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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Sister City Committee - 04/05/2010 Sister City Committee RECEIVED April 5, 2010, 6 p.m. Galvan House— Heritage Park AUG 0 2 2010 1581 N. Chaparral, Corpus Christi, TX CITY SECRETARY'S OFFICE MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT ` STAFF Yoshiko Boulan Westi Horn Mary Babbili Laura Gonzales Jorge Brenner John Rocha Rose Gunji Drue Combs Kate Rodriguez Phyllis Roseman Maria Couret Donald Russell Samantha Sandate Tim Dowling Alan Thornburg Randy Farrar Brandi Williams Almira Flores Elizabeth Garza Michele Hammock I. CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting of the Sister City Committee was called to order by Brandi Williams, General Chairperson at 6:00 pm. II. ROLL CALL: Laura Gonzales called roll. A quorum was met with 15 of 21 members present. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Corrections: Under VII. B. — Remove the apostrophe from student's to read students. Add an "I" to Westi Horn's name. Under VIII. H. Remove the apostrophe from student's to read students. Under VIII. P. Add for the "next" school year. Randy Farrar moved to approve the minutes as corrected. The motion was seconded by Tim Dowling. The minutes were approved as corrected. IV. TREASURER'S REPORT: DISCUSSION ITEMS: Laura Gonzales reported that the General Fund balance is $ 17,879.17. PALS account is $7,379.92. Drue Combs moved to accept the Treasurer's Report and Donald Russell seconded the motion. The.Treasurer's report was accepted. V. PUBLIC COMMENT: none VI. DISCUSSION ITEMS: VII. A. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on sending students to Playa del Carmen this summer. Tim did some research on the Travel Warnings to Mexico. Spoke with Meaghan at the Consulate in Playa del Carmen and she told Tim that it was safe. Tim is recommending sending the students to Playa del Carmen. Almira read a letter from Sr. Boldo stating that the state of Quinta roo is safe and there is security for the tourists. Randy suggested that the committee should send a memo to the parents letting them know what we have found out about Playa del Carmen and the concerns if the parent does not want their student to go then they will not have a spot in the exchange and the alternates will be called. Randy Farrar moved to get the information from Tim and Almira to the parents in the form of a memo telling them that this is what we have found out about Playa del Carmen and that they can decide what they want to do about sending their child to Mexico. If they do not accept the trip to Mexico, there is no alternate destination. Then the committee will contact the alternates. A decision from the parents should be given to the committee by Thursday, April 8. Drue Combs seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. B. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on recommendations for the two vacancies on the Committee. The Committee nominated Chris Kailas, Gloria Sykes-Saucedo, Arthur Valdez, Renai Baker and Rodney Buckwater for the two vacancies. Tim Dowling moved SCANNED to nominate Chris Kailas and Michele Hammock seconded the motion. The motion passed. The committee voted and Gloria Sykes-Saucedo received the majority of the second vote. VIII. COMMITTEE REPORTS: A. Publicity Committee—Maria is requesting e-mail addresses from past Sister City Exchange students. She is going to create an e-mail address for Sister City ' B. Curriculum/Training Committee—Training for the students will be April 11, 18 &25. Some students from last year's exchange are not able to attend the training this year. John would like to have information added to the Student Exchange Packet explaining that the students will have to be responsible for training the following year's students— possibly even holding them financially responsible if they do not attend. Training will be from 1:30 to 3:30pm C. Selection Committee— No Report C. Fundraising Committee— Kate and Elizabeth will meet before next month's meeting and discuss fundraising options. E. Art Competition Committee—The reception and awards ceremony is this evening and everything is ready to go. F. International Cultural Festival/EXPO— Sail South Texas —July 1-5 G. Yokosuka, Japan — H. Agen, France New dates are June 25 —July 16 and their students departing on Aug. 6. They have a fifth student that would like to come also if we can find a host family. Keelung, Taiwan — No Report J. Monterrey, Mexico— Monterrey is still interested in doing the student exchange. Almira told them that we had already selected our students for this summer. They asked if we could host their students this summer since we could not do an exchange. K. Toledo, Spain — No Report L. Veracruz, Mexico— No Report M. Playa del Carmen — Discussion during agenda item. N. New Sister City Evaluation Committee- No Report Israel — No Report India— No Report O. Activities Committee—Westi and John will be meeting and will get the schedule finalized P. Pen Pal Committee—Yoshiko and Michele have met and Michele has a concern about liability because of photos, etc. being sent over the internet. Michele is proposing to give the exchange information to the administrators and that Sister City would give them the Y • i contact information, but that we would not be liable. The school districts would be responsible for implementing the program not Sister City IX. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA— I. Discussion and Action on revising the Student application for next year II. Discussion and Action on how the students should be penalized if they do not follow through with their commitment to the Exchange. X GENERAL CHAIR'S REPORT: XI ADJOURNMENT: Donald Russell moved to adjourn and Michele Hammock seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 7:07 pm. Laura Gonzales, Sister City Recording Secretary Cultural Services Division Parks & Recreation Department