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Sister City 2010/09/27CITY OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITY COMMISSION MINUTES September 27, 2010 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Joseph Aihara, Sandy Day, James Dinwiddie, Russell LaHodny, John D. Nguyen, Carrie Nocella, Brian O'Neal, Anna Piercy, Henri Soucy COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Elaine Cali, Swati Patel, Kyoko Smith Carolyn Yellis STAFF PRESENT: GUESTS PRESENT: Greg Garcia, City Manager's Office Saany Larson -Cash, Community Services Maggie Solorio, City Manager's Office Sue Soucy, Member of the Public Stephanie Brady, Member of the Public Agenda Posting: A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted at 2:30 p.m. on September 24, 2010, 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 4:10 p.m. on Monday, September 27, 2010 at the Anaheim City Manager's Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., 7 fh Floor, Anaheim, California. 11. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Commissioner LaHodny offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Soucy AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 6 -0, Abstained: Nocella and O'Neal, Absent: Cali, Day, Patel, Smith and Yellis and 2 vacant seats) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the minutes from the August 23, 2010 Sister City Commission meeting. 111. PUBLIC COMMENT None Anaheim Sister City Commission September 27, 2010 Page 2 IV. TREASURER'S REPORT Commissioner Soucy reviewed the Treasurer's Report for the period of August 18, 2010 thru September 20, 2010. He reported they started the period with $8,907.58 and that an additional $2,000.00 was received from the Anaheim Sister City Association (ASCA). ASCA has transferred a total of $17,000.00 since April 15, 2010 and he thinks that will be all the funds that ASCA would be transferring. Commissioner O'Neal asked if the $2,000.00 were included in the $8,907.58 and. Commissioner Soucy clarified that the $2,000.00 were on top of the $8,907.58. :further, Commissioner Soucy reported that the expenses for that period were the final expenses for the Inbound Student Exchange Program and it also included John Nguyen's expenses for the Sister Cities International Conference. The total amount spent that period was $2,207.97. As of September 20, there is a balance of $8,704.71 in the account. MOTION: Commissioner O'Neal offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Piercy AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 9 -0, Absent: Cali, Patel, Smith and Yellis and 2 vacant seats) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the Treasurer's Report, as presented. V. SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATES Commissioner LaHodny reported that the Economic Development Subcommittee group's main focus is the Inbound Mito Business Evaluation group that is coming in November. They are still waiting on some details from Mito to plan it successfully. It seems that the dates are pretty much finalized and that they will be coming in on November 1 I and leaving on the 13�'. It will be a day and half of activities. Thursday, November I 1 is the Veteran's Day Holiday so no activities are planned for that day. The Chamber is going to help coordinate a luncheon mixer for Friday, November 12. The location is still being considered. Within the next week or so, they will have a lot more details. As details come out about the delegation visit, Commissioner LaHodny will share them with the entire committee and invited the Commissioners and staff to join them for lunch if their schedule permits. Commissioner Soucy shared the results of the 2010 Anaheim Sister City Commission Questionnaire - Student Exchange. This questionnaire was given to the inbound students after they went home. The students were asked to rate all the events and activities of the Student Exchange Program. Based on how they rate things helps the Subcommittee look at what the students liked and did not like about the program. It becomes a guideline when they are planning the next year's Anaheim Sister City Commission September 27, 2010 Page 3 program. The students loved Disneyland and they loved spending time with the host family. Commissioner Soucy also reported that Mr. Wang is going to be meeting with the Mito City Council in November to start talking about next year's program. They are looking to change the dates to a week later. Commissioner Soucy advised that at the next Cultural and Government Exchange Subcommittee meeting, the Subcommittee is going to be looking over the student application for the Outbound Program for next year and he asked to hold a discussion regarding one of the qualifications. Commissioner Soucy asked for the Commission's vote on whether the students should live in Anaheim and /or attend an Anaheim Union High School District (AUHSD) school as was required this year or if they should just be required to attend an AUHSD school and not necessarily have to live in Anaheim. After a lengthy discussion, the following action was taken: MOTION: Commissioner O'Neal offered a Motion., seconded by Commissioner Nocella AND MOTION CARRIED {Vote: 7 -2, Commissioners Aihara and Dinwiddie voted No, Commissioners Cali, Patel, Smith and Yellis were absent; and there were 2 vacant seats) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby set the following criteria for the Outbound Student Exchange Program: (a) That the students shall be high school students in grades 10 thru 12 th ; (b) That the students shall have an interest in the Japan and Anaheim Sister City relationship; (c) That the students shall attend the get - acquainted mixer; (d) That each student shall raise $250.00; (e) That the students shall create a memory book; (f) That the students shall attend three mandatory orientation meetings; (g) That the students who do not have a passport by March, shall apply for an expedited passport; (h) That the students shall volunteer for a minimum of two events and a minimum of 20 