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Johns Creek staff propose five volunteer roles as city reports large event turnouts
Summary
Recreation and parks staff outlined five volunteer committees — decorations, food, performances, community outreach and volunteer management — to support large city events and said signups and a points system will be shared with the advisory committee ahead of Lunar New Year.
Erica Madison, director of recreation and parks, and city event planner Corinne presented a plan for structured volunteer roles and described robust attendance at recent city events.
Madison told the Recreation and Parks Advisory Committee that staff are recommending five volunteer roles to help run special events: a decoration committee, food committee, performances and entertainment committee, community outreach committee and volunteer management. "We have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 volunteer roles," Madison said, and staff would provide guideline budgets while volunteers advise on specifics.
Corinne, the city's special event planner, reviewed recent turnout figures as context for the proposal. "We had the adaptive dance… There were 25 attendees," Corinne said. She reported the arts festival drew "roughly 18,000 people for the 2 days," trunk-or-treat had about "5,500 attendees," and Diwali drew "roughly 7,000 attendees" across two days.
Staff emphasized that volunteers would offer community input—for example, on authentic food choices—while the city remains responsible for vendor vetting, licensing and insurance. "We would ask volunteers to give input on what type of food should be at the event… The special event planner would then source those a vendor that meets those requirements," Madison said.
Committee members raised operational questions and suggestions. One member urged the committee consider parking logistics and whether a dedicated process or vendor is needed; Madison cautioned that parking assignments involve liability and would be handled carefully. Another member suggested developing an AV/tech volunteer pool for announcements and sound; Corinne noted the communications department often provides photography and drone coverage but that some events require outside services.
Corinne said the city uses a volunteer registration database and waiver system, that returning volunteers receive automatic notifications, and that staff have templates describing volunteer responsibilities. "I actually do have a format that is a template for all of our events… so there is detail in writing," Corinne said.
Next steps include staff sharing the committee's sign-up link and the committee receiving a points system by email. Madison said she will present the special event calendar to the city council at its upcoming work session on Monday the 18th so committee members can hear council feedback.
The committee also approved the minutes from the Oct. 10, 2024 meeting earlier in the session.
