliver any services/goods. Town shall not be responsible for any interest or late charges on any payments from Town to CONTRACTOR. c. CONTRACTOR is responsible for monitoring its own forces/employees/agents/ subcontractors to ensure delivery of goods/services within the terms of this Agreement. TOWN will not accept or compensate CONTRACTOR for incomplete goods/services. Town of Los Altos Hills Page 2 of 5 Short form Updated 4/26/22 5. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS. a. HOLD HARMLESS. CONTRACTOR agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the TOWN, its officers, agents and employees from any and all demands, claims or liability of personal injury (including death) and property damage of any nature, caused by or arising out of the performance of CONTRACTOR under this Agreement. With regard to CONTRACTOR’S work product, CONTRACTOR agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the TOWN, its officers, agents and employees from any and all demands, claims or liability of any nature to the extent caused by the negligent performance of CONTRACTOR under this Agreement. b. INSURANCE. CONTRACTOR shall file with the TOWN a certificate of insurance before commencing any services under this Agreement as follows: i. WORKERS COMPENSATION INSURANCE: Minimum statutory limits. ii. COMMERCIAL GENERAL LIABILITY AND PROPERTY DAMAGE INSURANCE: General Liability and Property Damage Combined. $1,000,000.00 per occurrence including comprehensive form, personal injury, broad form personal damage, contractual and premises/operation, all on an occurrence basis. If an aggregate limit exists, it shall apply separately or be no less than two (2) times the occurrence limit. iii. AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE: $1,000,000.00 per occurrence. iv. ERRORS AND OMISSIONS INSURANCE: $1,000,000.00 aggregate. v. NOTICE OF CANCELLATION: The City requires 30 days written notice of cancellation. Additionally, the notice statement on the certificate should not include the wording "endeavor to" or "but failure to mail such notice shall impose no obligation or liability of any kind upon the company, its agents or representatives.” vi. CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE: Prior to commencement of services, evidence of insurance coverage must be shown by a properly executed certificate of insurance and it shall name "The Town of Los Altos Hills, its elective and appointed officers, employees, and volunteers" as additional insureds. vii. To prevent delay and ensure compliance with this Agreement, the insurance certificates and endorsements must be submitted to: Town of Los Altos Hills Page 3 of 5 Short form Updated 4/26/22 Town of Los Altos Hills 26379 Fremont Road Los Altos Hills, CA 94022 c. NON-DISCRIMINATION. No discrimination shall be made in the employment of persons under this Agreement because of the race, color, national origin, age, ancestry, religion or sex of such person. d. INTEREST OF CONTRACTOR. It is understood and agreed that this Agreement is not a contract of employment and does not create an employer -employee relationship between the TOWN and CONTRACTOR. At all times CONTRACTOR shall be an independent contractor an d CONTRACTOR is not authorized to bind the TOWN to any contracts or other obligations without the express written consent of the TOWN. In executing this Agreement, CONTRACTOR certifies that no one who has or will have any financial interest under this Agreement is an officer or employee of TOWN. e. CHANGES. This Agreement shall not be assigned or transferred without advance written consent of the TOWN. No changes or variations of any kind are authorized without the written consent of the City Manager. This Agreement may only be amended by a written instrument signed by both parties. f. TERMINATION. This Agreement may be terminated by TOWN upon seven (7) days written notice to CONTRACTOR. Monies owed for work satisfactorily completed shall be paid to CONTRACTOR within 14 days of termination. g. RECORDS. All reports, data, maps, models, charts, studies, surveys, calculations, photographs, memoranda, plans, studies, specifications, records, files, or any other documents or materials, in electronic or any other form, that are prepared or obtained pursuant to this Agreement and that relate to the matters covered hereunder shall be the property of the TOWN. CONTRACTOR hereby agrees to deliver those documents to the TOWN at any time upon demand of the TOWN. It is understood and agreed that the docu ments and other materials, including but not limited to those described above, prepared pursuant to this Agreement are prepared specifically for the TOWN and are not necessarily suitable for any future or other use. Failure by CONTRACTOR to deliver these documents to the TOWN within a reasonable time period or as specified by the TOWN shall be a material breach of this Agreement. TOWN and CONTRACTOR agree that until final approval by TOWN, all data, plans, specifications, reports and other documents are preliminary drafts not kept by the TOWN in the ordinary course of business and will not be disclosed to third parties without prior written consent of both parties. All work products submitted to the TOWN pursuant to this Agreement shall be deemed a "work for hire.” Upon submission of any work for hire pursuant to this Agreement, and acceptance by the TOWN as complete, non - exclusive title to copyright of said work for hire shall transfer