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Sister City 2017/03/27CITY OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITY COMMISSION COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: MINUTES March 27, 2017 Paul Anderson, Lori Dinwiddie, Jackie Filbeck, Yanni Guo, Debbie Julian, Mark Lopez, JerryO'Keefe, Brian O'Neal, and Anna Piercy Anthony Al -Jamie, Pepe Avila, Taline Cole, Julia Erdkamp, Matthew Hicks and Jeanne Tran STAFF PRESENT: Brent Dennis, Community Services Kimberly Kelemen, Community Services Maggie Solorio, City Manager's Office GUESTS PRESENT: None Agenda Posting A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted on Friday, March 24, 2017 at 4:00 p.m. at Anaheim City Hall. Public Input: Chair Debbie Julian explained that members of the public are invited to address the Anaheim Sister City Commission and will be called upon under Agenda Item No. VIII. Public Comment. L CALL TO ORDER Chair Debbie Julian called the meeting of the Anaheim Sister City Commission (ASCO) to order at 4:10 p.m. on Monday, March 27, 2017 at the Anaheim City Manager's Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., 7th Floor, Anaheim, California. IL APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Commissioner Jerry O'Keefe offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Lori Dinwiddie AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 8-0, Abstained: Mark Lopez; Absent: Anthony Al -Jamie, Pepe Avila, Taline Cole, Julia Erdkamp, Matthew Hicks and Jeanne Tran) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the minutes from the ASCC meeting held on February 27, 2017 as presented. ITEM NO. 05 Anaheim Sister City Commission March 27, 2017 Page 2 III. APPROVAL OF TREASURER'S REPORTS Chair Debbie Julian presented the Treasurer's Report dated March 27, 2017 and noted there had been no activity since the last meeting and that the current balance remained the same at $14,416.07. MOTION: Commissioner Lori Dinwiddie offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Mark Lopez AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 9-0, Absent: Anthony Al -Jamie, Pepe Avila, Taline Cole, Julia Erdkamp, Matthew Hicks and Jeanne Tran) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the Treasurer's Report dated March 27, 2017. IV. DISCUSS OUTBOUND STUDENT EXCHANGE CHAPERONES AND EXPENSES Commissioner Lori Dinwiddie stated the Cultural/Government Exchange Subcommittee would like to recommend that two chaperones including at least one female, accompany the students on their trip to Japan. The subcommittee further recommends that the chaperones pay for all of their expenses including their flights. Further, that the next step is to post the chaperone application online and to open the application process to the community. Commissioner Jackie Filbeck recommended the chaperones have experience working with students and knowledge of traveling. Chair Debbie Julian would like to see the chaperone application posted online within that next week and asked Kimberly Kelemen to coordinate. Chair Julian further noted that the year before, the chaperones paid for their hotel accommodations and their meals and the Commission paid for the flight and insurance. Commissioner Filbeck who served as a chaperone in 2016 confirmed the plane tickets were the only thing that was paid for the chaperones. Commissioner Dinwiddie advised the Commission does not have the funds they had last year and that in the past the chaperones have paid for all of their expenses. Commissioner Dinwiddie recommended editing last year's chaperone application deleting the section that states the Commission will pay for the air flight if indeed that is stated. If they are able to fundraise the money for the air flight tickets then that will be great, but that way it is not expected. Commissioner Brian O'Neal asked if in fact the Commission does not have sufficient funds to pay for the chaperone's plane ticket. Anaheim Sister City Commission March 27, 2017 Page 3 Commissioner Anna Piercy asked if there was a reason why we had to send two chaperones with six students and could if they could send one instead. Commissioner Filbeck responded the year before the chaperones had situations where they had to split up. It would have been crazy in the airport. One chaperone took the front and the other the rear end. It was more comfortable having two and there was a situation where a girl got sick, so one of them attended her. Commissioner Dinwiddie added she would feel comfortable sending one chaperone with four students, but with six, she would want to send two. It would be overwhelming for one person. Chair Julian recalled having discussing that extensively the year before and it was determined to be more of a safe point to have two adults traveling with the six students. She feels it would be more of a comfort level to the chaperones. Commissioner Brian O'Neal asked what the cost of the plane tickets is. Commissioner Anna Piercy remarked that the Commission paid for the flights the year before and added if the Commission is going to ask someone to go chaperone, she cannot see asking them to pay for everything. Commissioner Dinwiddie responded the chaperones have always paid for their own and that last year was the first year the Commission paid for anything. Commissioner Piercy stated the year she was going to serve as a chaperone, she paid for her flight, but everything else was going to be paid for, so it was a different situation. Chair Julian clarified the outgoing expenses the year before were $11,000 and that included all the flights with insurance, they got $6,000 back from the students so they were negative on that by $5,000. She feels the Commission should do a little bit more research in terms of where the Commission was financially when they made that decision to pay flights for the chaperones last year. Commissioner Piercy stated that most likely part of the reason the Commission paid for the chaperones' flight was because they would have to pay for their own lodging. Whereas in the past, the chaperones were home stayed. Now, if the Anaheim Sister City Commission March 27, 2017 Page 4 chaperones are going to have to pay for their own flight and their own lodging, it would be too much to ask. She feels the Commission should either cover the flight or cover the lodging because if the Commission is asking them to take the responsibility