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Sister City 2012/02/16CITE,' OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITE' COMMISSION MINUTES February 1h, 2012 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Shannon Buhrmaster, James Dinwiddie, Ann Gallaugher, Lisa Gin, Russell Lahodny, Linda Newby, John Nguyen, Brian O'Neal, Kyndell Paine, Anna Picrey, Pat Pma, Jennifer Vaughn, Virginia Zlal {et COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: GUESTS PRESENT: Leonard, Sanity Michael Bruckner, City Manager's Office None. Agenda Posting_ A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted at 3:00 p.m. on February 14, 20, 201.2 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. VII. Public Comment. 1. CALL TO ORDER. The special meeting of the Anaheim Sister City Commission (ASCC) was called to order at 8:06 a.m. on Thursday, February 16, 2012 at the Anaheim City Manager's Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., 7` Floor, Anaheim, California. II. APPROVAL OF FUNDS FOR VITORIA- GASTEIZ DELEGATION Chairman Nguyen thanked the commissioners for taking their valuable time on such short notice for this special meeting. The meeting today is to vote on the items that are needed to allocate the airline travel funds of $4000.00 to put down a fully refundable deposit in. order to hold the ticket prices at the current rate. Additionally, Chairman Nguyen presented the tentative itinerary for the commissioners to review. Commissioner Newby added that she has a contract with Lufthansa Airlines that locks in the lowest possible fare for 20 passengers (or a minimum of 10). As soon as the commission can guarantee at least 10 seats, the check should be made to Anaheim. Sister City Commission February 15, 2012 Page 2 CTA Travel. The money is purposefully being put into CTA Travel, to assure that there is no perception that there will be any financial gain for Commissioner Newby or Gallery Travel. This is commission volunteer work on the part of Commissioner Newby and that everybody traveling on this trip will be paying for their own expenses personally. There is no money going to the Anaheim Sister City Commission and there is no money coining from the city or taxpayers to pay for any part of this trip. The travel dates are May 22 through May 28 (Memorial flay weekend). So far, there have been tentative verbal commitments by Mayor Tait and his wife, Council Member Lorri Galloway and her husband, and Aramark Director Debbie 3uliani and her sister, along with Sister City Commissioners Nguyen, Newby and Piercy. The $4000.00 deposit is due by February 23, 2012, and the full amount of $3500.00 per person is due by April 10, 2012 from each traveler. Since the $4000.00 deposit will not be returned until. August 2012, Commissioner Dinwiddic suggested that each traveler submit a $500 deposit towards their travel fees, rather than taking the $4000.00 from the Sister City funds. A roundtable discussion ensued regarding all of the pros and cons of the idea of utilizing $4000.00 from the Sister City fiend in order to guarantee the low airfare price currently available for the trip to Vitoria - Gasteiz, Spain by February 23, 2012. MOTION Commissioner Piercy offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Buhrmaster AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 12 -1, Absent: Leonard, Smith) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve to utilize $4000.00 from the Sister City fund to put towards a deposit on the Vitoria - Gasteiz trip by February 23, 2012 (which will be refunded 3 months after the trip), in order to guarantee the low airfare price currently available. An additional discussion ensued concerning expenditures and how the checks should be made out for all of the various projects run by the ASCC. Commissioner Piercy suggested that someone from the Anaheim Community Foundation be invited to come to the next Commission meeting for clarification and to answer questions that the commissioner's have. Anaheim Sister City Commission February 16, 2012 Page 3 111. DISCUSSION ON EXPENDITURES FOR VITORIA- GASTEIZ DELEGATION Commissioner Newby inquired about the possibility of receiving money from the Sister City funds in order to obtain an Anaheim logo souvenir watch for each of the passengers that will be traveling to Vitoria - Gasteiz, Spain. Chairman Nguyen deferred the discussion of gifts to the next ASCC meeting. IV. DISCUSSION ON TASTE OF ANAHEIM EVENT Commissioner Newby has talked to the Chamber of Commerce staff about obtaining a booth at the Taste of Anaheim, event for wine tasting with wines from Vitoria - Gasteiz, Spain. Further, Commissioner Newby has talked to the Battle of the Dance staff about having some Spanish flamenco dancers to entertain at the ASCC booth at the Taste ofAnaheim event. Commissioner Pina mentioned that the owner of Yves Bistro has been to Spain several times and that he may also be interested in assisting with a separate fund raising event. Finally, Commissioner Newby mentioned that we have a lot of great ideas and opportunities and that she has a lot of resources, however she suggested that they work on organizing the coordination of the projects at the next ASCC meeting. V. PUBLIC COMMENT None. VI. MISCELANEOUS ITEMS Commissioner Piercy went to the Huntington Gardens for the Cherry Festival. It was very interesting and she brought back some brochures and flyers for various cherry blossom activities and events throughout the county of Los Angeles and even some in Arizona. Commissioner Buhrmaster announced that the U.S. /Mexico Sister Cities Commission Association is having a convention on February 25 in Orange, CA. Commissioner Buhrmaster will be attending the convention and she will send the link to all of the commissioners so that if they are interested in attending, they will have all of the inforgnation. Anaheim Sister City Commission February 16, 2012 Page 4 VII. COMMISIONER COMMENTS Commissioner Newby noted that the fall display at the Muzeo will be "Spanish Masters." They will have artwork displayed by such masters as Goya, Picasso and Kali. There will be inspired people at the event this October and this will be another great opportunity for the ASCC. She suggested that the commission be present at the event for visibility and to promote text year's trip to Spain. VIII. ADJOURNMENT "There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:02 a.m. to February 27, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. at the City of Anaheim, City IManager's Office.