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Sister City 2018/04/23CITY OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITY COMMISSION COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: GUESTS PRESENT: MINUTES April 23, 2018 Anthony Al -Jamie, Paul Anderson, Kevin Barrot, Eric Bullard, James Dinwiddie II, Lori Dinwiddie, Jackie Filbeck, Barbara Gerovac, Elizabeth Jabaz, Larry L. Larsen, Jerry O'Keefe, Brian O'Neal, Anna Piercy, Brigitte Rodgers Taline Cole Greg Garcia, City Manager's Office Kimberly Kelemen, Community Services Jeri O'Keefe Agenda Posting_ A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted on Wednesday, April 18, 2018 at 10:15 a.m. at Anaheim City Hall. Public Input: Chair Anthony Al -Jamie explained that members of the public are invited to address the Anaheim Sister City Commission and will be called upon under Agenda Item No. XII. Public Comment. I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Anthony Al -Jamie called the meeting of the Anaheim Sister City Commission (ASCC) to order at 4:05 p.m. on Monday, April 23, 2018 at the Anaheim City Manager's Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., 7th Floor, Anaheim, California. II. OATH OF OFFICE Greg Garcia administered the Oath of Office to the newest members of the Commission Kevin Barrot, Eric Bullard, James Dinwiddie II, Barbara Gerovac, Elizabeth Jabaz, Larry L. Larsen and Brigitte Rodgers who were appointed on March 27, 2018 by the City Council to serve on the Sister City Commission. Anaheim Sister City Commission April 23, 2018 Page 2 Introductions took place around the table. The newest commission members introduced themselves as follows: Kevin Barrot has been a resident of Anaheim for twenty-seven years and this is the first commission he has the honor to serve. Eric Bullard lives in District 3 and has lived in Anaheim for 7 years. He works at Cal State LA where he serves as the Associate Vice President for International Programs/Global Engagement and is the Dean of the College of Professional Education. Elizabeth Jabaz has been a resident of Anaheim since 1990, she is semi -retired, has three kids and a husband. She has been a real estate agent for thirty-five years and is looking forward to give back to the community. Barbara Gerovac moved to Anaheim in 2006 and lives in this vicinity. She and her husband opened the Anaheim Brewery in 2011. They previously lived overseas and were stationed with the US Army. They loved the idea of the exchange between social engagements as they feel it's key to peace at a very simple level. Larry Larsen spends most of his time at Anaheim High School, he has lived in Anaheim for 72 years and he has been looking to serve on this Commission for some time. Jim Dinwiddie stated this is his second stand as a Sister City Commissioner. He took two years off. He enjoys the student exchange and is happy to be back. Brigitte Rodgers has a doctorate degree. She has been involved in schools, school districts, and community colleges for about 25 years. Education is her thing and she has worked on committees, white papers, standards, and regulations from here to DC. She has lived in Orange County all her life and is happy to have time to get involved in her community. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Commissioner Brian O'Neal offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Lori Dinwiddie AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 7-0; Abstained: Kevin Barrot, Eric Bullard, James Dinwiddie, Barbara Gerovac, Elizabeth Jabaz, Larry L. Larsen and Brigitte Rodgers; Absent: Taline Cole) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the minutes from the ASCC meeting held on March 26, 2018 as presented. Anaheim Sister City Commission April 23, 2018 Page 3 IV. APPOINTMENT OF TREASURER MOTION: Commissioner Jerry O'Keefe offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Jackie Filbeck AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 14-0; Absent: Taline Cole) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby appoint Commissioner Jim Dinwiddie as the Treasurer for the Anaheim Sister City Commission. V. 2018 INBOUND/OUTBOUND STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMS Chair Al -Jamie gave a short introduction of the Inbound/Outbound Student Exchange and explained the student exchange is the Commission's main purpose throughout the year. It is to host Japanese students and to send Anaheim students to Japan. All of the subcommittees interact with the process. Vice Chair Lori Dinwiddie reported all is going well with this year's exchange. The committee selected six students for the 2018 Outbound Student Exchange, most of them have passports and only two are in the process of obtaining one. All the students have paid the $1,000 travel expense fee. Vice Chair Dinwiddie noted the