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Sister City 2021/04/26CITY OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITY COMMISSION MINUTES April 26, 2021— 4:00 p.m. TELECONFERENCE http://www.anaheim.net/192/Sister-City-Commission SPECIAL NOTICE DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC On March 4, 2020, Governor Newsom proclaimed a State of Emergency in California as a result of the threat of COVID-19. On March 17, 2020, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-29-20 (superseding the Brown Act -related provisions of Executive Order N-25-20 issued on March 12, 2020), which allows a local legislative body to hold public meetings via teleconferencing and to make public meetings accessible telephonically or otherwise electronically to all members of the public seeking to observe and to address the local legislative body. Pursuant to Executive Order N-29-20, please be advised that the Sister City Commission members will participate in this meeting remotely. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: Pursuant to Executive Order N-29-20 and given the current health concerns, members of the public can access the meeting live on-line, with audio and limited video, at http://www.anaheim.net/192/Sister-City-Commission. In addition, members of the public can submit comments electronically for the Sister City Commission consideration by sending them to sistercity@anaheim.net. To ensure distribution to the Sister City Commission prior to consideration of the agenda, please submit comments prior to 12:00 p.m. the day of the meeting. Those comments, as well as any comments received after 12:00 p.m., will be distributed to the Sister City Commission members and will be made part of the official public record of the meeting. Contact Maggie Solorio (msolorio@anaheim.net) with any questions. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Paul Anderson, Kevin Barrot, Taline Cole, James Dinwiddie II, Lori Dinwiddie, Emily Fuentes, Elizabeth Jabaz, Steven Kleine, Larry L. Larsen, , Dara Maleki, Germaine Neumann, Anna Piercy, LaShe Rodriguez and Brian Stanley COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Brian O'Neal STAFF PRESENT: Greg Garcia, City Manager's Office Kimberly Kelemen, Community Services Maggie Solorio, City Manager's Office GUESTS PRESENT: None Anaheim Sister City Commission April 26, 2021 Page 2 Agenda Posting: A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted on Thursday, April 22, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. at Anaheim City Hall. L CALL TO ORDER Chair Taline Cole called the Anaheim Sister City Commission (ASCO) meeting to order at 4:02 p.m. on Monday, April 26, 2021. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Commissioner Paul Anderson offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Jim Dinwiddie AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 12-0; Abstained: Germaine Neumann; Absent: Brian O'Neal and Anna Piercy) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the minutes from the ASCC meeting held on March 22, 2021 as presented. III. APPROVAL OF TREASURER'S REPORT Treasurer James Dinwiddie presented the Treasurer's Report dated March 18, 2021 with a balance of $15,800.36 and noted there had been no changes in the account since February 2020. MOTION: Commissioner Larry Larsen offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Paul Anderson AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 13-0; Absent: Brian O'Neal and Anna Piercy) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the Treasurer's Report dated April 19, 2021 as presented. IV. POSSIBILITY OF A VIRTUAL EXCHANGE WITH MITO. JAPAN Commissioner Kevin Barrot put together a layout of the curriculum and Commissioner Dara Maleki conducted research on programs they can use during the exchange. Commissioner Kevin Barrot suggested 4:00 pm California time/8:00 am Mito time for the virtual exchange because of the time difference. He noted the proposed curriculum is based on the activities they have done with the students in the past with the only difference that it would be in a virtual setting. It would include a history of the Packing District, a virtual tour of Angel Stadium, a virtual scavenger hunt and some sort of virtual competition such as e -sports. Commissioner Dara Maleki mentioned a virtual competition could be a great way to continue to expand interest within the exchange program by virtually exchanging and it could be another way where they can raise funds. Anaheim Sister City Commission April 26, 2021 Page 3 Chair Taline Cole encouraged Commissioners Barrot and Maleki to attend the California -Japan Sister Cities Network Spring Workshop scheduled for Friday, May 14, 2021. The theme is Citizen Diplomacy through Technology and Innovation. She thinks that might also be a good place to get some ideas on virtual -type exchanges. Commissioner Members Barrot, Maleki and Jim Dinwiddie plan to attend the workshop on May 14. In his research, Commissioner Dara Maleki found the Stevens Initiative, which may have some federal funding available for virtual exchanges. He asked staff to look into it to see if there are any grants available for the city. Commissioner Maleki will forward a link with information about it. Commissioner Germaine Neumann thinks kids in Anaheim will be very interested in participating in the virtual exchange with the Mito kids and suggested that the Commission invite the students selected to go to Mito in 2020 to be part of this exchange. Chair Cole agrees that if they are able to coordinate a virtual exchange, they should definitely start filling the spots with the students that were slated to go. Commissioner Steven Klein only received one response from a student in October. Chair Cole stated if they can get commissioners to attend the workshop first, and then work with Mito and if they are good to go, then they can put together a subcommittee to start setting up a virtual exchange. Chair Cole is going to email Mr. Wong in Mito to see it there is interest on their end. V. VITORIA-GASTEIZ RELATIONSHIP UPDATE Commissioner Germaine Neumann reached out to Vitoria-Gasteiz and did not hear back from them. Greg Garcia reached out to Planning Director Ted White who participated in an Employee exchange a number of years ago and Ted was able to contact a friend that he did the exchange with and they got a response back. His friend said this is great and though he is no longer with Vitoria, he has friends at city hall that he connected them to and he also sent an email to the Vice -Mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz and copied a city staffer and said that Anaheim was interested in reestablishing a relationship. Greg will forward their contact information to Commissioners Neumann and Anderson. Greg also suggested working together on a reintroduction letter or email to them talking about what they would like to do and explore with them and see what kinds of interests they have. Therefore, they have two good people to start the conversation with. Anaheim Sister City Commission April 26, 2021 Page 4 Commissioner Lori Dinwiddie spoke with a former Commissioner about the Commission's desire to connect with Vitoria-Gasteiz. The former commissioner is going to reach out to Eduardo to see if he can assist in reestablishing the connection. VI. PUBLIC COMMENT Chair Taline Cole read a letter into the record from Anthony Al -Jamie, former ASCC Chair and current President of Sister Cities International, Southern California Chapter. The letter talks about true and lasting world peace and a reminder of the mission of sister city relationships. VII. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Chair Taline Cole received an email from Bryan Takeda who is a board member of the California -Japan Sister Cities Network (CJSCN) and the Pasadena Sister Cities Committee and he is trying to organize a regional networking group. He is looking for a way to coordinate meetings with groups in the Orange County region. Commissioners Brian Stanley, Dara Maleki and Kevin Barrot expressed interest in participating. Chair Cole thanked Commissioner Barrot for all the work he does for ASCC on social media. Commissioner Larry Larsen announced this might be his last meeting. A Council Member took exception to his comments from the last meeting and on Tuesday night, Council will be voting on his continuation on the Sister City Commission. He thanked city staff and the Commission and wished everyone the best. In addition, he noted Item No. 23 on the Council agenda is to discuss the restructure of the Sister City Commission. Commissioner Brian Stanley asked when the Commission starts planning things with our sister city will students in the Orange Unified School district be able to participate or is it exclusively for Anaheim Unified School district students. Commissioner Anna Piercy replied in order for students to be eligible to participate in the exchange program they need to live in Anaheim. It is not dependent on what school they attend, they must live in Anaheim in order to participate. VIII. STAFF COMMENTS Kimberly Kelemen noted if the Commission would like to start meeting in person, it could be arranged. Chair Cole suggested doing a hybrid meeting, to allow members to choose to participate in person or by Zoom. IX. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:52 p.m. to Monday, May 24, 2021 at 4:00 p.m.