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Sister City 2021/05/24CITY OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITY COMMISSION MINUTES May 24, 2021— 4:00 p.m. TELECONFERENCE http://www.anaheim.net/192/Sister-City-Commission SPECIAL NOTICE DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC On March 4, 2020, Governor Newsom proclaimed a State of Emergency in California as a result of the threat of COVID-19. On March 17, 2020, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-29-20 (superseding the Brown Act -related provisions of Executive Order N-25-20 issued on March 12, 2020), which allows a local legislative body to hold public meetings via teleconferencing and to make public meetings accessible telephonically or otherwise electronically to all members of the public seeking to observe and to address the local legislative body. Pursuant to Executive Order N-29-20, please be advised that the Sister City Commission members will participate in this meeting remotely. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: Pursuant to Executive Order N-29-20 and given the current health concerns, members of the public can access the meeting live on-line, with audio and limited video, at http://www.anaheim.net/192/Sister-City-Commission. In addition, members of the public can submit comments electronically for the Sister City Commission consideration by sending them to sistercity@anaheim.net. To ensure distribution to the Sister City Commission prior to consideration of the agenda, please submit comments prior to 12:00 p.m. the day of the meeting. Those comments, as well as any comments received after 12:00 p.m., will be distributed to the Sister City Commission members and will be made part of the official public record of the meeting. Contact Maggie Solorio (msolorio@anaheim.net) with any questions. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: Kevin Barrot, Taline Cole, James Dinwiddie II, Lori Dinwiddie, Emily Fuentes, Elizabeth Jabaz, Steven Kleine, Germaine Neumann, Brian O'Neal, Anna Piercy and Brian Stanley Paul Anderson, Dara Maleki and LaShe Rodriguez and one vacant seat Greg Garcia, City Manager's Office Kimberly Kelemen, Community Services Maggie Solorio, City Manager's Office GUESTS PRESENT: None Anaheim Sister City Commission May 24, 2021 Page 2 Agenda Posting: A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted on Friday, May 21, 2021 at 3:00 p.m. at Anaheim City Hall. L CALL TO ORDER Chair Taline Cole called the Anaheim Sister City Commission (ASCO) meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. on Monday, May 24, 2021. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Commissioner Steven Kleine offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Brian Stanley AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 11-0; Absent: Paul Anderson, Dara Maleki and LaShe Rodriguez; and one vacant seat) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the minutes from the ASCC meeting held on April 26, 2021 as presented. III. APPROVAL OF TREASURER'S REPORT Treasurer James Dinwiddie presented the Treasurer's Report dated May 19, 2021 with a balance of $15,800.36 and noted there had been no changes in the account since February 2020. MOTION: Commissioner Brian O'Neal offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Brian Stanley AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 11-0; Absent: Paul Anderson, Dara Maleki and LaShe Rodriguez and one vacant seat) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the Treasurer's Report dated May 19, 2021 as presented. IV. VIRTUAL EXCHANGE WITH MITO, JAPAN Commissioner Jim Dinwiddie attended the California -Japan Sister Cities Network Spring Workshop on Friday, May 14, 2021. It was more of an introduction session and they talked about what they do, but he did not see anyone from Mito. He also did not get any information he was hoping to get about a virtual exchange. Commissioner Kevin Barrot did not have any updates on the Virtual Exchange with Mito other than the curriculum he put together and shared at the last meeting. He is going to schedule a meeting with Commissioner Dara Maleki. Chair Taline Cole recently emailed Mr. Wong to see if there was interest for a virtual exchange and she has not heard back from him. She is hoping Mr. Wang will get back to her with some ideas. Anaheim Sister City Commission May 24, 2021 Page 3 Commissioner Brian Stanley suggested putting together a social feed with highlights on the diversity of Anaheim's culture where you could talk about Angel Stadium, Disneyland, the Honda Center, the Convention Center and the educational opportunities. It would get people feeling interested to come to Anaheim. Chair Cole thought that is a good idea and suggested putting a proposal together for a virtual exchange and then that way she could share it with Mr. Wang. Greg also suggested reaching out to the high schools that have Japanese classes and just connecting them to a classroom in Mito. It could be as simple as reaching out to the Loara High School Japanese class to see if there is an interest to do a virtual exchange with a school with equivalent age group in Mito and then they propose that to Mr. Wang and that is it. V. VITORIA-GASTEIZ RELATIONSHIP UPDATE Commissioner Germaine Neumann did not have any updates. She will reach out to Commissioner Paul Anderson and try to do something. Greg Garcia also did not hear anything from the new contacts. He mentioned at the last meeting that he and Planning Director Ted White were introduced to two individuals at Vitoria Gasteiz. Greg was hoping they would proactively reach out, but they have not heard anything yet. Greg Garcia prepared a draft introductory letter and will send it to Commissioners Neumann and Anderson for their review, he would be happy to put their names on it send it to them. In addition, Greg suggested having an idea to pitch to them. He thinks it would be good to include in the letter some examples of how they want to engage them. They can include delegation visits, employee exchanges and youth exchanges. The Commission agreed and Greg will include that it in the letter. VI. PUBLIC COMMENT None. VII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Chair Taline Cole watched the April 27 City Council meeting, specifically Item No. 23 where Council spoke about the Sister City Commission. The Mayor put together a committee to make recommendations on the restructuring of the Sister City Commission. VIII. STAFF COMMENTS Greg Garcia gave additional details on the action Council took at the April 27 meeting regarding the possible restructure of the Commission. The City Council Anaheim Sister City Commission May 24, 2021 Page 4 asked staff to establish a working group with three council members to look at the Commission, as it exists today and make recommendations to reformat it. They will be talking about going to districts, the size of the commission, other kind of businesses that may want to be involved, and the philosophy of what this group should be with regard to new sister cities. Greg is going to recommend that the working group interview commissioners. He is happy to talk to anyone and pass along the feedback. Council recognizes there is value in what this group does and they acknowledge how hard this commission works. He does not have a timeline. He guessed that by the end of the summer, the working group would have recommendations for Council. Commissioner James Dinwiddie asked for a copy of the letter that the Commission sent to Council in 2017. Maggie Solorio will forward a copy to the Commission. Greg added that just like in 2017, the Commission is welcome to put recommendations in writing for Council to consider. Chair Cole suggested doing a hybrid meeting for the June meeting to allow members to choose to participate in person or by Zoom. Commissioner Jim Dinwiddie suggested that before staff went through the trouble of setting up an in- person meeting, that we get input from the Commission to make sure there are members interested in meeting in person. Maggie will email the commission before the next meeting. IX. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:44 p.m. to Monday, June 28, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.