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Sister City 2015/01/26CITY OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITY COMMISSION MINUTES January 26, 2015 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Anthony Al- Jamie, James Dinwiddie, Lori Farrow, Jackie Filbeck, Ann Gallaugher, Laurie Leonard, Brian O'Neal, John Nguyen, Kyndell Thorson and Jeanne Tran COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Debbie Julian, Mark Lopez and Anna Piercy (two vacant seats) STAFF PRESENT: GUESTS PRESENT: Erin Wahlen, City Manager's Office Maggie Solorio, City Manager's Office David Bracey Agenda Posting A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted on Friday, January 23, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. at Anaheim City Hall. Public Input: Vice Chair Kyndell Thorson explained that members of the public are invited to address the Anaheim Sister City Commission and will be called upon under Agenda Item No. VII. Public Comment. L CALL TO ORDER The meeting of the Anaheim Sister City Commission (ASCC) was called to order at 4:11 p.m. by Vice Chair Kyndell Thorson on Monday, January 26, 2015 at the Anaheim City Manager's Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., 7th Floor, Anaheim, California. IL APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION Commissioner James Dinwiddie offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Ann Gallaugher AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 9 -0; Absent: Debbie Julian, Mark Lopez, Anna Piercy and John Nguyen; and, two vacant seats) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the minutes from the ASCC meeting held on November 24, 2014 as presented. Anaheim Sister City Commission January 26, 2015 Page 2 III. TREASURER'S REPORT A copy of an updated Treasurer's Report dated January 15, 2015 was presented at the meeting. Treasurer Laurie Leonard reported that the Commission received $7,165.20 from the city of Mito for the Mito Plaque Dedication Ceremony that took place on October 27, 2014. The current balance is $23,165.68. Commissioner Filbeck reported that Katie Filbeck received the gift check from the Commission. MOTION Commissioner James Dinwiddie offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Jackie Filbeck AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 9 -0; Absent: Debbie Julian, Mark Lopez, Anna Piercy and John Nguyen; and, two vacant seats) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the Treasurer's Report dated January 15, 2015. IV. AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE REVIEW & REPORTS Commissioner Jackie Filbeck reported she received a postcard from one of the Mito exchange students thanking everyone for their kindness while visiting Anaheim and wishing everyone a Happy New Year. Commissioner Filbeck also noted she had a thank you note from Katie Filbeck thanking the Commission for the $700 gift check. Also, that Katie is going to submit a formal request to be considered for the student exchange teacher during the 2015 Mito Exchange Program. Further, that Katie is going to Japan in April. Chairman Nguyen asked Commissioner Filbeck to check with Katie to see if she could visit Mito for a day or two and if so, Chairman Nguyen could arrange for her accommodations through Mr. Wang. Since she taught the students last year, the students would love to see her and she could tour Mito as well. Erin Wahlen passed out a copy of the Host Family Application for Exchange Students from Mito, Japan for the Commission's review. Commissioner Leonard inquired about including a do's and don'ts as part of the application to address numerous issues some of which they came across last year. Erin suggested setting a May deadline for submittal of completed applications so that it gives adequate opportunity to identify the host families and have the orientation. Anaheim Sister City Commission January 26, 2015 Page 3 Commissioner Kyndell Thorson asked if there is anything that exists currently on Sister Cities International because she feels this would be a common occurrence with cultural exchanges. She asked if they have any documents, so that they don't have to reinvent the wheel. Commissioner Leonard suggested adding a deadline to the application to get fingerprinted. Commissioner Filbeck stated they had previously discussed a possible stipend and asked what the status was on that. Commissioner Dinwiddie is going to follow up with Mr. Wang to see how long they are planning to stay in Anaheim to help determine how much the stipend if any should be. Commissioner Filbeck felt there seemed to be a need for a stipend during the exchange last summer. It can get to be a little bit stressful after five or six days of three meals a day, picking them up and dropping them off. Commissioner Filbeck suggested starting off with a stipend of $250 this year and to use this as a test year. Commissioner Laurie Leonard thinks the stipend needs to be included in the cost that the Commission is anticipating for the Mito student exchange. Commissioner Dinwiddie is going to talk to Mr. Wang to find out about their plans this year. By the next meeting he expects to have something more concrete to report to the Commission in regards to their stay. Erin stated that for the time being and until they finalize the application, she is going to put an ad on the winter issue of the Anaheim magazine for