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Sister City 2010/03/22CITY OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITY COMMISSION MINUTES March 222010 , COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Joseph Aihara, Randy Amiri,Marge Conway, Sandy Day, Russell LaHodny, John D. Nguyen, BrianO'Neal, Swati Patel, Anna Piercy, Kyoko Smith, Henri Soucy, Caroline Yellis COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Elaine Cali, Carrie Nocella, Kimberly Tulleners STAFF PRESENT: Sjany Larson-Cash, Community Services GUESTS PRESENT: Bob Hernandez, City Council Member Sarah Alevizon, Member of the Public Sue Soucy, Member of the Public Agenda Posting: A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted at Anaheim City Hall on March 19, 2010. Public Input: Chairman Nguyen explained thatmembers of the public are invited to address the Anaheim Sister City Commission and will be called upon under Agenda Item No. III. Public Comment. I. CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Anaheim Sister City Commission was called to order at 4:13 p.m. o City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., 7th Floor, Anaheim, California. II.APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Commissioner O'Neal offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Piercy AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 10-0, Absent: Cali, LaHodny, Nocella, Smith, Tulleners) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the February 22, 2010 Anaheim Sister City Commission minutes. Anaheim Sister City Commission March 22, 2010 Page 2 III. PUBLIC COMMENT Council Member Bob Hernandez and Greg Garcia gave a brief update on a meeting they had with Sister City International (SCI) in Washington DC. They advised SCI that the Anaheim Sister City Association was in the process of being dissolved and replaced with the Anaheim Sister City Commission. SCI is looking forward to working with Anaheim. SCI gave them a booklet of materials that Greg will pass on to the Subcommittee Chairs. Greg and Bob mentioned to SCI that the Anaheim Sister City Commission wants to focus on economic development and strengthen the relationships with existing Sister Cities. SCI recommended that Anaheim work through them to get some best practices and ideas. SCI also mentioned their summer conference. There is a Sister Cities eld in Albuquerque. Greg indicated that it would be worth sending a delegation because they would be given the opportunity to work with other Cities to see what they do and how they operate their programs. The meeting ended with SCI asking that Anaheim keep them informed of what the Commission is doing. IV. COMMISSION ACCOUNTING/ANAHEIM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION Greg Garcia reported that at the last Sister City Commission meeting the Commission voted to open an account with the Anaheim Community Foundation (ACF) and that ACF approved an account for the Anaheim Sister City Commission at its regularly scheduled meeting in March. The account is open and the process to deposit and withdraw money is very simple. ACF requested that for the time being, all transaction requests go through Sjany Larson-Cash and Greg Garcia and when the Commission appoints a Treasurer, that that name also be forwarded to ACF. If someone wants to make a donation to the Anaheim Sister City Commission, the check would have to be made out to the Anaheim Community Foundation with a special note to the Sister City Commission. (c)(3) number and Greg indicated staff will send out the 501(c)(3) number to the Commissioners before the next meeting. V. ANAHEIM SISTER CITY ASSOCIATION (ASCA) UPDATE Commissioner Conway gave an updated on ASCA. She reported that ASCA is not going to be able to meet the March 31, 2010 dissolution deadline as originally agreed to. As soon as the pending matters are resolved and the Association is dissolved, a letter will be sent to SCI and the Anaheim Sister City Commission. If the Anaheim Sister City Commission needs money for the students to go to Anaheim Sister City Commission March 22, 2010 Page 3 Mito, Japan, ASCA can cut a check for $10,000. There is a stipulation for the money to go to the students and that is in the ASCA. The stipulation is that students must be residents of Anaheim. For clarification purposes, the ASCA Board determined that eligible students need to either live or attend a school within the Anaheim City limits. This would include private schools and students who live within the City limits. It is particularly important to include these students especially now that the Commission is a City sponsored program. Greg Garcia clarified that ASCA is going through the paperwork to do the dissolution, but there is nothing preventing them from cutting a check made out to the Anaheim Community Foundation. Greg spoke to the ASCA Treasurer June Glenn and explained to her that not being able to meet the March 31 dissolution date should not stop ASCA from making a good faith effort to show they are moving forward. They discussed a $10,000 amount as soon as possible to the Commission to show that the donation is going to be happening. ASCA can continue with the dissolution and whenever that is completed, they can donate the remainder of the funds. Commissioner Day asked Commissioner Conway when ASCA could cut the check and Commissioner Conway responded she could sign a check the next day. Chairman Nguyen asked Commissioner Conway to invite June Glenn to attend the next Sister City Commission meeting on April 26 so that she may answer questions related to the dissolution. In that way, the Commission can see how they can help to move the process along. Chairman Nguyen indicated he did not receive a formal ASCA Treasurer report from June Glenn and requested a copy. Commissioner Aihara asked if there are additional funds beyond the $10,000 amount ASCA is going provide for the student exchange. Commissioner Conway responded the total amount is $17,788.65. VI. ESTABLISHMENT OF VARIOUS COMMISSION OBJECTIVES AND PROGRAM CRITERIA A.MISSION STATEMENT B.CITY SELECTION CRITERIA C.CITY SELECTION PROCESS D.EVALUATION OF EXISTING CITY RELATIONSHIPS E.EVALUATION OF COMMISSION OBJECTIVES (SCORECARD) Anaheim Sister City Commission March 22, 2010 Page 4 Commissioner Amiri reported he met with Chairman Nguyen and the Subcommittee Chairs and together they came up with various objectives and program criteria for the Anaheim Sister City Commission. The objectives and program criteria were described in detail in a handout that was distributed to the Commission and staff and presented by Commissioner Amiri as a PowerPoint Presentation. Commissioner Amiri explained that it is still in draft stage and that the objective is for each Subcommittee Chair to meet with their team members to review it and provide input so that it can be finalized. Chairman Nguyen noted the Committee Chairs and the Vice Chair met and formulated what was presented by Commissioner Amiri. For the Commission to