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Sister City 2010/02/22CITY OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITY COMMISSION MINUTES February 22, 2010 COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Joseph Aihara, Randy Amiri, Elaine Cali, Marge Conway, Sandy Day, Russell LaHodny, John D. Nguyen, Carrie Nocella, Brian O'Neal, Swati Patel, Anna Piercy, Kyoko Smith, Henri Soucy, Kimberly Tulleners, Caroline Yellis COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: GUESTS PRESENT: Greg Garcia, City Manager's Office Terry Lowe, Community Services Director Sjany Larson -Cash, Community Services Bryn Morley, City Attorney's Office Maggie Solorio, City Manager's Office Greg Hastings, Member of the Public Rochelle Hastings, Member of the Public Denise Silberman, Member of the Public Sue Soucy, Member of the Public Agenda Posting: A complete copy of the Anaheim Sister City Commission Agenda was posted at Anaheim City Hall on February 19, 2010. Public Input: Greg Garcia explained that members of the public are invited to address the Anaheim Sister City Commission and will be called upon under Agenda Item No. XIV. Public Comment. L CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Anaheim Sister City Commission was called to order at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, February 22, 2010 at the Anaheim City Manager's Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., 7 th Floor, Anaheim, California. II. OATH OF OFFICE FOR NEW MEMBERS Greg Garcia administered the Oath of Office to Joseph Aihara, Elaine Cali, Carrie Nocella and Swati Patel. Anaheim Sister Citv Commission Februan- 22, 2010 Page 2 III. INTRODUCTIONS Staff Members Greg Garcia and Sjany Larson -Cash, and Commissioner Members Joseph Aihara, Randy Amiri, Elaine Cali, Marge Conway, Sandy Day, Russell LaHodny, John D. Nguyen, Carrie Nocella, Brian O'Neal, Swati Patel, Anna Piercy, Kyoko Smith, Henri Soucy and Kimberly Tulleners introduced themselves and gave a brief synopsis of their background. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Commissioner O'Neal offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Piercy AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 14 -0, Absent: Yellis) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby approve the January 13, 2010 Anaheim Sister City Commission minutes correcting the Motion on Page 9 by adding the text in bold, as referenced below: MOTION: Commissioner Day offered a motion, seconded by Commissioner Amiri and MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 11 -0, Absent: Patel and Cali, 2 vacant seats) that the Anaheim Sister City Association will hereby send a letter to the existing Sister City Association respectfully asking that they disband as an organization and that their entire funds be transferred to the Anaheim Sister City Commission. V. RALPH M. BROWN ACT OVERVIEW Deputy City Attorney Bryn Morley gave a power point presentation regarding the Brown Act. Commissioner O'Neal asked if the Commission is subject to annual Form 700 filing. Greg Garcia responded that the City Attorney's office made the determination that this Commission is not required to file Form 700. The quorum for this Commission is 8. Greg Garcia indicated staff is going to put together a cheat sheet on the Brown Act and include it in the binders that will be given to the Commission members at the next meeting. VI. COMMISSION ACCOUNTING /ANAHEIM COMMUNITY FOUNDATION Greg Garcia introduced Terry Lowe and indicated he is here to answer any questions regarding the Anaheim Community Foundation. Anaheim Sister Citv Commission Februan- 22, 2010 Page 3 Terry Lowe introduced himself as the Community Services Director for the City of Anaheim and as the Chief Executive Officer of the Anaheim Community Foundation (AFC) in a volunteer capacity. The Foundation was formed in 1984 and has been in existence continuously since then. Initially it started as the Parks and Recreation Foundation and it has grown to be much more than that. ACF serves as a fiscal agent for organizations that would like to raise money, but don't want to incorporate and develop a board of directors. The way it works is ACF sets up an account with the approval of the Board of Directors. With the tax ID number that ACF provides, the affiliated organizations can go out and raise money and have that money deposited into the account. ACF takes no funding from that, the only thing ACF maintains is the interest while the money sits in their account. ACF has just under a million dollars circulating through the foundation on an annual basis. The Board is made up of a number of residents, business owners in the community and former Council members. ACF is an independent 501(c)(3) and Terry is a volunteer staff person. AFC has no overhead and no employees. ACF works as a bank, it is audited annually and it maintains all policies and procedures in accordance with the law of the State and the Federal government. Terry indicated he would be happy to answer any questions. Greg Garcia asked Terry Lowe to walk the