Loading...
Sister City 2015/05/18CITY OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITY COMMISSION MINUTES May 18, 2015 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Anthony Al -Jamie, Pepe Avila, James Dinwiddie, Jackie Filbeck, Ann Gallaugher, Debbie Julian, Laurie Leonard, Mark Lopez, Kyndell Thorson and Jeanne Tran COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Lori Farrow, Chris Locke, John Nguyen, Brian O'Neal and Anna Piercy STAFF PRESENT: Greg Garcia, City Manager's Office Erin Wahlen, City Manager's Office Maggie Solorio, City Manager's Office GUESTS PRESENT: None Agenda Posting A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted on Friday, May 15, 2015 at 10:00 a.m. at Anaheim City Hall. Public Input: Chair 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. V. Public Comment. L CALL TO ORDER The meeting of the Anaheim Sister City Commission (ASCO) was called to order at 4:11 p.m. by Chair Kyndell Thorson on Monday, May 18, 2015 at the Anaheim City Manager's Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., 7th Floor, Anaheim, California. IL APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Commissioner Laurie Leonard offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Jeanne Tran AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 8-0; Abstained: Ann Gallaugher; Absent: Lori Farrow, Chris Locke, Mark Lopez, John Nguyen, Bryan O'Neal and Anna Piercy) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does ITEM NO.03 Anaheim Sister City Commission May 18, 2015 Page 2 hereby approve the minutes from the ASCC meeting held on April 27, 2015 with the correction of Chair Thorson's last name on Page 4 from Paine to Thorson. III. TREASURER'S REPORT A copy of the Treasurer's Report dated May 12, 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. MOTION: Commissioner James Dinwiddie offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Jackie Filbeck AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 9-0; Absent: Lori Farrow, Chris Locke, Mark Lopez, John Nguyen, Bryan O'Neal and Anna Piercy) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the Treasurer's Report dated May 12, 2015 as presented. IV. AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE REVIEW & REPORTS Commissioner Dinwiddie reported he is in the process of scheduling a meeting with the Cultural/Government Exchange Subcommittee to finalize the itinerary for the Inbound Student Exchange students and feels the Commission is on target at this point in time. The students will be in Anaheim from Friday, July 24 through Sunday, August 2. There will be a total of eight students and two adults. Chair Thorson presented a donation from Disneyland for the Inbound Mito Student Exchange Program. The donation included backpacks, pins and Disneyland Park hopper tickets for the students. Chair Thorson indicated there are extra tickets in case the Committee wants chaperones or commissioners to accompany the students. Commissioner Pepe Avila asked if the Commission would be in need of ART passes. Erin Wahlen responded that in the past, staff was able to pick up students and take them to Disneyland or take them to the Honda Center, so once the itinerary gets finalized, staff will reach out to ART and if need be, they will ask for passes if they offer weekend things with the family. Commissioner Jackie Filbeck reported she mentioned at a recent School District Board meeting that the Sister City Commission was in need of host families. Chair Thorson asked if anyone from the Commission had spoken at a Council meeting during public comments to make a pitch for host families. No one has, but they all thought it would be an excellent idea. Commissioners Filbeck and Anaheim Sister City Commission May 18, 2015 Page 3 Dinwiddie were not available to attend the next scheduled Council meeting due to prior commitments. Greg Garcia mentioned the Commission can also approach a Council Member, give them a script and ask them to read it to the audience during Council Comments. Commissioner Leonard mentioned there are not a lot of people there at the end of the meeting and thought that the announcement mentioned during Public Comments is better because that is when everyone is there. Commissioner Dinwiddie asked if someone from the City Manager's Office could do it and Greg advised submitting this to the City Manager to report during the City Manager report could be an option. Commissioner Lopez stated if the Board of Supervisors meeting ends early on May 19, that he could attend the Council meeting that day to make the announcement. Erin will draft a brief announcement for Commissioner Lopez. Commissioner Dinwiddie stated the itinerary for the 2015 Inbound Mito Student Exchange would be ready for the Commission meeting in June so that Commissioners can sign up and participate in the activities that are planned. Erin Wahlen is going to ensure that a schedule of the Student Exchange gets sent out to the Committee for consideration on how to populate events for this year. She will need that completed in order to confirm the rooms at the Downtown Community Center. And with a completed schedule, staff can also reach out to the transportation company and schedule those items. Also, Erin contacted the Police Department regarding fingerprinting and when she gets timeframe for that, it will be a deciding factor on when they can confirm host families. The Marketing/Fundraising Subcommittee is continuing to brainstorm on the fundraising event planned for the fall. Chair Thorson expressed the Economic Development Subcommittee's main objective is to help push Anaheim's relationship with Pudong over the finish line and they are getting close. She suggested the subcommittee getting a meeting together to talk about the logistics of that. Greg Garcia also added that City Council has indicated an interest in making Economic Development one of the main pieces of the Sister City Commission. Anaheim Sister City Commission May 18, 2015 Page 4 There are other cities that have a really strong Economic Development/business component as part of their Sister City's Commission. Chicago being one of them, with a staff of about 25, has their own Economic Development or business cultural exchange center. Maybe it's just a matter of doing some research on what those cities do and some of the best practices with regards to economic development, but also involving the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce. He suggested reenergizing the Chamber to get involved with some of the Commission's activities and also to start thinking about programs that the City has locally that the Commission can share with our Sister Cities or remind our sister cities in Spain and Mito that there's a lot going on in the City of Anaheim. There's