people to have an opportunity to express their interest in hosting an exchange student by sending an email to sistercity @anaheim.net. Staff will collect their interest and then they will reach out to them when they have a final application. Chairman Nguyen joined the Commission meeting. Commissioner Thorson gave an update on the Sister City relationship with Pudong. She stated staff is still looking into assisting Mayor Tait in making a trip to Pudong to sign an MOU. Anaheim Sister City Commission January 26, 2015 Page 4 The Chinese New Year is coming soon on February 19 and Commissioner Thorson suggested sending a communication to wish them well. Chairman Nguyen agreed it was a good idea to send something. It was agreed that the MOU would include good wishes for the New Year. The Commission would like for the signing of the MOU to take place as soon as possible. Disneyland Shanghai is scheduled to open late 2015, so time would be of the essence. The Commission is looking for the delegation to visit late this year or early next year. Chairman Nguyen asked for staff's assistance in scheduling a meeting with Mayor Tait for him and Erin to discuss next steps and the trip to Pudong. Chairman Nguyen will report back at the next meeting. The Commission then moved on to review the Sister City Commission Ad Hoc Subcommittee List. Commissioner Lori Farrow volunteered to serve on the Cultural /Government Exchange Subcommittee. Ann Gallaugher volunteered to serve on the Economic Development Subcommittee and Commissioner Mark Lopez was appointed to serve as the Chair of the Economic Development Subcommittee. It was noted that the City Council has not yet appointed anyone to fill the two vacancies on the Sister City Commission and it was anticipated that the Council will make the appointments to coincide the board and commission appointments in June. V. VITORIA- GASTEIZ PROPOSAL On October 14, 2014, Inigo Bilbao who is in charge of International Relations at Vitoria - Gasteiz sent an email to the Sister Commission with various proposals which Mr. Bilbao refers to in his email as ideas in which the two cities could collaborate to make a difference to the cities as well as improve the relations between the two. A copy of the email was distributed at the meeting for discussion. Erin mentioned she has had some correspondence with Mr. Bilbao letting him know that we are in receipt of his email and that the Commission would be discussing it in the near future. Erin asked the Commission to indicate the things they are interested in pursuing with Vitoria - Gasteiz. She believes there is great momentum with the Worker Anaheim Sister City Commission January 26, 2015 Page 5 Exchange Program that perhaps they can try to focus on getting that to happen again. Erin also noted that the information for the display cabinet has already been received. Erin further indicated that Commissioner Jeanne Tran is exploring the postgraduate grant request. It is Erin's understanding that there are already students signed up for this year's postgraduate grant program so Commissioner Tran is going to look further into this and report back. Chairman Nguyen and the Commission reviewed the proposals and agreed to the following: • The summer program for learning English and Spanish - the Commission could collaborate with Cal State Fullerton as an exchange; • Naming a street or public space in Vitoria - Gasteiz after Anaheim; • Exchanging exhibits between Montehermoso Cultural Center in Vitoria - Gasteiz and the Anaheim Muzeo; • Arranging a committee to discuss new ideas; and • Promoting Vitoria's historic figures -that could be a public art project somewhere in the City. Arranging a delegation to visit Vitoria - Gasteiz this year is not going to be possible because the Commission has plans to send a delegation to Pudong and are not able to send more than one delegation a year. A delegation in 2016 may be more feasible. Chairman Nguyen stated those are the items that the Commission can pursue and asked staff to respond back to Mr. Bilbao. VI. COMMISSIONER APPLICATION QUESTIONNAIRE The Commissioner Application Questionnaire was reviewed briefly. The Commission members suggested adding the following questions: What are your local business and international relationships? Do you have any and what are they? Anaheim Sister City Commission January 26, 2015 Page 6 Under General Information, elaborate on the third bullet to include what was their position and how did they contribute. Request that a resume be included with the application. Are you willing to commit time to events? The Commission is going to further review the questionnaire and will get back to Erin with additional recommended changes and suggestions at the next Sister City Commission meeting. VII. PUBLIC COMMENT None. VIII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Chairman Nguyen and the entire Commission congratulated Commissioner Jackie Filbeck on her recent appointment to the Anaheim City School Board and Erin Wahlen on her recent engagement. The Commission also congratulated Chairman Nguyen on his recent engagement and thanked him for sharing videos of the engagement day with them. IX. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:27 p.m. to Monday, February 23, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. at the Anaheim City Hall, 7th Floor, City Manager's Office Large Conference Room.