Commission needs two chaperones to accompany the outbound students to Japan. The travel dates are June 23 to July 3. She extended the invitation to the newly appointed members of the Commission to chaperone students to Japan and Commissioner Jackie Filbeck gave a brief explanation of all the activities that take place in Japan and the expenses involved for chaperones. She further explained the commission covers the cost of the air flight and everything else is the responsibility of the chaperone. Commissioner Elizabeth Jabaz expressed interest; she will discuss it with her family and get back to the commission. Commissioner Jackie Filbeck reported she is working directly with staff from the Downtown Community Center to book the rooms needed during the students stay this summer. Commissioner Filbeck shared the year before they took the inbound students to Disneyland; to an Angel's game; they had In -n -Out; they went to the beach; they went to the OC Fair; they toured the Fire Station; they ate at the Packing House; and, visited the Muzeo and the Marketplace. In addition, in between that they had class time including a flower arrangement class by Vice Chair Dinwiddie. Chair Al -Jamie requested that staff check on the availability of Angel tickets for the Saturday, July 28 game. The welcome reception will be on Friday, July 20 at about 6 p.m. at the Downtown Community Center and the sayonara party was tentatively scheduled for Friday, July 27. Discussion took place to move the July 23 ASCC meeting to July 16. Anaheim Sister City Commission April 23, 2018 Page 4 Commissioner Jackie Filbeck again reminded the Commission it was time to put together goody bags for the inbound students and would appreciate any donations such as cups, mugs, hats, notepads, pens, folders and key chains. She needs twelve of each item. VI. GUIDELINES FOR APPROVING ADDITIONAL SISTER CITIES Chair Al -Jaime advised this is a big discussion that the Commission needs to continue to have. He felt it would be better if they tabled it for a couple of meetings where everyone has a better understanding what they are doing and how things work, before they start making new decisions. He suggested that they put it on a future agenda again and address it. Greg Garcia stated deciding to add more sister city relationships is an ongoing debate. Some commissioners feel the more sister city relationships the better and others feel that before adding any new sister cities, they need to develop that ones that they currently have. Chair Al -Jamie can probably attest to other cities around Southern California that struggle with the same issue, but he thinks a good first step is just thinking about guidelines. Anaheim gets approached by cities requesting a sister city relationship, they just had two cities approach them within the last couple of months, so the Commission needs guidelines in place to be able to make a determination. VII. REVIEW OBJECTIVES OF SUBCOMMITTEES AND APPOINT NEW SUBCOMMITTEE MEMBERS Chair Al -Jamie advised the Commission has three subcommittees; they are the Cultural and Government Exchange Subcommittee, the Marketing/Fundraising Subcommittee, and the Economic Development Subcommittee. The Cultural and Government Exchange Subcommittee's objective is to maintain the existing cultural exchange program to develop new programs that allow for more collaboration and exchange opportunities for the public and government members of the current and future sister cities and to plan and coordinate delegation visits. The Marketing/Fundraising Subcommittee's objective is to raise awareness of the Sister City Commission through production of collateral and planning community outreach events. The Economic Development Subcommittee's objective is to create programs aimed at leveraging the business connections between Sister Cities and to plan various activities including fundraising. The Commission decided to continue this item to the next meeting so that commissioners have an opportunity to ask questions and think about what subcommittee they would like to be part. Anaheim Sister City Commission April 23, 2018 Page 5 VIII. SISTER SCHOOLS Chair Anthony Al -Jamie stated they have attempted to create a sister school relationship, but they have not been successful. The Commission had connected the Japanese teacher at Loara High School with an English teacher in Japan, they were going to be sister classes, but the teacher in Japan got pregnant and had to take time off, so the process was stalled. Commissioner Filbeck stated she has teachers ready to do it. The Commission decided to talk to Mr. Wong when he comes with the inbound students and see what he can arrange. Chair Al -Jamie noted that with student exchanges, you have six or eight students going back and forth, not everyone gets to participate, only those who are selected