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Sister City 2019/09/23CITY OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITY COMMISSION MINUTES September 23, 2019 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Paul Anderson, Kevin Barrot, Kevin T. Brown, Taline Cole, James Dinwiddie II, Lori Dinwiddie, Emily Fuentes, Larry L. Larsen, Germaine Neumann, Anna Piercy, LaShé Rodriguez and Susan Vodonick COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Elizabeth Jabaz and Brian O’Neal (One vacant seat) STAFF PRESENT: Greg Garcia, City Manager’s Office Kimberly Kelemen, Community Services Maggie Solorio, City Manager’s Office GUESTS PRESENT: None Agenda Posting: A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted on Thursday, September 19, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. at Anaheim City Hall. Public Input: Vice Chair Lori Dinwiddie explained that members of the public are invited to address the Anaheim Sister City Commission and will be called upon under Agenda Item No. IX. Public Comment. I.CALL TO ORDER Vice Chair Lori Dinwiddie called the meeting of the Anaheim Sister City Commission (ASCC) to order at 4:03 p.m. on Monday, September 23, 2019 at the Anaheim City Manager’s Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., Seventh Floor, Anaheim, California. II.FLAG SALUTE Commissioner James Dinwiddie led the Flag Solute. ITEM # 08 Anaheim Sister City Commission September 23, 2019 Page 2 III. OATH OF OFFICE Greg Garcia administered the Oath of Office to Commission Members Paul Anderson, Taline Cole and Larry L. Larsen who were reappointed on September 10, 2019 by the City Council. He also administered the Oath of Office and to the newest members of the Commission Kevin T. Brown, Emily Fuentes, Germaine Neumann, LaShé Rodriguez and Susan Vodonick who were appointed on September 10, 2019 by the City Council to serve on the Sister City Commission. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Commissioner Larry Larsen offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner James Dinwiddie AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 4-0; Abstained: Paul Anderson, Kevin Barrot, Anna Piercy, Kevin T. Brown, Emily Fuentes, Germaine Neumann, LaShé Rodriguez and Susan Vodonick; Absent: Elizabeth Jabaz and Brian O’Neal; and, one vacant seat) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the minutes from the ASCC meeting held on August 26, 2019 as presented. V. APPROVAL OF TREASURER’S REPORT Treasurer James Dinwiddie presented the latest copy of the Treasurer’s Report dated September 18, 2019 with a balance of $13,174.25. He gave a thorough overview of the report including the charges for the 2019 Outbound Exchange Program, the funds raised at the 2019 ASCC Fundraiser in March and the charges for the 2019 Inbound Exchange Program. MOTION: Commissioner Larry Larsen offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Kevin Brown AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 12-0; Absent: Elizabeth Jabaz and Brian O’Neal; and, one vacant seat) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the Treasurer’s Report dated September 18, 2019. VI. MITO DELEGATION VISIT Greg Garcia explained that Mito, Japan is the City’s longest sister city partner. That relationship is going for 43 years and every few years Mito brings a delegation of city officials to Anaheim to do a quick visit. A delegation from Mito is coming this year from October 21 to October 23. Greg is putting together a schedule that will include time with elected officials, a ceremony where Mito will present a new set of dolls to the City, a luncheon, visits to a couple of schools, a presentation by the Anaheim Ballet, a tour of Anaheim facilities and a day at Disneyland. There are twenty members in the delegation. Greg invited the Commission to take part for some of the events over the three days, to join them Anaheim Sister City Commission September 23, 2019 Page 3 on the tours and or to meet them at the luncheon whatever their schedule allows. Greg also advised the City would cover the expenses of the luncheon. VII. MITO STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM Chair Taline Cole thanked Commissioner Kevin Barrot for creating a flyer for the 2020 Mito Student Exchange Program and Commissioner Brian O’Neal for delivering the flyers to the schools’ open house/back to school nights. She further indicated they already have interest in the program, which is great. The Commission discussed due dates for the student application and it was decided that the deadline would be December 12, 2019 and that the Commission would extend the deadline if they do not get enough applications by then. The interviews will take place in January 2020. The application will be accessible on the Sister City website. Chair Cole advised the Commission is going to need a couple of subcommittee chairs to be the point persons for incoming students from Mito. One person will help coordinate the schedule, reserve the rooms at the downtown community center and of course, all of the commissioners will be expected to help with this in some way. She would also like someone to be in charge of host families and recruiting host families. This would be the single point person to take the applications. She is looking for two people to lead those responsibilities for incoming students. Chair Cole would also like to select someone to be in charge of the outgoing student exchange responsible for purchasing the plane tickets, collecting the interview applications and setting up people for