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Sister City 2010/10/25i October 25, 2010 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Joseph Aihara, James Dinwiddie, Lisa Gin, Russell LaHodny, John D. Nguyen., Brian O'Neal, Anna Piercy, Kyoko Smith, Virginia Zlaket COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Elaine Cali, Sandy Day, Carrie Nocella, Swati Patel, Henri Soucy, Carolyn Yellis STAFF PRESENT: GUESTS PRESENT: Greg Garcia, City Manager's Office S,jany Larson -Cash, Community Services Maggie Solorio, 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 October 22, 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. IV. Public Comment, I. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Anaheim Sister City Commission was called to order at 4:06 p.m. on Monday, October 25, 2010 at the Anaheim City Manager's Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., 7"' Floor, Anaheim, California. II. OATH OF OFFICE Chairman Nguyen and the Commission members gave a warm welcome to the newly- appointed Commissioners Lisa Gin and Virginia Zlaket. Greg Garcia administered the Oath of Office to Lisa Gin and Virginia Zlaket. Anaheim Sister City Commission October 25, 2010 Page 2 III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION Commissioner Dinwiddie offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner O'Neal AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 7 -0, Abstained: Gin and Zlaket; Absent: Cali, Day, Nocella, Patel, Soucy and Yellis) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the minutes from the September 27, 2010 Sister City Commission meeting. IV. PUBLIC COMMENT None. V. TREASURER'S REPORT Greg Garcia distributed the Treasurer's report prepared and emailed by Henri Soucy in anticipation of the commission meeting. Chairman Nguyen noted that there had not been any activity in the past month. The question came up if the Treasurer's report should be posted on the web or if a copy of the report should be attached to the minutes. After some discussion, it was decided that the information contained in the minutes is sufficient and that anyone who wants more detailed information could request a copy of the report and be provided with one. MOTION Commissioner O'Neal offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Piercy AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 9 -0, Absent: Cali, Day, Nocella, Patel Soucy, and Yellis) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the Treasurer's report dated September 21, 2010 thru October 15, 2010, as presented. VI. MITO DELEGATION VISIT 11/11/10 --- 111I3110 Chairman Nguyen reported that planning for the Mito Delegation visit has been challenging because Mito's City Council is going through elections. They are anticipating some changes because Mayor Kato decided he is not going to run again. The total number in the delegation is thirty two including staff, citizens and Mito City Council members. There has not been much direction from them as to who is coming, what exactly they want to do, and what their expectations are when they are in the city. Additional information has been requested. Commissioner LaHodny stated the delegation's flight arrives at 9:15 a.m. on Thursday, November 11. The committee is working on getting the delegation to the World of Color on Thursday evening. The plans for Friday, November 12 are to do a tour of the convention center in the morning, then go to the Diamond Club Anaheim Sister City Commission October 25, 2010 Page 3 at Angel's Stadium for lunch, then do a tour of the stadium, then take them on a tour of 1 or 2 businesses in the Canyon Area, and finally to go to the Duck's game in the evening. The delegation will be staying at the Sheraton in the Resort Area and they have made arrangements for their own buses, so they will handle their own transportation. Another unknown is their meals. Chainnan Nguyen invited the Commission to join the delegation for lunch on Friday at the Diamond Club at the Angel Stadium at 12 Noon. Greg Garcia added the luncheon will be a good opportunity to be on a mixer with the delegation and to talk about the Commission. Anaheim Council members will also be there to welcome them to Anaheim. Staff is hoping to have as many representatives from Anaheim at the lunch as there are representatives from Japan to have a nice mix. Greg asked if staff should invite all the students that have gone to Mito. Chairman Nguyen asked what the anticipated number of attendees at the luncheon would be. Greg indicated the goal is to have a total of seventy people there. Chairnan Nguyen detennined that only the students from the past two years should be invited to the luncheon. Greg stated, ideally, they would also like to have community leaders and business owners to fill the room. The Chamber of Commerce is reaching out to some of their contacts. There was also discussion about having an interpreter at each table. Chairman Nguyen indicated they would keep the Commission updated as more details become available and as the date gets closer. Commissioner LaH.odny added they will be following up with an invitation to the Commission and to interested parties. Greg also noted they are considering having a welcoming committee from the Anaheim Sister City Commission to be there when the delegation arrives in Anaheim. The committee will welcome them officially to the City of Anaheim and also accompanying them to all the events to make sure that they are taken care of. Greg asked if anyone had interest to do that to let staff know. Chairman Nguyen and Commissioner Aihara agreed to serve on this committee and Greg noted that Commissioner Day had previously agreed to do this as well. Anaheim Sister City Commission October 25, 2010 Page 4 VII. SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATES Chairman Nguyen gave a report on behalf of Commissioner Soucy. Two new applications have been submitted for the Assistant English teacher from CalState Fullerton. Mifo still has 22 openings for elementary and their junior high level. Greg explained to the new commissioners that Mito has a teaching program where they want American teachers spend a year in Mito to teach English with pay. They have asked Anaheim for 24 teachers younger than 30 with a BA degree. Commissioner Zlaket asked how the program is being advertised. Chairman Nguyen replied that Commissioner Soucy identified CalState Fullerton