and those who can afford it. With a sister school relationship, you have whole classes participating with other classes. If you can get a relationship off the ground and going, as they have in Los Angeles, then they can become self - sustainable because the principals and the teachers carry it forward. Next steps is to get contacts in Mito and then possibly once they reestablish contacts with Vitoria-Gasteiz that will be another opportunity to connect with their schools. Greg Garcia suggested that maybe this could be an assignment for our exchange students when they are in Mito, to establish that connection with a school, as they are visiting schools. Commissioner Brigitte Rodgers recommended that this idea be presented to the teachers and let them know this is a possibility that they are thinking about. Give them an idea how it can fit in to their daily schedule so that it does not seem like it is more work for them and maybe even involve them in the process of developing the outline of what it is going to look like, so the Commission can get their buy in. Commissioner Eric Bullard noted it is always better to connect the instructor to another instructor. He suggested if there is a way to identify on both sides and use the technology to leverage and have the conversation before the trip happens and then try to get one of this folks to go out on the trip. Commissioner Filbeck stated they just need to put together a few more guidelines. MOTION: Commissioner Eric Bullard offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Larry Larsen AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 14-0; Absent: Taline Cole) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby create a Sister School subcommittee with the objective to develop parameters of the program. Commissioners Brigitte Rodgers, Eric Bullard and Elizabeth Jabaz volunteered to serve on the subcommittee. Anaheim Sister City Commission April 23, 2018 Page 6 IX. CITY'S UPDATE ON CONTACT PERSON & BOARD'S ACTION PLAN FOR PUDONG Greg Garcia explained Anaheim and Pudong approved an MOU which is what is formally utilized in establishing a sister city relationship. The last step was for Pudong's elected officials to come to Anaheim to sign a formal ceremony or for Anaheim to go to Pudong and sign it. Anaheim was planning to take a trip there and that fell through because Pudong was busy with the opening of Shang Hai Disney and then officials from Pudong were going to travel to Anaheim last spring and that fell through because they felt they did not have enough time to plan and organize the trip. At the last ASCC meeting, Chair Al -Jamie advised we did not give Pudong enough notice for to travel to Anaheim and that was an insult to them in their culture. And, he thought it would be best for us to draft a letter apologizing, but also indicating that we are still very much interested in formalizing the relationship via a delegation visit from them or us over there and reestablishing that point. Chair Al -Jamie advised he would have the letter ready at the next meeting. X. UPDATE ON CITY'S CONTACT INFO FOR VITORIA-GASTEIZ & ACTION PLAN FOR RE-INITATING COOPERATION Greg Garcia explained staff had a very good contact for Vitoria-Gasteiz for years and years, but he has since retired. The connection with that city has suffered and so staff is still trying to reestablish a contact within city hall. Unlike Mito that has a division in Japan that is just on international affairs, Vitoria-Gasteiz does not have that. So staff just needs to find the right person that can help them reestablish that. Discussion also took place at the last meeting that a letter, similar to the letter to Pudong, to the Vitoria-Gasteiz' Mayor and or other city staff that could help with that. Chair Al -Jamie advised he would have the letter ready at the next meeting. XI. AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE REVIEW & REPORTS a. Cultural/Government Exchange Subcommittee None. b. Marketing/Fundraising Subcommittee None. c. Economic Development Subcommittee None. XII. PUBLIC COMMENT None. Anaheim Sister City Commission April 23, 2018 Page 7 XIII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Vice Chair Dinwiddie asked the commissioners to recruit for chaperones. Chair Al -Jamie extended the invitation to the Commission to host an exchange student this summer. Chair Al -Jamie indicated if anyone wanted to learn more about what the students are going to do in Japan, they are welcome to attend the training session on June 4 and 11 at 6 p.m. Chair Al -Jamie also advised that the May 28 ASCC meeting had been moved to June 4 at 4pm at Anaheim City Hall. XIV. STAFF COMMENTS None. XV. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m. to Monday, June 4, 2018 at 4:00 p.m. at the Anaheim City Hall, City Manager's Office Large Conference Room.