Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Sister City Committee - 06/07/2010 Sister City Committee Monday, June 7, 2010, 6 p.m. RECEIVED V 6th floor Conference Room, City Hall 1201 Leopard St., Corpus Christi, TX SEP 1 4 2010 I CITY SECRETARY'S OFFICE MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT STAFF Yoshiko Boulan Westi Horn Michele Hammock Laura Gonzales Jorge Brenner John Rocha Chris Kailas Drue Combs Donald Russell Gloria Sykes- Maria Couret Alan Thornburg Saucedo Tim Dowling Brandi Williams Kate Rodriguez Randy Farrar Samantha Sandate Almira Flores Elizabeth Garza Rose Gunji CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting of the Sister City Committee was called to order by Brandi Williams at 6:00 pm. II. ROLL CALL: Laura Gonzales called roll. A quorum was met with 13 of 19 members present. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Corrections: Under VII. A. remove "our" from the sentence —We will invite the two students to be a part of the "our" student activities. Under VII. D. change women to woman. Under VIII. A. change "World's Affair" to "World Affairs". Under X. 2. change "Tia Jin" to "Tianjin". Tim Dowling moved to approve the.minutes as corrected. The motion was seconded by Donald Russell. The minutes were approved as corrected. IV. TREASURER'S REPORT: DISCUSSION ITEMS: Laura Gonzales reported that the General Fund balance is $ 570.38. PALS account is $7,379.92. Randy Farrar moved to accept the Treasurer's Report and Liz Garza seconded the motion. The Treasurer's report was accepted. V. PUBLIC COMMENT: none VI. DISCUSSION ITEMS: VII. A. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on payment of student's activities from PALS account Westi gave a breakdown of the cost of the student activities. The total came to $1822.00 We will eliminate the bags that are given to the.exchange students which will save about $300.00. The student activities will be about $1500. $570 will be spent from the General Fund and the rest will come from PALS. Rose Gunjii moved to spend $1,000.00 from PALS for student activities. Tim Dowling seconded the motion. The motion passed. B. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on purchasing Sister City Mayor's gifts. Westi will get the gifts for the Mayors. She will go to Aloe Tile and find gifts. Drue Combs moved to spend up to $150 from PALS to pay for the Mayor's gifts for France, Japan, Taiwan, and Playa del Carmen. Donald seconded the motion. The motion passed. C. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on how the students should be penalized if they do not follow through with their commitment to the Student Exchange. The contract would need to be changed to reflect any changes. Donald moved that there be an incentive for the students to participate fully and that it be included in the application once the budget comes available. Randy Farrar seconded the motion. The motion passed. D. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on determining how to revive the relationship with Veracruz, Mexico Brandi, Randy, and Drue met with the Mayor and there was no SCANNED 4. discussion about Veracruz. Jorge has not had any contact with the Veracruz committee in about 4 months. Jorge Brenner moved that.he would try and get in touch with the Veracruz counterparts and see what ideas they have for any programs they are willing to participate in. Tim Dowling seconded the motion. The motion passed. E. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on appointing a subcommittee to revise the student packet and rewrite the interview questions. Drue, Tim, and Donald volunteered to be on the subcommittee to rewrite the student packet and to rewrite the interview questions. Randy moved that Drue Combs, Tim Dowling and Donald Russell to be on a subcommittee to rewrite the student packet and rewrite the interview questions. Rose Gunjii seconded the motion. The motion passed. F. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on finding a new chairperson for Agen, France Drue Comb moved to appoint Brandi Williams as chairperson for Agen, France. Donald Russell seconded the motion. The motion passed. VIII. COMMITTEE REPORTS: A. Publicity Committee— Maria and Liz will meet the Webmaster at Texas A&M so that when Maria is gone, Liz will continue the web page. B. Curriculum/Training Committee—The last two students have taken and passed the test. They did very well on the test. C. Selection Committee— No Report D. Fundraising Committee—Tim contacted the Caller-Times about the Carwash Fundraiser. The carwash is on June 19. Tim has asked that all students sell at least 6 tickets. The BBQ Fundraiser has been put on hold for now. E. Art Competition Committee— No Report E. International Cultural Festival/EXPO— Sail Texas—July 1 —4. Only one person responded to thee-mail about volunteering during this time. Maria will resend the email and see if anyone is interested in helping with Sail Texas. G. Yokosuka, Japan — No Report H. Agen, France— Everything is set for the exchange. France is wanting to send a sixth student, but at this point it is too late to be able to accept a sixth student. Keelung, Taiwan — Keelung has chosen their two students. J. Monterrey, Mexico— K. Toledo, Spain —No Report L. Veracruz, Mexico-No Report M. Playa del Carmen —Almira received an e-mail from Sr. Boldo stating that he still had not received a letter of invite for the two students. Michele Thomas has sent a letter inviting the two students so that they can apply for their Visas. N. New Sister City Evaluation Committee— No Report Israel — No Report India— No Report O. Activities Committee—The Mariachi/Folklorico performance is supposed to be free but, we are going to give them a donation for the performance. We could possibly give them $400 as a donation. Drue and Brandi will split the cost for this performance. P. Pen Pal Committee—Yokosuka has responded and they are ready to be a part of the pen pal program. IX. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA— I. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on adopting the new by-laws II. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on reimbursing Drue and Brandi or directly paying for the Folklorico performance out of the PALS account. III. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on providing scholarships from the PALS account for those students who can't afford the exchange X GENERAL CHAIR'S REPORT: Results of meeting with Mayor Adame—The meeting with the Mayor lasted about an hour and the bottom line is that there will be no money. The Mayor sees the value of the committee but there is no money available. The committee will have to figure out how to raise the money to keep the exchange alive. He suggested working with businesses to form an alliance and developing a way to get the funds through this avenue. The Mayor will try and see if the Area Economic Corporation could possibly be a fit for the Sister City Committee. The committee will need to come up with fundraisers and different ideas to fund future Student Exchanges. XI ADJOURNMENT: Randy Farrar moved to adjourn and Rose Gunjii seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 7:53 pm. Laura Gonzales, Sister City Recording Secretary Cultural Services Division Parks & Recreation Department