Commission through the specifics of how it works if the Commission was to open an account with ACF. Would the Commission be able to write checks or would Board approval be required to withdraw or deposit funds? Terry Lowe explained that once the account is set up by the Board, it's the Commission's bank account and the Commission would have a liaison that would work with the Community Services Department. There are blue slips for deposits and red slips for withdrawals. His department makes sure that donors get recognized in accordance with the law. Money withdrawals are submitted in a form of a check request, which will produce a check that will need to be signed by 2 of the Board members. The turnover for a check request is a day or so of submittal. Terry Lowe also explained that the only thing it takes to set up an account is a letter of request to the Board. The Board meets the first Monday of every month and the next meeting is going to be March 1. Greg Garcia asked Terry Lowe if he is aware of any other City Commission that has taken the opportunity to use ACF. Anaheim Sister Citv Commission Februan- 22, 2010 Page 4 Terry Lowe indicated the Sesquicentennial Commission and a lot of other City functions like the Mayors Tech Scholar Program have set up accounts with ACF, but most of the Commissions do not have a fund raising mechanism to do that, so this is a more unique situation. Commissioner Day asked if there is a minimum deposit required in opening an account and Terry Lowe responded that a deposit is not required. Commissioner Amiri asked if the accounting information is web - based. Terry advised that it is not. The Commission would have to request a report and the AFC nuns monthly financial statements. Terry indicated the turnaround is very quick. His assistant handles all the check writing, getting all the checks signed and the issuance of the reports. Funds are deposited the same day they are received. Greg Garcia indicated one of the other options the Commission talked about at the last meeting was looking into having a line item in the City budget. Greg spoke to Finance and they indicated that something like that could be worked out. Greg also looked at some other cities that have a Sister City Commission to determine other options that may be available. Some of the best examples staff saw is having something set up very similar to the ACF. Some Commissions have a separate bank account outside of the City budget because they felt it was cleaner that way. Those that have the Sister City line item within the City budget regularly fund the Sister City Commission and activities with $5,000 410,000 appropriation from the general fund every year. However, that would not be the case with this Commission. Council has set this Commission to raise its own funds and to operate independently. Greg indicated staff looked at the AFC as a really good option because it is a separate entity, it's a nonprofit and because there's the issue of nonprofit giving funds to City vs. nonprofit to nonprofit. That is why staff would recommend the AFC as the best option. However, it is up to the Commission to decide what direction they would like to go. MOTION: Commissioner O'Neal offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Piercy AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 14 -0, Absent: Yellis) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby request that staff open an account with the Anaheim Community Foundation for Sister City Commission activities. Anaheim Sister Citv Commission Februan- 22, 2010 Page 5 VII. ANAHEIM SISTER CITY ASSOCIATION (ASCA) Greg Garcia noted that at the last meeting the Anaheim Sister City Commission asked staff to send a letter to the Anaheim Sister City Association (ASCA) asking ASCA to (1) transfer the remaining funds to the new Sister City Commission, (2) send a letter to Sister Cities International (SCI) letting them know that the new Commission will be taking over the responsibilities on Anaheim's behalf and (3) dissolve as an association in order to do away with any confusion among Anaheim's citizens and Sister Cities. Greg indicated he has not received an official response from ASCA, but he understands that ASCA took some actions at their last meeting. Commissioner Conway reported ASCA voted to dissolve as an association and support the new Commission. ASCA sent letters to Mito and to Victoria - Gasteiz stating that as of, or thereabouts, on March 30, 2010 ASCA will be dissolved and will become Anaheim Sister City Commission. ASCA has not yet informed SCI because there are several financial matters that need to be straightened out. As soon as that is straightened out, a letter will be sent to SCI, recognizing the Anaheim Sister City Commission and advising that ASCA is being dissolved. ASCA will be responding to Anaheim's letter with a formal letter as soon as everything is in order. Commissioner Nguyen indicated even though this was brought up at the last meeting, he felt it was important to bring it up again because he wants to make sure that all of the members that were