interviews. Again, everyone on the Commission will be expected to assist in some way through the process, but the subcommittee chair would be the point person. Since no one volunteered for these positions, the Commission continued the selection of subcommittee chairs to the October ASCC meeting. VIII. FUNDRAISING Chair Taline Cole stated she would like to continue doing fundraisers because she would like to eventually lower the amount of money the Commission is asking from students to participate in the Outbound Student Exchange Program. Or, in a situation where a student comes in with financial issues, instead of giving them fundraising ideas she would like to be able to offer a separate application for that or just be able to help them a little bit more. She thinks that it might be hard for some families to come up with $1,000. She is not saying that they should not put in some of their own money, but everyone has certain economic backgrounds and she wants this program to be available to everyone. Anaheim Sister City Commission September 23, 2019 Page 4 Chair Taline stated the Anaheim Brewery is more than happy to do another fundraiser for the Commission. The fundraiser the Commission had there in March turned out to be a simple fundraiser catered by K&A, the Commission sold tickets to the event, and they had an auction. Decades Bar on Center Street Promenade is also willing to do a fundraiser if the Commission wants to work with them. Chair Taline Cole asked for someone who would like to lead the fundraiser. She explained the Commission wants to move quickly on the fundraiser and wants to have it on October or November of this year, if possible. Commissioner Emily Fuentes asked if they could postpone appointing a chair for the fundraising subcommittee until October and the Commission agreed to it. IX. PUBLIC COMMENT None. X. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Introductions took place around the room. Taline Cole is the Chair of the Commission and has been on the Commission for 3 years. She lives in Anaheim and works for Coffee Bean. Lori Dinwiddie is the Vice Chair. She is not an Anaheim resident, but she volunteers a lot in Anaheim. She and Jim Dinwiddie were Citizens of the Year in 2018. Jim Dinwiddie is the Treasurer; he is on his second set of terms, he termed out after 7 years his first time and he is on his second year of his second term. He is on the YMCA Board; he plays Santa Clause for the Nut Cracker and is involved in the Flag Day parade. Kevin Brown works for the Orange County Department of Education and a philanthropic trust called North America Scholastic Esports Fed. He decided to serve on this commission because he lived and worked abroad many years and he speaks 11 languages. He is happy to be on the Commission. Susan Vodonick is a teacher at Canyon High School, she has been teaching there for eighteen years and she is an artist. At the beginning of her career, she was involved in international business in the music industry. She has lived in Anaheim Hills for thirty years and raised her three kids there. Anaheim Sister City Commission September 23, 2019 Page 5 Paul Anderson has lived in Anaheim for over six years, and lived in Fullerton before that. He has three kids and loves Anaheim and that is why he is volunteering. Larry Larsen has lived in Anaheim for 74 years and he enjoys serving on this commission because it is international and he gets to meet many interesting people. Kevin Barrot is an Analyst with the State of California. He has been on the Commission for 2 years and has been an Anaheim resident for 28 years. Kimberly Kelemen works in Community Services. She manages Parks and Recreation programming, after school programing and facilities and sports leagues. She attends the Sister City Commission meetings and provides support for the Commission. Emily Fuentes has lived in Anaheim for eight years and she has two kids. Her background includes international work in higher education and in the nonprofit sector with international religious freedom and poverty alleviation. She is currently doing consulting for groups for fundraising and marketing. Germaine Neumann has lived in Anaheim for thirteen years. She has a thirteen- year old boy at Sycamore Jr. High School who participates in the dual-immersion program. She is interested international travel and is happy to be serving on this Commission. Greg Garcia, Deputy City Manager, gave background information on the formation of the Sister City Commission. He likes to stay involved, help out wherever he can and act as a resource. Anna Piercy represents the Anaheim Union High School District and is one of two permanent members. She has been on the Commission since its initiation. She was a teacher for 38 years and during that time, she would chaperone students on an ambassador program so she has worked a lot with traveling with students. LaShé Rodriguez moved to Anaheim in January of this year and she looks forward to serving in Anaheim. She is currently the Chief of Staff for Fourth District Supervisor Doug Chaffee. Anaheim Sister City Commission September 23, 2019 Page 6 Maggie Solorio is an Executive Assistant at the City Manager’s Office. She assists the Commission with the preparation of the agenda, takes the meeting minutes, coordinates and sends out the agenda packet. XI. STAFF COMMENTS None. XII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:09 p.m. to Monday, October 28, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. at the Anaheim City Hall, City Manager’s Office Large Conference Room.