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Sister City 2011/05/23CITY OF ANAHEIM May 23, 2011 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Joseph Aihara, Sandy Day, lames Dinwiddie, Russell LaHodny, Laurie Leonard, John D. Nguyen, Kyndell Paine, Swati Patel, Kyoko Smith, Virginia Zlaket COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Elaine Cali, Lisa Gin, Brian O'Neal, Axina Piercy, Carolyn Yellis STAFF PRESENT: GUESTS PRESENT: Michael Bruckner, City Manager's Office Lori Bartnikowski, City Manager's Office Richard Fukuhara Agenda Posting: A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted at 3.00 on May 20, 2011 at Anaheim City Hall. Public Input: Chairman Nguyen explained that members of the public are invited to address the Anaheim Sister City Commission and will be called upon under Agenda Item No. III Public Comment. 1. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Anaheim Sister City Commission was called to order at 4:08 p.m. on Monday, May 23, 2011 at the Anaheim City Manager's Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim. Blvd. 7 Floor, Anaheim, California. 11, OATH OF OFFICE Chairman Nguyen and the Commission members gave a warm welcome to the newly- appointed Commissioner, Kyndell Paine, Michael Bruckner administered the Oath of Office to Kyndell Paine. 11I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION Commissioner Aihara offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Day AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 9 -0, Absent: Cali, Cain, O'Neal, Piercy, Yellis; one vacant seat) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the minutes from the May 23, 2011 Sister Commission meeting with the Anaheim Sister City Commission May 23, 2011 Page 2 following changes: Commissioner O'Neal was marked present when he was not present at the meeting that was held on May 23, 2011. IV, PUBLIC COMMENT Chairman Nguyen introduced Richard Fukuhara who is a representative of the Board of the Los Angeles Nagoya Sister City Association (LASCA), the Board of Directors of the So -Cal Sister Cities, and the Chairman of the So -Cal Conference which will be meeting in mid February 2012. Additionally, Richard is a member of the conference event committee for the So -Cal Conference and they are currently in the planning stages. He is here today, inquiring about everyone's needs so that they can be addressed in the conference. V. TREASURER'S REPORT Commissioner Patel reported that the current balance is $8577.16. This includes the two refund checks from commissioner Zlakct and Greg Garcia with regard to the cancelled tickets for the vlito Exchange Program. Further, it was also noted that this amount does not yet include the funds that were raised at the Taste of Anaheim event. VI. COMMISSION REAPPOINTMENTS Michael Bruckner announced that there will be five commissioner vacancies on June 30, 2011, so they are currently in the process of either reappointing or filling the vacancies. VII. MITO OUTREACH UPDATE — .JAPAN TRIP Commissioner Zlakct expressed her sincerest thanks to Commissioner Day for volunteering to personally tape it upon herself, and for taking her own money, time and effort to represent the Sister City Commission in such a short period of time and making it happen. She expressed that it is commendable and that the notoriety is shared by the whole commission. Commissioner Day stated that she was happy to do it and she wanted to give a special thanks to Chairman Nguyen who kindly donated $200.00 towards her trip expenses. She used that money to pay for the excess baggage to carry all of the gifts she brought to the Sister City. Commissioner Day wanted to also thank Commissioner LaHodny for assisting her in creating the business cards needed for the trip. Anaheim Sister City Commission May 23, 2011 Page 3 Further, Commissioner Day shared her wonderful experience of personally delivering the 2500 letters, thousands of toys, and 2000 origami cranes to Mito. She shared numerous pictures of the severe tsunami and earthquake damaged Mito City Hall, the make -shift temporary city hall, the sites on the street, the performing arts center, restaurants, broken foundations, damaged sidewalks, the bicycles that were donated by Peugeot, and the wonderfully upbeat smiling people of Mito. Commissioner Day was the only guest in the hotel, as the tourism business is completely gone. The people of Mito were surprised that she came in person, as during the disaster, there were three deaths and 80 injuries in Mito. The gesture was all very well received. The people of Mito were very touched and moved to tears to receive the generous amounts of letters and gifts. The Mito City International Association is going to make a museum exhibit with all of the letters received. Commissioner Day reiterated that it was an awesome experience and that this visit was covered by National newspapers, the Wall Street Journal, the Mito local press, and the Anaheim local press. The commission has been continuing to receive hundreds of letters and they will all be sent to Mito. VIII. AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATES Commissioner Zlaket gave an update on the success of the funds raised in the amount of $641.70 that were donated by patrons of the Taste of Anaheim event. The commission received a lot of exposure, as there were articles in the O.C. Register and Anaheim Independent newspapers. Commissioner LaHodny reported that he has touched base again with UPS and has received more referrals in regards to economic development. He will continue to work on making more progress. An additional suggestion was made by Commissioner LaHodny for