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Sister City 2015/03/23CITY OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITY COMMISSION MINUTES March 23, 2015 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Anthony Al- Jamie, James Dinwiddie, Lori Farrow, Jackie Filbeck, Ann Gallaugher, Debbie Julian, Laurie Leonard, John Nguyen, Brian O'Neal, Kyndell Thorson and Jeanne Tran COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Mark Lopez and Anna Piercy (two vacant seats) STAFF PRESENT: GUESTS PRESENT: Erin Wahlen, City Manager's Office Maggie Solorio, City Manager's Office None Agenda Posting A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted on Friday, March 20, 2015 at 3:30 p.m. 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. VI. Public Comment. L CALL TO ORDER The meeting of the Anaheim Sister City Commission (ASCC) was called to order at 4:12 p.m. by Chairman John Nguyen on Monday, March 23, 2015 at the Anaheim City Manager's Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., 7th Floor, Anaheim, California. IL APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION Commissioner James Dinwiddie offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Lori Farrow AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 10 -0; Absent: Anthony Al- Jamie, Mark Lopez and Anna Piercy; and, two vacant seats) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the minutes from the ASCC meeting held on January 26, 2015 as presented. Anaheim Sister City Commission March 23, 2015 Page 2 The consideration to approve the February 23, 2015 Sister City Commission minutes was continued to the April 27, 2015 meeting because there were not enough commissioners present at the meeting that were in attendance at the February 23 meeting to represent a quorum III. TREASURER'S REPORT A copy of an updated Treasurer's Report dated March 17, 2015 and a Revised 2014 Inbound Student Expense Report were presented at the meeting. Treasurer Laurie Leonard noted the Exchange Student Subcommittee met on March 17 and as a result of the discussions that took place, she revised the 2014 Mito Inbound Student Program Expense Report because the report did not include the teacher's stipends and gift. The 2014 Inbound Student Expense Report has been revised to include that and as a result of that (with the in -kind gifts shown as actual dollars), the total expenses for 2014 would have been $8,100.34 with a total income contribution from Mito in the amount of $6,018.30, so they would have had a loss of $2,082.04. It was also noted that the $2,365 payment to the Anaheim Public Works Department for the Mito plaque installation and related labor costs is reflected on the updated Treasurer's Report dated March 17 and shows a current balance of $20,800.68. Mito's contribution for the plaque presentation and reception event was $7,165.20 and the actual cost was $7,495.74, so there was a loss of $330 for that event. MOTION Commissioner Jackie Filbeck offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Ann Gallaugher AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 10 -0; Absent: Anthony Al- Jamie, Mark Lopez and Anna Piercy; and, two vacant seats) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the Treasurer's Report dated March 17, 2015 and the updated 2014 Mito Inbound Student Program Expense Report. IV. AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE REVIEW & REPORTS Commissioner Debbie Julian reported on behalf of the Marketing /Fundraising Subcommittee that she met with Commissioner Jeanne Tran to discuss the beer crawl fundraiser. They did some research and are still waiting to hear back from an official tour guide that they discovered when they were doing an event at the Anaheim Brewery. There is a company that does this and they want to talk to them to see how they maneuver it. Commissioner Julian reached out to the Anaheim Brewery and found out that this tour company typically does about three to four tastes, the people are wrist banded, and they usually include three or four, Anaheim Sister City Commission March 23, 2015 Page 3 4 -ounce tastes at $6 a taste. The idea would be to tour no more than the top three breweries and allow roughly four hours for the tour on a Saturday afternoon, from noon -4 p.m. Commissioner Julian is considering to touring Anaheim, Noble Ale and Bottle Logic to kick off this event. Their thought is also to have a food truck at one of the stops and have lunch. She stated this is kind of the preliminary step of that and wanted to make sure everyone on the Commission would be comfortable moving in that direction as she continues to do some research and see what value they can put to that. Chairman Nguyen asked if transportation was going to be provided and Commissioner Julian responded yes, transportation would be provided and most likely offer cab service as well. Commissioner Julian is also considering featuring Mayor Tait as a special guest on the beer crawl. She mentioned it to his Chief of Staff and she seemed very interested to have Mayor Tait participate. Discussion took place regarding the number of attendees. Anaheim Brewery can accommodate up to 40 people. Chairman Nguyen suggested doing it bigger. Commissioner Dinwiddie suggested doing three tastes at a time by rotating breweries. The Mayor can be at the Anaheim Brewery and possibly having a special guest at each of the other breweries. The idea is to have this fundraising event sometime in the fall. Commissioner Julian is going to develop a business model and bring it back to the Commission for consideration. Commissioner Julian also brought up the idea to have a recruitment /reception for the families that have hosted and, or are considering to host Mito Exchange students this year. The purpose of this is to enhance their experience. After further discussion, a decision was not made on whether or not this reception would take place because there has not been much participation in the past from parents who have previously hosted students. Commissioner Dinwiddie reported that the Cultural /Government Exchange Subcommittee met on March 17 to discuss the 2015 Mito Inbound Student Exchange. When they proposed to Mr. Wang that there would be a $125 charge per day per student, Mr. Wang expressed some strong concerns about this year's student exchange. After discussing Mr. Wang's concerns with the