investment, manufacturing, and plenty of opportunities for the Commission to have those discussions that can possibly lead to something. Chair Thorson stated tourism might be an interesting first step in marketing the City of Anaheim and if they come, then of course it will be economic development. The Commission agreed that made a lot of sense. Commissioner Pepe Avila stated Anaheim's strongest tourist markets are Canada and Mexico. He visited Canada last week with a delegation of 28 partners including Disney. He suggested considering a sister city in Canada to strengthen those links. Canada is number one in the number of overnight visitors to the Anaheim area hotels. That's more than Mexico because from Mexico we have friends and relatives that visit and stay at their homes. The number of visitors from Mexico is larger than from Canada, but the overnight visitors that stay at Anaheim area hotels from Canada are greater. Chair Thorson indicated that if Commissioner Avila wants to recommend some cities from Canada, that she would encourage him to do so. The cities do not have to be a match as far as size or by City values. Even though the Commission is currently looking at Pudong, China as Anaheim's next sister city, that is not to say we are not building up the back bench and already looking at future cities, so definitely he should look into that. As far as the economic development, she suggested that the Commission start with its current sister cities and it could be as simple as encouraging Vitoria-Gasteiz and Mito to add a link to their website of their sister cities. And in Anaheim's case, they can link them to the Anaheim Orange County Visitors and Convention Bureau (AOCVCB) so that people can learn about all that Anaheim has to offer from a tourism component. This in turn gives the Commission something to report back to Council so they know we are taking steps forward to find ways to drum up economic development. Anaheim Sister City Commission May 18, 2015 Page 5 Commissioner Debbie Julian shared she's had several conversations about this subject with Commissioner Chris Locke who is also the Vice President of Marketing at the AOCVCB. Commissioner Julian would be happy to reach out to her and conduct some research together to investigate that more. V. PUBLIC COMMENT None VI. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Commissioner Laurie Leonard asked for an update on Ingo Bilbao's request for an employee exchange. Commissioner Jeanne Tran explained this is a separate program outside of the Workers Exchange it's called the Global Training Program. The request is to find an advisor and office space in Anaheim for a student who is doing post -graduate thesis work for his PHD in Sports Marketing. The student would be paid by Vitoria-Gasteiz. They would also cover his insurance, housing and flights to and from Vitoria-Gasteiz. The only expenses Vitoria-Gasteiz would not cover are registration and flight expenses related to conferences that he would be asked to attend. Erin Wahlen responded multiple individuals received this request by email and unfortunately, Vitoria-Gasteiz's perception on this is that the City of Anaheim had committed to bringing a student to Anaheim and then backed out of the commitment. Commissioner Jeanne Tran clarified the Commission committed to explore the opportunity and did not commit to anything. She was personally involved in that. When Commissioner Tran found out that CalState Fullerton could not commit to it, she relayed that message to Mr. Bilbao and it got interpreted as though the Commission was backing out of something that they had already committed to. Vitoria-Gasteiz prepped the student to redo all of his thesis work to reflect Anaheim before Anaheim had committed a professor to him. Erin's impression was that this student would be working for an organization, but that needs to be clarified. Greg suggested finding him an office at Convention Sports and Entertainment. Anaheim Sister City Commission May 18, 2015 Page 6 Greg initially thought this was a City employee from Vitoria-Gasteiz, since Anaheim sent Ted White there and they were in turn going to send City employees so they can learn about our government. Erin Wahlen is going to reach out and follow-up on this request. Commissioner Jackie Filbeck asked Commissioner Anthony Al -Jamie if he had a chance to get a handbook or example from International Sister Cities that they can give to host families. Commissioner Anthony Al -Jamie responded the Sister Cities International website at www.sistercities.org and the Sister Cities International Southern California Chapter at www.socalsistercities.org have kits on homestays and for pretty much everything. Commissioner Pepe Avila asked for information on the programs that the Sister City Commission has participated in the past. He is familiar with a delegation from Vitoria-Gasteiz that visited Anaheim in 2008. Commissioner Avila took part in a presentation and a tour they were given at the Convention Center. The delegation wanted to hear about the City's infrastructure, its services, and how we promote Anaheim as a destination. He also heard about a delegation from Anaheim that visited Spain a couple of years ago. He asked what are other programs that the Commission puts together in relation to education and assistance to connect businesses. Erin responded the Worker Exchange Program with Vitoria-Gasteiz that took place a couple of years ago was a great experience for Ted White, Principal Planner with the Planning Department. Ted had the opportunity to job shadow the Planning Department in Vitoria-Gasteiz and that is how we got to meet Inigo Bilbao. It was an opportunity for idea -sharing, best practices and to hear about what makes Vitoria-Gasteiz a Green Capital City. Ted got great ideas and a better understanding of how they function and what their priorities are. In one respect, that could be something that turns into economic development. Erin further recommended that the Commission do some research on what is working for other Commissions and define the path that they would like to take in terms of defining economic development and presenting that to the City Council. Commissioner Anthony Al -Jamie added he thinks the Worker Exchange Program was a great start. The Commission can perhaps do a Worker Exchange Program Anaheim Sister City Commission May 18, 2015 Page 7 with Mito. The Commission would learn how to recycle and organization styles, which is one of their expertises. We would learn so much from seeing how their City Hall functions. VII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:55 p.m. to Monday, June 22, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. at the Anaheim City Hall, 7th Floor, City Manager's Office Large Conference Room.