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Sister City 2015/04/27CITY OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITY COMMISSION MINUTES April 27, 2015 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Anthony Al- Jamie, Pepe Avila, James Dinwiddie, Lori Farrow, Jackie Filbeck, Debbie Julian, Laurie Leonard, Chris Locke, Mark Lopez, John Nguyen, Brian O'Neal, Anna Piercy, Kyndell Thorson and Jeanne Tran COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Ann Gallaugher STAFF PRESENT: Greg Garcia, City Manager's Office Erin Wahlen, City Manager's Office Maggie Solorio, City Manager's Office GUESTS PRESENT: David Bracey Agenda Posting A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted on Friday, April 24, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. 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. VII. Public Comment. L CALL TO ORDER The meeting of the Anaheim Sister City Commission (ASCC) was called to order at 4:09 p.m. by Chairman John Nguyen on Monday, April 27, 2015 at the Anaheim City Manager's Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., 7th Floor, Anaheim, California. IL OATH OF OFFICE Erin Wahlen administered the Oath of Office to the newest members of the Sister City Commission, Christine Locke and Pepe Avila who were appointed by the City Council on April 7, 2015. Anaheim Sister City Commission April 27, 2015 Page 2 III. APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR MOTION Chairman John Nguyen offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Jeanne Tran AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 14 -0; Absent: Ann Gallaugher) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby appoint Commissioner Kyndell Thorson as the Chair of the Sister City Commission. MOTION Commissioner Kyndell Thorson offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Jeanne Tran AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 14 -0; Absent: Ann Gallaugher) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby appoint Commissioner Debbie Julian as the Vice Chair of the Sister City Commission. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION Commissioner James Dinwiddie offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Laurie Leonard AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 7 -0; Abstained: Jackie Filbeck, Debbie Julian, John Nguyen, Kyndell Thorson, Jeanne Tran, Chris Locke and Pepe Avila; Absent: Ann Gallaugher) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the minutes from the ASCC meeting held on February 23, 2015 as presented. MOTION Commissioner Laurie Leonard offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner James Dinwiddie AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 10 -0; Abstained: Mark Lopez, Anna Piercy, Chris Locke and Pepe Avila; Absent: Ann Gallaugher) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the minutes from the ASCC meeting held on March 23, 2015 as presented. V. TREASURER'S REPORT A copy of the Treasurer's Report dated April 20, 2015 was presented at the meeting. Treasurer Laurie Leonard noted there had been no activity since the last meeting and the current balance remained the same at $20,800.68. It was noted that the double asterisk on the Treasurer's Report was left in on error and will be removed for the next update. MOTION Commissioner Brian O'Neal offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Anna Piercy AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 14 -0; Absent: Ann Gallaugher) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the Treasurer's Report dated April 20, 2015 with the removal of the double asterisk next to the current balance. Anaheim Sister City Commission April 27, 2015 Page 3 VI. AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE REVIEW & REPORTS Commissioner Dinwiddie reported on behalf of the Cultural /Government Exchange Subcommittee that the dates for the Mito Inbound Student Exchange have been confirmed for July 24 through August 2. At the last meeting it was decided that the Commission will be short in funds this year for the student exchange expenses with the assumption that next year, Mito will contribute more money. The Carter's confirmed they are going to host the chaperones. Commissioner Dinwiddie also indicated he emailed the Commission the list of host families from last year for their review. There was a concern regarding a family that hosted last year that was not able to commit to the pickup and drop off times. Discussion took place about alerting host parents that if they have a conflict with a drop -off or pick -up time to please coordinate with another parent. Greg Garcia stated this has happened regularly over the years. What has worked in the past is to have other families on standby, and if there was an issue with a family then they would remove the student and put him with another family that was able to accommodate. He added it's great when you have families in the queue that can do that. He recommends that the Commission get as many families as they can and that will make it a lot easier on Commissioner Dinwiddie to put demands on families. Commissioner Chris Locke asked if the Commission has enough of a pool of families to pull from and Commissioner Dinwiddie responded no they do not and it's always difficult to recruit families to host. Commissioner Chris Locke then asked what the Commission is doing for outreach now. Chairman Nguyen responded the school districts, service clubs, an ad in the Anaheim magazine assist in the promotion of the program. Loara and Western High Schools have good strong Japanese programs. Once there is more comprehensive information available for this year's student exchange, information on hosting a student will be forwarded to the schools to further promote the program. Commissioner Pepe Avila asked if there is an incentive in place for the families to host aside from getting to host a student and the cultural exchange benefit. Commissioner Dinwiddie responded this year the Commission is going to offer a $300 stipend to families who host. Anaheim Sister City Commission April 27, 2015 Page 4 Commissioner