Subcommittee, Anaheim Sister City Commission March 23, 2015 Page 4 they determined they would revise the overall costs of the student exchange. The dates have been confirmed for July 24 through August 3; the cost to host the students will be around $8,000 and Mito is going to contribute around $6,000, so there will be a loss this year with the understanding that next year the Program will be revisited and the cost per student will increase. The cost to host is also going to increase this year due to the $300 stipend for the host families, which will increase the cost up to $3,000. As suggested by Commissioner Jackie Filbeck, the Commission approved for her to contact local restaurants to see if they can offer special discounts for when the Mito exchange students come to Anaheim. Commission Jackie Filbeck further suggested giving some of the discounts to the host families so they can use them with the students. Commissioner Debbie Julian is also going to see about contacting restaurants via email to increase participation. Commissioner Jackie Filbeck also reported that Katie Filbeck will visit Mito next month on April 13 and 14. Further, Commissioner Filbeck announced that Akiko is expecting a child and will not be able to chaperone the exchange students this year. Commissioner Filbeck will send a card with Katie congratulating Akiko on behalf of the Sister City Commission. Erin Wahlen is going to book the Downtown Community Center for the Mito exchange students for the entire week of July 24, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. MOTION Commissioner Laurie Leonard offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Anthony Al -Jamie AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 11 -0; Absent: Mark Lopez and Anna Piercy; and, two vacant seats) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby reschedule the July 27, 2015 Sister City Commission meeting to July 20, 2015 in order to prepare for the visit of the Inbound Mito Exchange students the following week. V. SISTER SCHOOLS EXCHANGE PROGRAM Commissioner Anthony Al -Jamie feels the Sister School Exchange is a great program because the entire class gets to participate due to technology. Schools can exchange information back and forth very easily so they can, for example, hold collaborative lessons and joint science projects. The Sister Schools Exchange Program can being as early as first grade with students sending pictures of animals in their local zoo. It's a fantastic way to get a cultural experience online. Anaheim Sister City Commission March 23, 2015 Page 5 Chairman Nguyen agreed this is a great program. He stated the Commission has an opportunity right now with Katie Filbeck going to Mito to initiate talks and to see who would be the people there to talk to and then they can engage here and get the news out through Commissioners O'Brian and Filbeck to the Anaheim City School District and the Anaheim Union High School District. He feels if the Commission can be successful in establishing this program it would of great benefit to the youth and the future generations. Getting to understand sister cities at a very young age is a phenomenal thing. This exchange could be done through skype, emails, letters, videos and the many endless ways to communicate. Commissioner Al -Jamie added that the Resources Section of the Southern California Sister Cities website at www.socalsistercities.org has a Sister Schools Tool Kit and it contains numerous examples of the different relationships and how they can set up a sister school relationship. Chairman Nguyen added with the outbound /inbound Student Exchange program, the Commission impacts a handful of students, but with an entire class participating it will be many, many lives that are impacted. Further, that implementing the Sister School Program would be a great way to expand the existing sister city relationships with Mito and Vitoria - Gasteiz and future sister cities to come. VI. PUBLIC COMMENT None. VII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Commissioner Jeanne Tran gave an update Inigo Bilbao's proposal for a postgraduate grant request. She explained the issue with this proposal is that CalState Fullerton does not currently have a doctorial in communications. She explained that the doctoral student that Mr. Bilbao is proposing to send has a main focus on sports communications. CalState Fullerton has people that do sports marketing, but she believes that Mr. Bilbao's hope was that the student would be included with the Angels and Ducks. That's her best guess, so she was uncertain if it be a good idea to postpone the Commission's interest this year and just do all the groundwork, so that they are ready for next year and asked for the Commission's advice. Anaheim Sister City Commission March 23, 2015 Page 6 Erin Wahlen advised that in terms of the Angel's organization, they are set and have their interns lined up for this season. She does not feel too optimistic about it. Commissioner Tran added that she feels CalState Fullerton is not ready to take a student. A doctoral student in education would be no problem, but not in sports communications. On a different note, Chairman Nguyen indicated he is terming out in 2016 and would like to propose to transition out of his role as Chair. He feels very blessed to serve and be involved with Sister City ever since he was a high school student selected to participate in the exchange program. He's always been very conscientious about transitioning out and feels that this is a good time to do it. He stated Vice Chair Kyndell Thorson is aware and ready to take the role as Chair of the Sister City Commission. This should not affect anything, everyone is a contributor. Commissioner Thorson is going to move into the Chair and the Commission will need to select a new Vice Chair. Chairman Nguyen also announced that Commissioner Members Brian O'Neal and Anna Piercy are not being termed out in June as the City Council wishes to have permanent representation from the Anaheim Union High School District. Therefore, they established two permanent seats on the Commission to be filled by Anaheim Union High School District Board members. VIII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:40 p.m. to Monday, April 27, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. at the Anaheim City Hall, 7th Floor, City Manager's Office Large Conference Room.