promoting the Sister City and to expand and drive more awareness. Setting up a profile of the Sister City on a fundraising website for non -profit organizations called www,cr It would be a way to attract the general public through facebook, and to get the awareness out there. Anaheim Sister City Commission May 23, 2011 Page 4 Chairman Nguyen inquired with Commissioner LaHodny regarding the progress of getting the Anaheim Sister City Commission (ASCC) website link on the Chamber of Commerce home page and Commissioner LaHodny responded that it is in the process. Commissioner Day made a suggestion regarding the possibility of creating a video for the ASCC (that would be similar to the Visitors and Convention Bureau. video) that could be sent out to potential sister cities. Chain�nan Nguyen initiated a discussion with the idea of the commission making a concerted effort to be an inclusive organization and to obtain more partnerships. Further he suggested that the sister city establish themselves as a clearer partnership with the Chamber of Commerce, Disney, the Visitors and Convention Bureau, and the Arts and Cultural Commission for a shared purpose. He also made a suggestion of possibly forming subcommittees outside of the commission in order to receive more publicity. Michael stated that all of these ideas are excellent however there are a lot of prior steps necessary, beginning with fundraising and sponsorships, as it is difficult to do things without full financial support in place. IX. FUNDRAISING AND SPONSORSHIPS Commissioner Day reported that Elaine Cali has a strong interest in a sponsorship packet that the Executive Ad Hoc Subcommittee has created, and a meeting has been scheduled to move forward. Chairman Nguyen gave an update on the Japanese grant through Sister Cities International Association where a grant fund foundation will be awarded for $8400.00. There will be five recipients for the grant funds this year and there will be seven recipients next year. ASCC meets the qualifications and will be participating in the grant process. Commissioner Gin will graciously assist with the grant writing process. Chairman Nguyen thanked Commissioner LaHodny for helping to make it possible for the ASCC to have the exposure at the Taste of Anaheim event and the ability to raise funds. After that event, ASCC worked at the Children's Art Festival and received additional donations. Also, 7 -Day Dental made a donation of $1491.00. In total, the amount raised for Japan was just over $2264.00. Anaheim Sister City Commission May 23, 2011 Page 5 Chairman Nguyen will write a personal letter to the Mayor of Mito or Mr. Wang Wciya summarizing all of our fundraising activities. The donation check will be from the Anaheim Community Foundation and will be made out directly to Mito City International Association. Also thanked, were Commissioner Smith and her husband for their contribution of taking the time to teach volunteers how to make the origami cranes, which resulted in donations of $164.00 at the Children's Art Festival event. X. SISTER CITIES REGIONAL CONFERENCE Richard Fulcuhara who is a representative of the Board of LASCA talked about networking ideas and ways to improve the communication between sister cities and how it would help immensely in fundraising efforts for Japan and the tsunami aftermath. Richard encouraged everyone to make the effort to communicate. Richard discussed a system available on cell phones called Uronimo where everyone can be in immediate contact with each other, at no charge to sister cities. He encouraged the commission to take advantage of it. Further, Richard wants to form a contact list with all of the major couulcils so that they can all be connected. X1. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS Richard Fukuhara reiterated his strong encouragement towards communicating and working together with other sister cities for numerous fundraising ideas. XII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Commissioner Paine suggested a current trendy way of fundraising which has no overhead. Connect with a restaurant and negotiate to receive a percentage of the sales receipts for one evening. In addition, an intenrational food fundraising series can be started, where every other month is an outing with a different international food, i.e. Japanese food, Mexican food, Italian food, etc. It has a fun social aspect and everyone can invite family, friends, and co- workers to participate. It's a way to raise awareness of the commission and develop partnerships. Commissioner Aihara inquired about the follow up of obtaining business cards for the commission. Anaheim Sister City Commission May 23, 2011 Page 6 Chairman Nguyen stated they will look into the cost and will vote on it at the next meeting and suggested voting on the possibility of each commissioner paying for it themselves or fundraising for the cost of the business cards. Michael inquired about authorization for the expenditure cost of sending the donation check along with additional letters to Mito. Commissioner Zlaket suggested just sending the package and then bringing the receipt to the commission for reimbursement at the next meeting. MOTION Commissioner Zlaket offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Day AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 10 -0, Absent: Cali, Gin, O'Neal, Piercy, Yellis) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby allow up to $100.00 on shipping expenditures for the commission. XIII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:44 p.m. to June 27, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. at the City of Anaheim, City Manager's Office.