hours when the Mito students come to Anaheim; (i) That the students and chaperones shall be limited to a one time participation in the Outbound Student Exchange Program, students and chaperones may reapply as many times as they wish, but may not be selected more than once; and, 0) That the students shall be a resident of the City of Anaheim. Anaheim Sister City Commission September 27, 2010 Page 4 Commissioner Day reported that the exploratory letters that are going to be sent to cities of Augsberg and Stuttgart in Germany are being finalized for the Chainnan's signature and will be mailed out shortly. Since these two cities are not advertising for a relationship, Commissioner Day proposed to list Anaheim as a city seeking sister city relationship on the International Sister Cities website. Advertising is part of the membership benefit packet at no cost, so it would be good to take advantage of that. MOTION: Commissioner Day offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Piercy AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 9 -0, Absent: Cali, Patel, Smith and Yellis and 2 vacant seats) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby authorize Commissioner Day to post that the City of Anaheim is seeking a Sister City relationship with Germany on the Sister Cities International website. Vi. MITO DELEGATION VISIT (11111110 -- 11/13/10 Commissioner Soucy reported that he sent an email to Mr. Wang requesting additional information regarding the delegation's visit in November including their arrival time, their accommodations, their departure time on November 13"', and a list of attendees. He has not received. a response. VII. TEACHER RECRUITMENT PROGRAM Commissioner Soucy handed out a copy of the application for the Assistant English Teacher (AET) in Mito, Japan Program. He indicated this year Anaheim sent its first teacher and she is currently teaching in Mito. Commissioner Soucy received an email from the person in charge of the program in Mito indicating they are going to request 24 AETs for next year. In the past, they have gotten them from a university in Oklahoma, and they would like to get the teachers from Orange County next year. This program is being promoted in CalState Fullerton and Commissioner Soucy asked if the City could help in any way to promote it as well. Greg Garcia suggested putting an ad on the Anaheim magazine to advertise the AET Program and to solicit host families for 2011. Commissioner Piercy also suggested that Commissioner Soucy get in touch with all the community colleges to promote the AET Program.. VIII. WEBSITE /LOGO Greg Garcia reported that the website is currently under construction. As soon as it goes live, Greg will send the link to the Commissioners. The Anaheim Sister City Commission logo will be ready by the next Commission meeting on October 25, 2010. Anaheim Sister City Commission September 27, 2010 Page 5 IX. APPROVAL OF BYLAWS Greg Garcia noted that the bylaws were approved by Commission at their August 23, 2010 meeting. Greg is going to have the Chair and Vice Chair sign the bylaws. If there are any amendments, they will be ratified by the Commission. X. SISTER CITY INTERNATIONAL REPOR Chairman Nguyen reported Sister Cities International (SCI) was just awarded a grant from the State Department for $500,000.00 to link Canada, United States and Mexico. Once the Commission is ready to start looking for cities in Mexico, there is money there that can be pulled from SCI to allocate for the projects. It's a grant that SCI will be administrating. Chairman Nguyen noted he is going to send the Commission the link to the SCI website so that they may subscribe to the SCI newsletter. The SCI newsletter has upcoming events for cities around the world. It contains great information and it is a strong resource for the Commission, The SCI Convention for 2011 will be in March in Washington D.C. It's a very important convention to attend. There will be a lot of lobbying for Sister City causes. Chairman Nguyen recommended that the Commissioners attend the convention if their schedule per -its. Commissioner Day asked if the Commission has a login name for the SCI website. Chairman Nguyen recommended that Commissioner Day e -mail SCI's customer service division to obtain one. Commissioner Day also noticed that the contact information on the SCI website is outdated. Chairman Nguyen volunteered to be the contact person on the SCI website. Commissioner Day also asked if the Commission has an official email that could be posted on the SCI website. Greg Garcia indicated there is not an official email yet, but that one could be created. It was agreed that an official email would be created and that it would be ascc {�u`,anahcim.net Commissioner Day will contact SCI customer service to update Anaheim's contact information. XI. OUTREACH TO NEW CITIES Commissioner Day indicated that the letters of exploration to the cities of Stuttgart and Augsberg in Germany for a possibility of forming a Sister City relationship are being finalized and will be mailed out shortly. Anaheim Sister City Commission September 27, 2010 Page 6 Greg Garcia reported that he wrote a letter to Anaheim's Sister City contact in Vitoria - Gasteiz wanting to reaffirm whether or not they have interest to move forward. In the letter he also formally invited the delegates of Vitoria - Gasteiz to come to Anaheim to discuss various programs that could potentially be developed. Greg also offered the alternative to have Anaheim delegates visit Vitoria - Gasteiz to learn more about the business community and culture in hopes of creating a stronger bond with Vitoria - Gasteiz. XII. NEW COMMISSION MEMBERS The selection of the new Commission Members was continued from the September 14 City Council meeting to the September 28 meeting. XIII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS None, XIV. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:25 p.m. to October 25, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. at the City of Anaheim, City Manager's Office.