as the only school that he had been working with to promote this opportunity. Greg Garcia proposed giving a copy of the flyer to Anaheim's Human Resources Department so they can get the word out to their contacts. Commissioner Gin mentioned that the universities have a connected job share website and volunteered to post it there. After reviewing the flyer and the application packet that Commissioner Soucy distributed at the September 27 SCC meeting, the Commission noticed that it needed to get updated. Greg brought up the question if Mito would be able to grant a 2 -weep extension to the submittal deadline to be able to promote this further and try and get them a few more teachers. Commissioner Aihara agreed be the lead on the Assistant English Teacher program going forward and will contact Commissioner Soucy to get an electronic copy of the application packet. He will update it and have it sent out to the rest of the Commission. Chairman Nguyen reported that the Pen Pal Program is moving forward. Greg Garcia reported he received an email that day from Eduardo Garcia Aguinaga at Vitoria- Gasteiz. Eduardo was very happy to receive the letter from Greg and the Commission and he said he would love to host an Anaheim delegation to Spain to talk about future opportunities. There is a date in November that they have designated as their international business development or that if that date is too soon that Anaheim is welcome at any time. They are very interested and they want to do something. This will be an action item for Commissioner Day to look into. Commissioner LaHodny reported that planning for Mito's delegation visit has been his committee's main focus and that he had nothing new to report. Anaheim Sister City Commission. October 25, 2010 Page 5 Chairman Nguyen advised the two new members of the Commission that the Sister City Commission has three standing committees and that everyone is required to be on at least one. The Economic Development Committee is chaired by Commissioner LaHodny. Commissioner LaHodny explained the Economic Development Committee is responsible for managing the relationships from a business standpoint and that part of the concept is to create a directory that could be delivered to the sister cities that have a listing of businesses that have an interest in international opportunities, whether it would be business to business, selling or importing. The committee is also responsible for finding new sister cities, finding cities that would be complimentary to Anaheim in the business community. Chairman Nguyen explained the Cultural and Government Exchange Committee deals with the Student Exchange Program, parts of delegation visits, the Pen Pal Program and the Teachers Exchange Program and that the committed had been chaired by Commissioner Soucy. The Executive Committee was responsible to put together the bylaws and the structure for the Commission and this committee is currently being chaired by Commissioner Day. Chairman Nguyen also reported that it is not yet official, but that Commissioner Soucy sent a notification that he is resigning from the Commission. Commissioner Soucy is removing himself from his volunteer commitments so that he can relax and spend more time with his family. The Commission is going to greatly miss him and his many contributions. Chairman Nguyen indicated Commissioner Soucy was the Chairperson for the Cultural and Government Exchange Committee and if anyone is interested to step into that position that they are welcomed to. He also asked the Commission if they knew anyone in the community at large that would be a great contributor to the Commission.'s cause and would like to fill the Commission spot to let them I ow that they can apply through the City Clerk's office. VIII. WEBSITEILOGO Chairman Nguyen reported that the SCC logo is still in the works. Greg Garcia reported that the website is live. At the last meeting, staff received feedback from Commissioner Day and the webmaster incorporated the feedback into the website. The website is www.Azzaheizzz.zzetlsistercity Chairman Nguyen requested that the annual report be uploaded to the Sister City website. Anaheim Sister City Commission October 25, 2010 Page 6 IX. OUTREACH TO NEW CITIES UPDATE Chairman Nguyen noted that outreach to new sister cities is not just limited to the Executive Committee, but that committee is responsible for the correspondence and executing the introduction to those sister cities. If anyone in the Commission feels that there is a city out there internationally that would be a great fit for Anaheim to please let the Commission know. Greg Garcia added that when this Commission was started, the thinking was that they had to go out and get a lot of new sister cities because we only have two. Since then, the Commission has focused on organizing itself appropriately in making sure that they reestablish the existing relationships and then. putting together a process to go after new cities. A lot of work was done at the front end to do that. Just recently, the Commission decided to outreach to a few cities that were suggested. The cities were Stuttgart and Augsberg in Germany. The City Council mentioned that it makes sense to start a Sister City relationship with Germany since Anaheim has German ancestry. The process is to outreach, evaluate what they get back and the Executive Committee will be responsible for that. They put together a process where they developed a sheet where they ask for the information and compare it to Anaheim. Ultimately, the Commission will be responsible for making a decision in selecting new sister cities. X. NEW SUBCOMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS Chairman Nguyen requested an official list of the existing Committee members and that a copy be emailed to the Commission so that everyone has an opportunity to decide where they would like to serve. Maggie Solorio will email a copy to the Commission. XI, COMMISSIONER COMMENTS The Commission discussed changing one of the criteria for the Outbound Student Exchange Program as it relates to the amount of money each student and chaperone is to fund raise and the Commission agreed to place this on the agenda for discussion on November 22, 2010. XII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:17 p.m. to November 22, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. at the City of Anaheim., City Manager's Office.