to the TOWN. The compensation recited in Section 4 shall be deemed to be sufficient consideration Town of Los Altos Hills Page 4 of 5 Short form Updated 4/26/22 for said transfer of copyright. CONTRACTOR retains the right to use any project records, documents and materials for marketing of their professional services. h.CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION. The TOWN hereby designates [Finance Director] and the City Manager as Contract Administrator for this agreement. The CONTRACTOR shall only take direction regarding the services provided under this Agreement from the Contract Administrator. Furthermore, CONTRACTOR agrees that the Contract Administrator shall be included any meeting, teleconference or written communication between any Town representative including Committee members and the CONTRACTOR. The TOWN may modify the Contract Administrator at any time upon providing written notice to the CON TRACTOR. i.ENTIRE AGREEMENT. This Agreement represents the entire agreement between the Parties. Any ambiguities or disputed terms between this Agreement and any attached Exhibits shall be interpreted according to the language in this Agreement and not the Exhibits. 6.INVOICING. Send all invoices to the contract coordinator at the address below. This Agreement shall become effective upon its approval and execution by TOWN. In witness whereof, the parties have executed this Agreement the day and year first written above. CONTRACT COORDINATOR and CONTRACTOR: By: 3/21/2026 Signature Date representative for TOWN: Cody Einfalt Acting City Manager Town of Los Altos Hills 26379 Fremont Road Los Altos Hills, CA 94022 Brendan Hellweg, President & Co-CEO TOWN OF LOS ALTOS HILLS: By: Date 23/03/2026 Exhibit A Proposal from Civic Calling Corporation DBA Holly dated December 2, 2025 Holly Job Design Platform Contract Renewal Proposal Prepared by Civic Calling Corporation DBA Holly For Town of Los Altos Hills, California December 2, 2025 To: Thomas Leung Finance Director Town of Los Altos Hills Dear Thomas, Thank you for a successful first year of partnership between the Town of Los Altos Hills and Holly. Over the past twelve months, we've worked together to benchmark all 45 of the Town's classifications against your Bay Area comparators, delivering timely market data that supported budget planning and helped address compensation concerns before they became retention issues. We've appreciated your candid feedback on what's working—particularly the ease of adding comparison jurisdictions and generating staff report-ready outputs through Holly—and where we can continue to improve. The success you've described, including increased employee satisfaction and reduced flight risk for roles like City Clerk and Maintenance Superintendent that showed larger market deltas, is exactly the outcome Holly is designed to deliver. This proposal outlines a three-year renewal that builds on our first-year foundation while adding new capabilities we're developing specifically for agencies like Los Altos Hills: mass position analysis for efficient spec refreshes, and Benefits / Total Comp data analysis (currently piloting with Lincoln, CA) that will help you quantify pensions, healthcare, and other benefits when presenting to Council and staff. We look forward to continuing our partnership and supporting the Town's compensation strategy for years to come. Best, Brendan Hellweg Co-Founder, Holly About Holly Holly is a purpose-built platform designed for local government HR teams, combining automation with analyst oversight to streamline classification and compensation work. Our mission is to help public agencies make data-driven workforce decisions while reinforcing transparency, consistency, and defensibility. Holly was founded in 2023 by Brendan Hellweg and Cherie Chung. Brendan has served in five administrations across three governments; while in Baltimore, he grew a public health program to 275 staff in under a year, hiring about 40 staff per month, a model recognized by the White House for large-scale employment development. Cherie brings civic tech expertise as an early employee at Propel, where she helped grow the platform to over five million users and distributed over $200 million in unconditional cash transfers. The founders met as graduate students at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Representative Customers Holly serves California and national agencies of all sizes. Agencies similar to Los Altos Hills include City of El Segundo (90 employees), City of Pacifica (180 employees), City of Carson (400 employees), and City of Lehi, UT (400 employees). Our full customer list includes San Bernardino County (25,000 employees), Santa Clara County (24,000 employees), Contra Costa County (11,000 employees), Snohomish County, WA (3,000 employees), City of Long Beach (6,000 employees), City of Glendale (3,000 employees), City of Santa Rosa (1,800 employees), Yavapai County, AZ (1,800 employees), and Midwest City, OK (500 employees). What We've Learned – Los Altos Hills The Town's Strategic Goals Los Altos Hills is a small, non-unionized agency competing for talent with larger, higher-paying neighbors throughout the Bay Area. The Town has historically conducted comprehensive classification and compensation studies to ensure pay remains competitive—often leading the market—but these traditional studies were time-intensive, costly, and created lag between market shifts and Town response. The Town's