Kyndell Thorson asked if the Commission has asked City Council if anyone would be willing to host a student. They could draw attention to the program. Commissioner Dinwiddie responded they have not, but if Council would put the word out, they would have a lot more influence to get families. Commissioner Anna Piercy stated if the Commission can ask Council to make a statement announcement during a Council meeting, people may hear this at the meeting or watching it on television and get them interested to host. Commissioner Jeanne Tran asked if there is a list of board members from the various nonprofits in Anaheim, like YMCA and Boys and Girls Clubs. Because that is the group of people that are already very engaged in the community they would probably be interested in something like this if they were asked. She further asked if those connections have ever been asked and the response was no, they have not and agreed that would be a good idea. Commissioner Anthony Al -Jamie stated the obvious place to promote this program would be elementary and Jr. high school principals so that they could explain it to the families and it could be as simple as maybe delivering a flyer to the school. Commissioner Jackie Filbeck stated if she can get a flyer, she will go personally to every single school in the Anaheim City School District and talk to the principals. Erin indicated she will run her a copy of the ad that was published in the Anaheim magazine. Commissioner O'Brian asked Erin to send it to everyone so that it can be personalized to their school and then forward it on to the schools. Commissioner Debbie Julian stated it would be a positive thing for this Commission to reach out to the City Council and ask them to consider hosting or promote it during a council meeting. Commissioner Debbie Julian also stated she will follow up with the YMCA and Boards and Girls Clubs. Commissioner Anthony Al -Jamie is going to speak to the principal at Knoll Canyon Elementary School and the commission agreed that was good idea. Anaheim Sister City Commission April 27, 2015 Page 5 Erin Wahlen is going to confirm the reservation of the Anaheim Downtown Community Center for the entire week the students are in Anaheim. A conference room at the convention center or the multipurpose room at the district office can also be an option to hold the classes during the week. There was discussion about having the Sayonara Dinner at the Convention Center this year which the Commission agreed would be a good idea. It was also decided that the baseball game would be offered only to the students and that the students would be dropped off at the Downtown Community Center the day of the game. Commissioner Dinwiddie is going to set up a meeting for the Cultural and Government Exchange subcommittee to firm up all the details and bring back an itinerary for the Commission's review. Commissioner Debbie Julian did not have an update on the beer crawl fundraiser for this meeting. VII. PUBLIC COMMENT None. VIII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Chairman Nguyen invited Commissioners Chris Locke and Pepe Avila to join a subcommittee. Commissioner Chris Locke indicated she and Commissioner Avila are looking forward to join some subcommittee and feels there's a lot they both bring to the table as being employed through the Visitor and Convention Bureau and their offices are at the Convention Center. There are a lot of logistics that they deal with every day and Commissioner Avila has some terrific connections in the tourism community that will be very useful for the efforts in the Commission. Commissioner Pepe Avila stated it's an honor to be part of this Commission and further indicated he had the opportunity to welcome a delegation from Vitoria - Gasteiz that toured the Anaheim Convention Center in 2008, so he is familiar with some of the activities that take place. He looks forward to working with the Commission and also finding opportunities in another country to identify additional sister cities, especially after they are marketing and positioning Anaheim as a premier leisure convention and meeting destination. They work very closely with Disneyland in positioning Anaheim in the international market. Anaheim Sister City Commission April 27, 2015 Page 6 Chairman Nguyen explained Anaheim is of German heritage and has a large Hispanic population, and they don't have a sister city in those two countries. With that being said, the Commission tries not to get a sister city that also has sister city in the West Coast. It's okay if they currently have a sister city in the Central or East Coast, but if they have one in northern California, then it does not serve a purpose. The population does not have to match, as long as the cities share common traits such as the spirit of tourism, education and culture exchange. It's important too to have a group in their city that's ready for a sister city. Sister Cities operate differently throughout the world. The Anaheim Sister City Commission is part of the Anaheim City government. Other sister cities, like Miami, are run by their Visitor and Convention Bureau; and, others are run by the Chamber of Commerce. The spirit of sister cities is the exchange between people. Commissioner Nguyen gave a warm welcome to Commissioners Avila and Locke and stated the Commission is very happy to have them. Commissioner Jackie Filbeck read a note from Katie Filbeck regarding her recent trip to Mito, Japan. Katie got to do a lot of fun things. She took gifts for everyone. Katie and her brother Jonathan visited the art museum and a kimono exhibit; they had dinner with all the kids. They took tours of the center and they went to parks, Anaheim Square, they ate lunch and they had a really good time. They stayed two nights and were treated extremely graciously. They visited with all the kids that participated in the 2014 Inbound Student Exchange. It was a very memorable experience. IX. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:22 p.m. to Monday, May 18, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. at the Anaheim City Hall, 7th Floor, City Manager's Office Large Conference Room.