involved in ASCA get recognized. Greg Garcia reported that the City Manager and the City Council have an interest in doing that and that it will be agendized at a future City Council meeting as soon as ASCA finishes their process and dissolves as an organization. Greg Garcia indicated that there being no further discussion that we are going to wait to hear from ASCA. VIII. MITO STUDENT EXCHANGE Greg Garcia indicated that, as discussed at the last meeting, we all recognize that if the Commission wants the Mito Student Exchange to occur this year that they need to take action as soon as possible. Greg asked Commissioner Soucy to walk through the steps that need to occur and the timing if the exchange is to take place this year. Anaheim Sister Citv Commission Februan- 22, 2010 Page 6 Commissioner Soucy reported he has been in contact with Mito on this and he explained to Mito that it would be very difficult for the Commission just starting out to raise the funding needed to cover these programs because they are happening in such a short period of time. Commissioner Soucy thinks the fact that ASCA is providing the funds to ACF that that money should be designated for the student exchange. He indicated with the money there, that takes away that one impediment. The exchange is something that Mito really wants to do. Mito has set aside a budget of $4600 to cover 4 Anaheim students and a chaperone. Mito provides a stipend of about $450 to all the students that come to Anaheim to lower their cost. It's a lot more expensive for students from Japan to come here than our students to go there. So, Mito has set aside about $4500 because they would like to send 10 students and two adults. Commissioner Soucy indicated the Commission has to make a decision at this meeting because they are almost 6 weeks behind schedule. Commissioner Soucy distributed a packet he put together of ASCA's best practices to the Commission and staff. The packet included a schedule with proposed deadlines, a student exchange application, a chaperone application, a medical release, a preliminary budget, a donation letter, orientation classes, interview questions and the 2009 Itinerary Schedule. He explained these are forms that ASCA used and that have been modified slightly substituting ASCA with Anaheim Sister City Commission. He added that ASCA had a great application and that the entire packet will be discussed by the Student Exchange Subcommittee to make sure it conforms to the new procedures that get adopted. Commissioner Soucy recommended that the student and the chaperone applications be distributed by March I with a submittal deadline of March 26. Commissioner Piercy and Commissioner Aihara discussed the best way to distribute the applications to the all the schools in the most expeditious manner. Commissioner Soucy indicated that a Get Acquainted Mixer is going to take place prior to the interviewing of the students to see how the students interact with one another and to get a chance to meet them. Commissioner Day commended Commissioner Soucy for the great detail on the schedule and indicated she would like to see the student exchange move forward this year for the inbound and outbound programs. Anaheim Sister Citv Commission Februan- 22, 2010 Page 7 MOTION: Commissioner Day offered a MOTION, seconded by Commissioner Conway AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 15 -0) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby request that staff move forward with the student exchange program for this year and that the final details including schedules and budget will be approved at a future date. IX. STANDING SUBCOMMITTEES Greg Garcia indicated he placed this item on the agenda to have the Commission discuss the possibility of creating subcommittees and selecting someone to head each subcommittee. The Executive Subcommittee would handle the big picture stuff, the bylaws and would assist with the finance and fundraising. The Government Relations and Cultural Exchange Subcommittee would deal with the student exchange program. The Economic Development subcommittee would be responsible for connecting Anaheim businesses with businesses in Spain and Japan. It was decided that the Commission's goals and objectives would be managed by the Executive Committee. Greg clarified that the goal is to establish subcommittees and identify a person who can lead the subcommittees and have them work with the Chair and Vice Chair to fill the subcommittees and make recommendations. Also, Greg encouraged all the Commissioners to submit to the Chair what subcommittee they would like to sit on. MOTION: Commissioner Day offered a MOTION, seconded by Commissioner Yellis AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 15 -0) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby create a Government/Cultural Exchange Subcommittee and nominates Commissioner Soucy to Chair said Subcommittee. MOTION: Commissioner Day offered a MOTION, seconded by Commissioner Conway AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 15 -0) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby