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Sister City 2011/02/28CITY OF ANAHEIM February 28, 201..1. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Joseph Aihara, Sandy Day, James Dinwiddie, Lisa Gin, Russell LaHodny, Laurie Leonard, John D. Nguyen, Brian O'Neal, Swati Patel, Kyoko Smith, Virginia Zlaket COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Elaine Cali, Carrie Nocella, Anna Piercy, Carolyn Yellis STAFF PRESENT: Greg Garcia, City Manager's Office Saany Larson -Cash, Community Services Lori Bartnikowski, City Manager's Office GUESTS PRESENT: Denise Silberman, Neal Runsvold Agenda Posting: A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted at 3:00 p.m. on February 28, 2011 at Anaheim City Hall, Public In put: 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 4:12 p.m. on Monday, February 28, 2011 at the Anaheim City Manager's Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., 7th Floor, Anaheim, California. 11. OATH OF OFFICE Chairman Nguyen and the Commission members gave a warm welcome to the newly- appointed. Commissioner, Laurie Leonard. Greg Garcia administered the Oath of Office to Laurie Leonard. Ill, APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION Commissioner O'Neal offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Leonard AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 10 -0, Absent: Cali, Day, Nocella, Piercy and Yellis) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve Anaheim Sister City Commission February 28, 2011 Page 2 the minutes from the November 22, 2010 Sister City Commission meeting as presented. IV. PUBLIC COMMENT Denise Silberman thanked the commission members for allowing her to have the opportunity to be on the committee to interview the exchange student candidates for the upcoming Mito trip. Neal Runsvold, an Anaheim resident since 1956, asked where he could obtain the criterion that is necessary in which to nominate another city to becorne a new Sister City to Anaheim. Chairman Nguyen offered to have Commissioner Day contact him for the complete detailed information.. Greg Garcia also offered his business card for contact purposes. Chairman Nguyen thanked Mr. Runsvold for his interest, and for attending the Anaheim Sister City Commission meeting. V. TREASURER'S REPORT Commissioner Patel reported that the Treasury account balance is currently $8,704.78. Newly appointed Commissioner Leonard inquired about specifically what expenses the Treasury account funds are used for. Chairman Nguyen responded that there are expenses in regards to the inbound and outbound student delegations which include travel and subsidizing their scholarships. Other expenses include sending a representative to the Annual Sister City International Conference. Chairman Nguyen suggested that the commission does need to have a committee that focuses specifically on revenue development in order to generate fund raising revenue. The current funds in the account have come from the yearly donation of $10,000.00 provided by Mito, to support the student exchange program; and another small percentage came from the dues that were in the account of the former Sister City Association. VI. MITO STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM — UPDATE Greg Garcia reported that there were over 50 applicants this year for the student exchange program, which is a great improvement over prior years. The 50 applicants were narrowed down to 18 candidates, and those 18 candidates were invited to attend a social mixer at the Muzeo. They were then scheduled for interviews on Friday, February 25 and the four finalists and one alternate were selected. They were all informed by phone and email on Monday, February 28. Anaheim Sister City Conu ission February 28, 2011 Page 3 Greg reported that there has been a recommendation to the commission to inquire about the possibility of sending all five finalists on the trip to Mito, Japan.. The selected finalists are Amanda Doss, Brian Cully, Alex Krebs, Lisa Marshall, and the alternate is Vincent Tran. Additionally, one of the commissioners has expressed an interest to be a chaperone. Commissioner Aihara inquired about the possibility of opening the opportunity to qualify to be a candidate to a wider scope of students. Currently the candidates must be a resident of Anaheim; however there are several schools in the Anaheim School District in which some of the students are residents of neighboring cities. Greg Garcia stated that the next step is to purchase the airline tickets and finalize the trip details. Also orientation meetings will be held for the students in order to help them understand the culture, etc. Commissioner Zlacket suggested the candidates have a meet and greet with all of the commission members. Commissioner Gin reported that an important factor during the interview process was the willingness on the part of the students to continue to be involved with the Sister City Association after their trip to Mito, along with the possibility of becoming an ambassador in the future. Commissioner Day also remarked that some of the candidates are open to hosting and also they have expressed the idea of learning to speak Japanese to serve as interpreters when the Japanese delegations come to Anaheim. Commissioner Day was closely involved in the notification process and expressed just how emotional and excited the students were to hear that they were the successful finalists. VII. REVIEW OF AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE MEMBERS Greg Garcia distributed a listing of the three Ad Hoc subcommittees that have been created. The list was created as a guide for the commission members. The Ad Hoc Subcommittees are: Executive Ad Hoc Subcommittee, Government and Cultural Exchange Ad Hoc Subcommittee, and Economic Development Ad Hoc Subcommittee. VIII. AD HOC SUBCOMMITTE UPDATES Commissioner LaHodny gave an update on Economic Development. The Anaheim Chamber of Commerce has been in contact with a couple of businesses that have expressed an interest in becoming involved with the Sister City Committee. UPS is one company that is very involved internationally and they have expressed an interest in taking what the Anaheim Sister City Commission does and developing a seminar on how to import and export. They expressed an Anaheim Sister City Commission February 28, 2011 