key objectives include: keeping compensation aligned annually rather than every four to five years; providing staff with credible, current market data that validates their pay; and expanding analysis to include total compensation (pensions, healthcare, and other benefits) so that salary isn't the only headline when presenting to Council or discussing compensation with employees. First-Year Outcomes During our first year of partnership, Holly provided market benchmarking across all of the Town's classifications using the established comparator set: Portola Valley, Woodside, Los Altos, Atherton, Hillsborough, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Cupertino, and Campbell. Key results included: identification of roles with larger market deltas (such as City Clerk and Maintenance Superintendent), which allowed the Town to address compensation gaps proactively; increased employee satisfaction and reduced flight risk once staff saw that their pay had been validated against current market data; and rapid benchmarking for new positions like Engineering Technician, where Holly Pool made it easy to add comparators and generate staff report-ready outputs in minutes rather than hours. Opportunities for Year Two and Beyond Looking ahead, Holly will continue to support annual market re-runs ahead of the Town's budget cycle. Additionally, the Town will benefit from new capabilities currently in development: mass position analysis to refresh multiple specifications efficiently, and a Total Compensation module (now piloting with Lincoln, CA) that will allow Los Altos Hills to quantify benefits information from peers. Holly's ChatMOU capability will also help the Town identify benefit provisions across comparator agencies, strengthening the Town's ability to compete in a largely unionized state. Scope of Services Civic Calling Corporation, DBA Holly, will continue to provide classification and compensation benchmarking services to the Town of Los Altos Hills for its full workforce of approximately 27 employees across 45 classifications. Comparator Agencies (Refreshed Quarterly) Los Altos Hills, Portola Valley, Woodside, Los Altos, Atherton, Hillsborough, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Cupertino, and Campbell. Services Included Modern Compensation Benchmarking: Salary and total compensation insights tailored to the Town's Bay Area labor market and comparators. Quarterly data refresh from class specifications, salary schedules, and benefit information. AI-Powered Classification Matching: Automatic matching of Town roles to comparator specifications based on duties, with explainable similarity scoring that accelerates benchmarking for new positions. Class Specification Modernization: Tools for updating and standardizing specifications, with mass position analysis (in development) to refresh multiple specs efficiently. ChatMOU Analysis: Search and analyze benefit provisions across comparator MOUs and personnel policies to identify competitive differentiators. Unlimited Reporting: Fully customizable reports in Word, Excel, and PDF formats for staff reports, Council presentations, and internal documentation. Timeline Date Milestone April 1, 2026 Contract renewal effective; Year 2 begins Quarterly Comparator data refresh aligned to Town budget cycle Annually Market re-run ahead of budget; review meeting with Finance Director Upon Release Access to Total Compensation module and mass position analysis Pricing and Terms Component Cost Description Annual License $10,000/year Full platform access, all classifications Contract Term 3 years April 2026 – March 2029 CPI Escalator 3% max/year Applied in Years 2 and 3 Total (3-Year) $31,827 max $10,000 + $10,300 + $10,609 Payment Terms Net 60 Invoiced annually Support Direct contact with Holly founders for questions, feedback, and strategic discussions. Annual review meeting to align platform capabilities with Town priorities. Access to all new Holly features as released, including Total Compensation and mass position analysis. Strategic Value Annual market alignment keeps compensation competitive without waiting four to five years between studies. Credible, current data supports more productive conversations with staff and Council. Rapid benchmarking for new positions reduces staff report preparation from hours to minutes. Total compensation analysis (upon release) quantifies the full value of Town employment beyond base salary. Proactive retention: employees feel validated when they see their pay benchmarked against current market data. Next Steps 1. Review and confirm renewal terms. 2. Execute three-year agreement prior to April 1, 2026 contract start. 3. Schedule annual market re-run aligned to Town budget cycle. 4. Identify any additional comparators or classifications to include. AGREEMENT Final Audit Report 2026-03-24 Created:2026-03-23 By:Thomas Leung (tleung@losaltoshills.ca.gov) Status:Signed Transaction ID:CBJCHBCAABAATw7NBEOVKjylw37hCB4A5sKDtqb8qtzY "AGREEMENT" History Document created by Thomas Leung (tleung@losaltoshills.ca.gov) 2026-03-23 - 11:42:45 PM GMT Document emailed to Cody Einfalt (ceinfalt@losaltoshills.ca.gov) for signature 2026-03-23 - 11:42:49 PM GMT Email viewed by Cody Einfalt (ceinfalt@losaltoshills.ca.gov) 2026-03-23 - 11:42:56 PM GMT Document e-signed by Cody Einfalt (ceinfalt@losaltoshills.ca.gov) Signature Date: 2026-03-24 - 1:29:38 AM GMT - Time Source: server Agreement completed. 2026-03-24 - 1:29:38 AM GMT