create an Executive Subcommittee and nominates Commissioner Amiri to Chair said Subcommittee. MOTION: Commissioner Nocella offered a MOTION, seconded by Commissioner Day AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 15 -0) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby create an Economic Development Subcommittee and nominates Commissioner LaHodny to Chair said Subcommittee. Anaheim Sister Citv Commission Februan- 22, 2010 Page 8 Greg Garcia asked each Commissioner to submit to staff their top two choices of the subcommittees they would like to serve on. Staff will then provide their submittals to the Chair and the Subcommittee Chairs. Commissioner Tulleners asked for clarification on the topics that each subcommittee would handle and if the Commissioners would be able to serve on more than one subcommittee. Greg Garcia responded the Executive Subcommittee would handle strategic planning, creation of bylaws, communication with the City Council, finances and fundraising. The Government/Cultural Exchange Subcommittee would handle the student exchange program and branching out to Anaheim's sister cities to look at other cultural opportunities and to find different and unique ways for the cultural connection to exist. The Economic Development Subcommittee would focus on the business aspect. He indicated each Subcommittee Chair is also going to have his own ideas on how to expand upon that. Greg Garcia further explained that the Commission has 15 members and three Subcommittees. It makes sense to have five members in each Subcommittee. There will be plenty opportunities for the Commissioners to participate in some aspects of other subcommittees. X. COMMISSION GOALS & OBJECTIVES Greg Garcia indicated he placed this item on the agenda because Commissioner Amiri made a great point at the last Commission meeting to start establishing goals and mission statements. Commissioner Amiri indicated it is important to get a big picture first for everyone to be on the same page. What is this Commission suppose to do? What is the vision for Commission? Once that is defined, the Commission can establish goals and objectives. Once the goals and objects have been defined, then the Commission can decide the actions that need to be taken to achieve the goals and objectives. Who is going to do what? Commissioner Amiri asked for time at the next meeting to do a short presentation of his thoughts. Commissioner Amiri is going to put together a draft of the presentation and get it out to the Commission. Greg advised this item will be placed on the agenda at the next meeting. Anaheim Sister Citv Commission Februan- 22, 2010 Page 9 XI. ELECTION OF OFFICERS (CHAIR & VICE CHAIR) MOTION: Commissioner Day offered a MOTION, seconded by Commissioner Soucy AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 15 -0) that the Anaheim Sister City Commission does hereby nominate Commissioner Nguyen as Chairperson and Commissioner Nocella as Vice Chairperson of the Anaheim Sister City Commission. XII. CORRESPONDENCE TO MITO & VICTORIA- GASTEIZ Greg Garcia advised he is going to work with Chairperson Nguyen in drafting a letter to send to Mito and Victoria - Gasteiz to let them know of the changes that have taken place with respect to the newly created Anaheim Sister City Commission. XIII. FUTURE MEETING SCHEDULE Discussion took place on meeting dates and times. It was decided that the Anaheim Sister Commission meetings are going to take place on the 4th Monday of every Month at 4:00 p.m. The next meeting will be on March 22, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. at the City Manager's Office, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim, CA 92805. XIV. PUBLIC COMMENT Rochelle Hastings indicated that in looking at the outbound student exchange, it only shows Anaheim Union High School District and asked that other schools such as Canyon High School and private schools be included as well. Denis Silberman presented the keys to the Sister City Display at City Hall to Greg Garcia. Greg Garcia asked Commissioner Conway that when ASCA writes the formal response to the Commission advising what actions ASCA has taken to also include the fact that ASCA is handing over the responsibility and the keys for the display at City Hall. Greg Hastings advised that Jane Newell from the Library is going to help ASCA inventory all of the items at the Sister City Hall display and that she also suggested that the items be appraised. The idea would then be that ASCA donate the items to the City or to the Heritage Room at the library. Anaheim Sister Citv Commission Februan- 22, 2010 Page 10 Denise Silberman asked if members of the public can serve on the subcommittees. Greg Garcia responded the public can be involved, but not hold an official position. There will be plenty of opportunities for the public to volunteer and attend the planning meetings. XV. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:10 p.m. to March 22, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. at the City of Anaheim, City Manager's Office.