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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Sister City Committee - 05/05/2014 SISTER CITY COMMITTEE Regular Meeting, May 5, 2014, 6:00 pm 6t" Floor Conference Room, City Hall 1201 Leopard St., Corpus Christi, Texas 78401 MEMBERS P A MEMBERS P A STAFF 1. Kevin Aguilar - X 9. John Sloan X Reba George Ferrari 2. Mark Bradsher X 10. Alan Thornburg X Tess Allan 3. Yvonne Fernandez X 11. Vacant X .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4. Westi Horn X 12. Vacant X .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 5. Wan Sun Kim X 13. Vacant X .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6. Hailey Kimball X 14. Vacant X .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 7. Heather Moretzsohn X 15. Vacant X .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 8. Donald Russell X Total: 10 5 ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... I. CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting of the Sister City Committee was called to order by Heather Moretzsohn at 6:02 pm. II. ROLL CALL: Tess Allan called roll. A quorum was met with 10 members present. Hailey Kimball and Westi Horn each requested that their absences from the April 7, 2014 SCC meeting be excused due to illness. By general consensus the committee agreed to excuse both absences. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Donald Russell moved to accept the minutes as submitted. Hailey Kimball seconded. Minutes were approved. IV. FINANCIAL REPORT: Current Available Funds is $4,779.75 V. PUBLIC COMMENT: none VI. NEW BUSINESS: Sister City Gifts By general consensus it was determined that Westi Horn will contact the Mayor's office to see if she would like to donate gifts for our students to deliver to the Sister City Mayors that they will visit. John Sloan will contact Tumlinson Photography for an 8 x 10 size photo of the City of Corpus Christi for each of the students to deliver. Reba George announced that the Parks and Recreation Department will pay for the photography gifts. Spanish Business Sponsor Item tabled Carwash Fundraiser John Sloan announced that the fundraiser will take place on May 31 st at the Urgent Medical place on Staples and Saratoga from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Currently two students from the 2013 exchange, Gabriella & Natasha, are scheduled to help as well as the three 2014 students but more volunteers are needed. Sister City Committee Application Process Heather announced that she met with the City Secretary's office regarding the Committee's urgent need to have its vacancies filled and they agreed to process the applications currently on file at the May 27th City Council meeting. Heather has also contacted Coretta Graham asking her to reapply for the Committee. City Staff circulated a recruitment press release and announced that Alan Thornburg will be interviewed by KiiiTV3 on May 6th to discuss the press release and to recruit new members. VII. OLD BUSINESS: Del Mar Small Business Development Council/Global Trade Section Expo Heather announced that the required booth fee will be waived for Sister City. The Expo will be held Wednesday, August 6th each of the City Liaisons will contact their counterpart to see if their students can stay through August 7th or 8th in order to participate in the Expo. Eisenhower Fellow Report Eisenhower Fellow, George Hsieh, who is the equivalent of a Congressman from Taiwan, came to visit in April. He specifically requested to visit with the Sister City Committee because he is originally from Keelung. Mr. Hsieh had a good and productive meeting with Heather, Alan and Reba before his visit with the Mayor and City Manager. VIII. Liaison Reports A. Yokosuka, Japan — Westi reported that they have selected two students from Japan, one boy and one girl. They will arrive July 22nd and Westi will check to see if they can stay through Aug 7th or 8th. Heather will host the female student. B. Agen, France — Mark reported that Agen will send two girls. Our student will travel to Agen on June 26th and will return with the Agen students on July 17th. Heather will host one of the students. Mark reported that he was able to connect our student with the French professor at TAMUCC who has actually lived Agen and was able to share some insights about the French culture and language. C. Keelung, Taiwan — Alan reported that Taiwan has selected one boy and one girl. Our student, Sam Barre, will travel to Keelung on June 30th and will return with the Keelung students on July 18th. Alan will check to see if they can stay here until August 7th or 8th F. Playa del Carmen — John Sloan announced that he has received three shirts from Fire Chief Rocha to exchange but that Chief Rocha has not had a reply to his email from them. John will be visiting Playa del Carmen June 19th — 26th and will deliver the shirts, letters from the Port and copies of the original Sister City agreement to them at that time. IX. Task Manager Reports A. Publicity Reports — Yvonne reported that she will work on the Stripes Press Conference. The City has released a press release for member recruitment and Alan will be interviewed by KiiiTV3 for the same. Alan suggested having the students interviewed by the Caller Times for their weekly focus on High School students. Reba volunteered to contact the Public Radio station to see if they would be willing to interview the students as well. B. Social Media/Website — Yvonne agreed to help with Social Media until a replacement for Evan can be found. C. Curriculum/Training — Alan met with the students for the second round of training which was successful. D. Fundraising — Wan Sun announced that she will be meeting with the Korean Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, May 7th. They would like to donate funds to the City and she is requesting that they earmark the funds for the Sister City Committee. Wan Sun will contact Heather after their meeting to make arrangements for the best way to make their donation. Hailey Kimball announced that the Pain Relief Center has said that they would be willing to donate one or more Shiatsu Massage sessions for the Committee to use as a fundraiser. E. New Sister City Evaluation — None F. Activities — Alan presented the current activity schedule and reviewed the areas that needed more activities. G. Selection — John Sloan suggested hosting a luncheon for High School Counselors to make them more aware of the Sister City programs so that they can endorse the SCC and help drum up more student applications. H. Pen Pal — None I. Student Service — John Sloan reported that the second beach clean-up went well. The Dibbles will now receive their $150 deposit back. J. Historian - None X. Updates XI. Identify Items to be Placed on Next Agenda • Del Mar Small Business Development Council/Global Trade Section Expo • Student Gifts • Liaison Appointments • High School Counselor Luncheon XII. ADJOURNMENT: Kevin Aguilar-Ferrari moved to adjourn the meeting. Don Russell seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 7:02 pm. Tess Allan Parks & Recreation Department