HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Sister City Committee - 05/03/2004 •
Sister City Steering Committee
Regular Meeting
Monday, May 3,2004
City Hall-Council Chambers—1201 Leopard Street
Corpus Christi,Texas 78401
MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS:ABSENT STAFF
Dr. Mufid Abudiab Gary Hansen Edna Balboa Chris Kailas
Regis Barber Elizabeth R. Iglesias Valerie Balesteros Barbara Williams
Judy Benkendorfer Ellen Murry Dr. Kent Byus
Dr. Hsiu"Mindy"Chang Sharon Phillips Drue Combs
Sue Dulaney John Rocha Sarah Hicks
Randy Farrar Yalee Shih Ann Jaime
Rose Gunji Bebe Morris
Connie Munoz Amanda Jane Haney
I. CALL TO ORDER:
The regular meeting of the Sister City Steering Committee was called to order at 6:12 p.m. by Chair, Randy
Farrar.
II. ROLL CALL:
Recording Secretary called roll, announced quorum
III. Introduction of guest—To be postponed until Hearing From The Public.
IV. Approval of the Minutes:
Motion was made by Gary Hanson and seconded by Yalee Shih to approve Minutes of the March 1, 2004
meeting with corrections as follows: Item 9 was the call for adjournment of the meeting by Regis Barber
and Item 8 corrected to read Sharon Phillips e-mailed the Veracruz Sister City the official dates for the
student exchange.
V. HEARING FROM THE PUBLIC
Alfred Acevedo—Director of high Schools for Corpus Christi Independent School District came to offer
support to the SCC as a facilitator with the school district. Mr.Acevedo provided the Committee with his
e-mail address alacevedo(a�ccisd.us for future communication.
VI. TREASURER'S REPORT
Chris Kailas said the treasurers report has not changed from last month. However, she stated that when
the travel tickets are purchased for the exchange students the treasurers report will change drastically.
VII. DISCUSSION ITEMS
A. ACTION ITEM: Discussion and vote on absentee policy in the by-laws.
Randy Farrar led discussion by outlining Sec. 2-61 of the by-laws and discussing the guidelines. It
was discussed if these by-laws were the current policy and it was determined this policy was instituted
in 1996. It was discussed what determines an excused absences and who makes that determination.
Dr. Chang moved to adopt the old policy making the chairperson the sole person responsible for
making the decision on absenteeism;it was 2nd by Ellen Murry. The motion was voted upon by the
committee and passed.
B. Discussion on attendance at the Sister City Annual Conference in Fort Worth,Texas, July 14-
18,2004.
SCANNED
.
.
Chris Kailas informed the committee that the deadline for early registration had passed. She also
mentioned that no students would be attending the Sister City Annual Convention in Fort Worth. Ms.
Kailas said that at this time no committee member with the exception of Rose Gunji would be attending
the convention.
C. Discussion on ways and means for presenting the plaque from Japan to the Lexington.
Chris Kailas informed the committee that the presentation of the plaque from Japan needs to be very
focal and Council members, dignitaries and the media need to be invited to the presentation. Regis
Barber explained the process needs to be very formal and visible and this presentation is from the
"Mikasa"to the USS Lexington and the City of Corpus Christi,the Corpus Christi Sister City needs to
be involved in the presentation. It was suggested that the Sister City Exchange students could be
invited to attend the ceremony since they would be here at that time. Regis Barber agreed to chair the
committee for the presentation of the plaque and Yalee Shih agreed to assist.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Wheelchairs For Peace—Ellen Murry
Eva Brooks the Veracruz contact for the Wheelchairs For Peace is managing 70 cargo
containers of wheelchairs of which ours is one of them. Ms. Brooks will soon be contacting
Ellen Murry with the timeline of when the wheelchairs will be arriving. Ann Jaime and Sue
Dulaney along with representatives from the Rotary will be traveling to Veracruz on June 4th to
work out the logistics.The estimated time for the trip to Veracruz for the delegation is sometime
in August. Dr. Gustavo Valadez-Ortiz input the donors of the wheelchairs into a database so
that Ellen Murry will be able to mail out updates to the donors.
B. Focus Groups/Youth Programming—Dr. Kent Byus
No report on Focus Groups because of the resignation of Dr. Byus from the Sister City
Committee.
C. Agen, France—Bebe Moms and Ann Jaime
Were not present to make a report however, Randy Farrar reported that 3 students will be
coming from France and we're sending 3 students. It was suggested that tickets be purchased
now in order to get the better rates.
D. Keelung,Taiwan—Yalee Shih
Ms. Shih reported that for Taiwan it was too early for them to report. They are in middle of their
budget, however, she would contact the school and try to get them to confirm.
E. Monterrey, Mexico—Ann Jaime
No report.
F. Toledo,Spain—Mufid Abudiab and John Rocha
Toledo will not be participating this year.
G. Veracruz, Mexico—Sharon Phillip made contact with representative who has contacted the
school but has not gotten any students to participate in the exchange.
H. Yokosuka, Japan—VIP Exchange update-Gary Hansen
The exchange student's names have not yet been given to Gary Hansen. It was suggested
that all host Sister City Exchange representatives be contacted to finalize the plans for this
years exchange so that tickets may be purchased.
Randy Farrar mentioned that it had previously been discussed that the students would be
given more information regarding their host country. He asked if anyone would be willing to
step in and undertake the project of giving our students additional information about their host
country. Mufid Abudiab and John Rocha volunteered to take the project.
I. Activities Report-No report.
J. Awards Nominations Report—Randy Farrar
Randy mentioned that with the help of Chris Kailas he was able to put together the report to
submit to the Nomination Committee in the category of"For Best Overall"in which they listed
the Exchange Program,the Arts Program,the VIP Program and the Peace Pole. Randy
mentioned that the dedication of the peace pole at Schanen Elementary School went very well.
3 Former Exchange students attended and interacted very well with the elementary students.
VIII STAFF REPORT
Chris Kailas had already made her report.
IX. CURRENT CONCERNS
No Current concerns
X. ADJOURNMENT—A motion was made by Sue Dulaney and seconded by Dr. Chang. The meeting
adjourned at 7:05p.m.
Chris Kailas, Supervisor
Park& Recreation Department