move forward, they need to have a clear understanding where we are today and what we can expect moving forward. Chairman Nguyen thanked Commissioner Amiri for his leadership and for materializing the concept. Chairman Nguyen explained in order to move forward, the Commission needs to vote on the action items A through E on the agenda so that they can move forward they can agree upon today to move forward and it will be a work in progress as they continue to move forward. Commissioner Amiri indicated the PowerPoint Presentation/handout will be emailed to the Commission members for further review and input. MOTION: Commissioner Conway offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Yellis AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 12-0, Absent: Cali, Nocella, Tulleners) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the following Commission Objectives and Program Criteria: A. Mission Statement, B. City Selection Criteria, C. City Selection Process, D. Evaluation of Existing City Relationships, and E. Scorecard as presented on the PowerPoint Presentation with the understanding that it is a work in progress document that can be revised as they move forward. VII. SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATES Commissioner Amiri indicated the objective of the Executive Subcommittee is to develop the framework of how the Commission is going to function including the bylaws and performance management, and the presentation of progress reports to the City Council. The members of the Executive Subcommittee are Conway with Commissioner Amiri as Chairman. Anaheim Sister City Commission March 22, 2010 Page 5 Commissioner Soucy noted the Cultural/Government Exchange Subcommittee will be tasked with maintaining the existing cultural exchange programs as well as developing new programs that allow for more collaboration and exchange opportunities for the public and government members of the respective current and future Sister Cities. It will also be responsible for the planning and coordination for all delegation visits. The members of the Cultural/Government Exchange Subcommittee are Commissioners Aihara, Smith, Piercy and Day with Commissioner Soucy as Chairman. Commissioner LaHodny indicated he is going to chair the Economic Development Subcommittee. This Subcommittee will be tasked with creating programs aimed at leveraging the business connections between Sister Cities. As will be active in planning various activities including fundraising that are critical to the success of the Sister City Program. The Economic Development subcommittee members are Chairman Nguyen and Commissioners Cali, Patel, Nocella and LaHodny as Chairman. Chairman Nguyen added fundraising is going to be a big component of the Sister City Program and pointed out that the Commissioners are welcome to join other subcommittees besides the one they have been appointed to. Chairman Nguyen indicated the subcommittees are ready to move forward and encouraged the Commission members to meet with their Subcommittee Chairs. Commissioner Amiri stressed the importance of finishing the goals and objectives for each Subcommittee. He asked the Commission Members to review the PowerPoint presentation and submit any changes through their Chair. VIII. APPOINTMENT OF A TREASURER Chairman Nguyen reported he met with the Vice Chair, Subcommittee Chairs and Greg Garcia. At that meeting they discussed the need for the Anaheim Sister City Commission to have a treasurer. The treasurer will be the liaison to the Anaheim Community Foundation, will keep the books and accounting, and will provide a report to the Commission on a monthly basis. Chairman Nguyen asked for any volunteers to serve under this capacity and Commissioner Soucy volunteered. Anaheim Sister City Commission March 22, 2010 Page 6 Commissioner Soucy gave details on his background experience including that he did financial analysis for Northrop for 30 years; years, he has been with the Kennedy High School Band Boosters for 15 years and was their treasurer for 11 of the 15 years, and that he is currently the Kennedy Band Boosters bookkeeper. He has handled a large amount of money and has been involved in student programs. He stated with his experience, he would be a good match. MOTION: Commissioner Conway offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Piercy AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 12-0, Absent: Cali, Nocella and Tulleners) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby appoint Commissioner Soucy as the Treasurer for the Anaheim Sister City Commission. Chairman Nguyen asked Commissioner Soucy to work with ASCA to help them with the process of getting the money moved to ACF. IX. COMMISSION WEBSITE & NEWSLETTER Chairman Nguyen stated the Commission would like to run the Sister City Program as efficient as possible. That includes the open, transparent communication to the public. With that came the idea that we need to have a website for members of the public to be able to download information and interact with the Commission members. A newsletter is also important so that the Commission has monthly communication, keeping the public and the City Council at large as far as the progress and the activities taking place. The front challenge we have is do we want to keep it as an Anaheim website or do we create our own website. Chairman Nguyen asked Greg Garcia to comment further on the subject. First and foremost, this option would be free. He indicated they may not have all the extras that they could have if they created their own platform, but then again they would have to pay for the extras. Greg indicated the City is planning to do more things with the website in terms of flash, videos and pictures. Greg further indicated he is confident that the platform at the City can accommodate the needs of the Commission. Greg also mentioned that there may be some lag time in getting the content up. Greg clarified to the Commission that all website requests would go through Greg. Anaheim Sister City Commission March 22, 2010 Page 7 Commissioner Piercy indicated the Anaheim Sister City Commission is a sanctioned-City Commission, so she cannot see where we could have a separate website because the Commission is part of the City now. Chairman Nguyen noted there is a consensus that we should keep the website with the City. Commissioner Amiri is going to take on the task of defining the purpose of the website and will present it at the next Commission meeting. Greg Garcia also recommended that the Commission think about creating a logo for the Sister City Commission. X. COUNCIL CORRESPONDENCE Greg Garcia indicated that the Commission has done a lot of great things and feels updates the City Council to let them know where we are. He and Chairman Nguyen discussed preparing a letter to the City Council and having the Chairman attend a Council meeting and presenting it under Public Comment. XI. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:05 p.m. to Office.