of traveling with these kids and taking care of them with nothing in return that is asking a lot. Commissioner Piercy shared she has chaperoned a lot of kids, but she always did it as a teacher or she did it with the ambassador program where she would get her flights and the lodging free for three weeks of chaperoning kids, so it made it worthwhile. If she would have had to pay for her flight and lodging to go with them and do all that work, she would not have gone. Commissioner Filbeck stated it would be nice to pay for the flights if they had the funds. Commissioner O'Neal thinks they have the funds; they just need to start thinking about a fundraiser and Chair Julian agreed. Chair Julian feels they could pull something together before then to gain some funds. Commissioner Filbeck noted that she spent about $1,000 for transportation, lodging and meals while chaperoning the students. MOTION: Commissioner Anna Piercy offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Brian O'Neal AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 9-0, Absent: Anthony Al -Jamie, Pepe Avila, Taline Cole, Julia Erdkamp, Matthew Hicks and Jeanne Tran) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby give their approval to pay for the cost of two flight tickets in an amount not to exceed $2,000 for the chaperones for the 2017 Outbound Student Exchange. Chair Julian asked to have the 2016 Chaperone application emailed to the Commission and to post it online once it is finalized. Further, Chair Julian will try to schedule a meeting with her subcommittee to talk about fundraising. Finally, Chair Julian asked for a breakdown of the 2016 Outbound and Inbound Student Exchange Program expenses. With the breakdown of expenses, the Commission will review and look at which direction they need to go in and where they need to watch expenses or may need to add to make some of the inbound stuff easier for all the facilitators. Maggie will follow up with Treasurer Jeanne Tran. Commissioner O'Brian asked for a flyer promoting the Chaperone opportunity so that they could post them at the schools at the teacher lounges. Anaheim Sister City Commission March 27, 2017 Page 5 V. DISCUSS INBOUND EXCHANGE TEACHER HIRING Commissioner Lori Dinwiddie recommended hiring Katie Filbeck as the teacher for the inbound students again this year. She has done a phenomenal job the last three years and she takes wonderful care of the students. MOTION: Commissioner Lori Dinwiddie offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Brian O'Neal AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 9-0, Absent: Anthony Al -Jamie, Pepe Avila, Taline Cole, Julia Erdkamp, Matthew Hicks and Jeanne Tran) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby agree to hire Katie Filbeck as the inbound student teacher and to pay her $1,000. Commissioner Mark Lopez asked if a videographer was going to be hired this year for the Inbound Student Exchange. Commissioner Filbeck responded they should consider it only if they are going to use the video. For some reason that has just never gotten into the stream of the City stuff this year. The Commission agreed to put further thought into this before making a decision and agendize it for the next Commission meeting. Commissioner Jerry O'Keefe suggested using the videos from past exchanges to promote the exchange program. Commissioner Lori Dinwiddie is going to prepare a sign-up sheet and bring it to the next Commission meeting in May for the Commissioner to sign up for the different activities and events during the Inbound Student Exchange. Commissioner Jackie Filbeck is going to invite Katie Filbeck to the next meeting so that the Commissioners that have not had a chance to meet her can meet her and so that she can share what would be helpful for her in the overall program to make it successful for her including videography and pictures. The Commission agreed to agendize Transportation for the Inbound Student Exchange as item for discussion at the next ASCC meeting. Commissioner Mark Lopez offered to put an ad on the County newsletter regarding the opportunity to host students this summer. Commissioner Filbeck asked staff to look into posting the link of 2016 Inbound Student Exchange video on the City's webpage or on Facebook. Kimberly is going to look into it. Anaheim Sister City Commission March 27, 2017 Page 6 The Commission confirmed there would be a $300 stipend for families that host a student. VI. VITORIA-GASTEIZ ANNIVERSARY This item was continued to the April 24, 2017 ASCC meeting. VII. AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE REVIEW & REPORTS a. Cultural/Government Exchange Subcommittee None. b. Marketing/Fundraising Subcommittee None. c. Economic Development Subcommittee None. VIII. PUBLIC COMMENT None. IX. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Commissioner O'Keefe stated the minutes prepared for the ASCC meetings are the best he has ever seen and he has been involved in many organizations. He asked to commend staff for doing such a fine job. In addition, he attended the Volunteers Lunch and it was terrific. Further, he recommended that the Commission take periodic photos of the group to create a role in history. Commissioner Yanni Guo asked for an update on what the City Council decided regarding the Boards and Commissions. Brent Dennis reported on behalf of the City Clerk, that although the resolution removes all members from their current seat effective April 25, she would likely be holding appointments until the June cycle. This is based on a Council Member's request to revisit the makeup of the commissions and considering that a lot of board members and commissioners' term expires at the end of June anyway. Therefore, the Commission will be okay until the end of June. The Clerk is going to ask each commissioner to reapply if he/she are interested in continuing to serve and everyone is encouraged to reapply. Anaheim Sister City Commission March 27, 2017 Page 7 Commissioner Filbeck asked if the Sister City Commission is going to remain open to residents outside of Anaheim and Brent confirmed it was. Brent stated this commission and the library board are different from the rest. X. STAFF COMMENTS None. XI. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:13 p.m. to Monday, April 24, 2017 at 4:00 p.m. at the Anaheim City Hall, 7th Floor, City Manager's Office Large Conference Room.