Page 4 interest in opening it up to the City of Anaheim, as well as opening it up to Mito. The seminar would be webeast and would be set at an appropriate time to coincide with the Mito time zone in order for everybody to have the opportunity to participate. Also discussed with UPS was the desire to create a "Best Practices" guide on how to import /export and how to work with businesses in other countries. They have expressed an interest in getting involved in that arena, so a meeting will be set to get this moving forward, as this could be a potential sponsor for some of the things in which the commission will be participating. Commissioner LaHodny would like the follow up meeting to include the subcommittee members. Commissioner LaHodny also expressed the need to get the subcommittee back together to form some broad goals in which to accomplish in the year ahead. Commissioner Zlacket gave an update on Government and Culture Exchange. She reported that the next steps in the student exchange process are to work on purchasing the airline tickets, updating the student's passports and having the students take some cultural classes. Commissioner Day reported that she has contacted Mayor Tait's office in an effort to set a meeting to apprise him of the Anaheim Sister City Commission's goals and objectives. She would like to inquire if he is satisfied with the direction in which they are heading, and also would like to obtain any suggestions or new direction he may have to offer. Greg Garcia commented that it is an excellent idea to find out the philosophy of the new council before moving forward with all of the goals and objective that are currently in place. IX. FUNDRAISING AND SPONSORSHIPS Commissioner Day gave an update on fundraising, which is going to be a focus for the year 2011. She presented a draft of a fundraising idea for a corporate membership benefits packet which she entitled: "The Leadership and Cultural Exchange Academy." She referenced many successful Sister City relationships around the country. Specifically, she referenced Chicago who has major sponsors and she believes that Anaheim is also very worthy of the same caliber of sponsorships. Another idea Commissioner Day has is to possibly do a Mayor's International Dinner or an International Event where, in essence, sponsors would be helping to fund the incoming and outgoing student exchange program. An additional idea is a plan to develop a quarterly magazine with a prominent logo on the Sister City website that can be accessed via www.anaheim.net Commissioner Day also noted that Commissioner Zlacket has provided a lead, Triple A, as an appropriate sponsor and this lead will be followed up. Commissioner Day is very Anaheim Sister City Commission February 28, 2011 Page 5 enthusiastic and feeling very positive about the numerous opportunities for great sponsorships. Chairman Nguyen thanked Commissioner Day for the great effort she has put forth, and that she is helping all of the commission members to see the great and positive potential. He also suggested that the Visitor and Convention Bureau may be an excellent source to pursue for sponsorship endeavors. X. SISTER CITIES INTERNATIONAL ---- 2011 ANNUAL CONFERENCE Chairman Nguyen noted that last year he represented Anaheim at the Annual 2010 Sister City International Conference in Albuquerque, NM. This year the annual conference will be held in Washington D.C. All attendees will have the opportunity to meet with representatives of congress to inform them of the economic value of the current efforts, goals and missions of the Sister City Associations. Chairman Nguyen stated that he has registered to be the representative for the Anaheim Sister City Conference this year and is requesting partial reimbursement for the trip. The commission had a discussion and all agreed that it is important for everyone to be notified early in the registration process, so that all of the commission members would have the opportunity to be the representative for the Anaheim Sister City Commission at the annual event. Chairman Nguyen encouraged everybody to subscribe to the Sister City Newsletter to keep themselves updated on all of the events and issues. Commissioner Aihara suggested that fiuldraising be partially focused on reimbursement for events such as the International Conference. He also asked what the breakdown of expenses would be for Chairman Nguyen to attend this conference. Chainnan Nguyen stated that registration is $200.00, airfare is $308.50, the hotel is $833.49; totaling $1341.99. MOTION Commissioner O'Neal offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Day AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 10 -1, Commissioner Dinwiddie voted no; Commissioners Cali, Nocella, Piercy and Yellis were absent) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the full reimbursement of $1341.99 for Chairman Nguyen to attend the 2011 Sister City International Conference in Washington D.C. Anaheim Sister City Commission February 28, 2011 Page 6 Xl. 2011 MEETING DATES & TIMES Chairman Nguyen suggested that the Sister City Commission meet on the fourth Monday of every month at 4:00 p.m. Greg Garcia asked if there were any comments regarding the 2011 meeting dates and times; and there were none. Greg also stated that the Anaheim Sister City Commission meetings will remain dark during August and December; however, whenever necessary a "special meeting" may be called. X11. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Commissioner Patel stated that two students commented on how reasonable the $500.00 fee is for students to attend the Mito trip. Commissioner Aihara commented that he agreed that the modest fee is very reasonable. A discussion was held that the commission may consider accelerating the sponsorship /fundraising efforts to involve the students, as part of the student responsibilities, to assist in offsetting same of the expenses. Commissioner Day expressed that her position remains that the $500.00 per student fee, for the current Japanese student exchange program is excessive and that she feels that it should revert to the $250.00 per student fee, as in previous years. XIII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:25 p.m. to March 28, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. at the City of Anaheim, City Manager's Office.