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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Sister City Committee - 05/07/2007 3 3� — 12 345 Sister City Steering Committee iry� s1> Regular Meeting �y`� City Hall, 6th floor conference room N .1?Ci ��i o Monday, May 7, 2007 ?BOJ N QF�'�,r•' ,� �v F4,��J;, �� MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT STAFF °'�' Drue Combs Ellen Murry Cecilia Hanna -A Chris Kailas Randy Farrar Guillermo Perez Ann Jaime - A Dr. Gustavo Almira Flores Flicka Rahn Peter Kuntu-Mensah -A Valadez Rose Gunji John Rocha Coeta Montgomery - A Ridge Hammons Sukhbir Singh JJ Nelson - A Westi Horn Sharon Phillips - A H. Moretzsohn Gilberto Porter- A CALL TO ORDER: Called to order at 6:07 p.m. II. ROLL CALL: Chris Kailas called roll. A quorum was met with 12 of 19 members present. III. ANNOUNCEMENTS: There were no announcements. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Corrections for the April 2, 2007 minutes are: 1) page 2, #VII, Section B, line 6 —correct the word "change" to "chance" 2) page 3, #VIII, Section B, line 2 — correct "Danny" to "Jesse" The Minutes were passed as corrected. V. HEARING FROM THE PUBLIC: No one from the public spoke. VI. TREASURER'S REPORT: Chris Kailas, using the newly revised report form, noted that the General Fund shows a balance of$8,058.59. April expenses were $70.25 for one more flag stand at the Airport Sister City Flag Display and $600 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards for the local show of the Sister City International Young Artists' Competition. April total monthly expenses were $670.25. There were no May expenditures. The PALS account did not change from last month. For June's report, Ms. Kailas suggested that the last 3 months of PALS be added to the bottom of the report forms. The Committee liked the idea. VII. DISCUSSION ITEMS: A. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on selection of student to represent Sister City Steering Committee in Toledo's Summer Language Program. Applications for two students were given out to the Committee members. There was a short discussion on whether or not to vote on one student tonight or to take home the applications and study them and vote next month. Dr. Ridge Hammons moved to vote tonight in order to get the information to both the selected student and Spain in a timely manner. Flicka Rahn seconded the motion. The motion passed. General Chair Heather Moretzsohn asked the members to read the two applications and make their selection. A discussion followed. Randy Farrar noted that one applicant has only one year of Spanish. Also, one of the applicants has a Letter of Recommendation. Flicka Rahn said she likes the young man's letter and she noted that the female SCANNED student does not have a passport. Ellen Murry said that the young man seems to have more "gumption" and a "good attitude". Drue Combs asked how old the young man is. He is 26. Randy Farrar called for the vote. Randy Farrar moved that the Committee select the young man, Daniel Schorlemmer. Dr. Ridge Hammons seconded the motion. The motion passed. Dr. Gustavo Valadez asked if this form needs to be changed in any way. Drue Combs suggested we have a question asking about the student's Nationality; the student should be a citizen of the U.S. It was also noted that we could ask more about academics. For instance, we could add a line that says, "I am a at _ College, majoring in (level) of Spanish." Also, we could add a request for their date of birth. It was suggested that the essay be asked to include a degree plan; number of years of Spanish; and a Letter of Recommendation. B. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on new year-long Yokosuka Sogo High School and Yokosuka Sister Cities Exchange Program Initiative. Drue Combs and Westi Horn said they don't know anything about this program. Ms. Combs said they would like to look into it and do quite a bit more study. She questioned who would bear the costs, the School District or City. They asked Dr. Hammons what he thought it would take to set up and run the program. Dr. Hammons said there are many questions the Committee might ask. A few of the questions are: What age is the student? Would we reach out only to high school students? Would the school districts grant credit to the student for the year? Ridge Hammons said that if the Committee made a good enough case there could be duel credits granted by TEA. Dr. Hammons said that "the world of the Internet doesn't mean that anyone has to go anywhere." Drue Combs said that the item needs to be tabled for 6 weeks to allow Westi Horn and her to do more research into the program. Ms. Combs said "the International Relations Committee, Division, this Committee's counterpart in Japan, no longer handles the Student Exchange programs" and "I am not sure that the IRC knows about what's going on." Ms. Combs will check with local schools to see if any school offers Japanese. Dr. Hammons said there is a lot of opportunity for the schools to choose courses that suit them. Dr. Gustavo Valadez will talk to P&RD Director, Sally Gavlik to see if the chairs would be allowed to discuss the program directly with the contacts in Japan. Drue Combs moved to have Dr. Valadez speak to Ms. Gavilk for permission to do research into the possibility of working with Japan on the exchange with Sogo High School. Randy Farrar seconded the motion. Motion passed. C. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on how to handle the problem of exchange students missing scheduled preparation and training for their trip abroad. Sukhbir Singh reported that a number of this year's selected exchange students were missing the training meetings. Even when make up meetings were set, they were not able to make the sessions. Ms. Leslie Ferguson and Ryan Rios and have dropped out. Alternate Gus Wilson will replace Ryan Rios going to Japan. Alternate Ms. Leslie Lopez will be contacted to replace Ms. Ferguson going to France. Randy Farrar suggested we continue with the formal training and have a "one meeting missed" rule and when they have to miss, have the student meet for make up with the Chairs for their selected City. Drue Combs said we have to give them the training times at the time of selection so they can decide then and there whether or not they can participate. She expressed a concern that if we want the top notch students, then we have to expect that they are going to be busy. She wondered if 3 sessions are necessary. She suggested parents only need to come once. Ms. Combs also said there is not enough time to question the students about their knowledge of Corpus Christi. She suggested that the Selection Committee determine if they are still interested in having our students know about Corpus Christi. It was also suggested we select 4 alternates the next time we select our students and have tougher training that is mandatory. Randy Farrar said he finds that more of our students know about Jennifer Lopez than Corpus Christi. He said the formal training sessions are important to prepare our students. Also, he said "when our students go to these countries, they are going to be asked about Corpus Christi. Suhkbir Singh said we should not change the rules for this time but plan for the future. Ellen Murry seconded what Randy Farrar said about training. She also said we need to study the selection process so the Committee can have all its questions answered. Then develop a plan that looks more in depth at each student and encompasses the Committee's ideas into our next Selection Process. Drue Combs said she would vote against the motion because we did not make it clear to our selected students in the beginning. Randy Farrar thinks it's the wrong motion at the wrong time. He said we need to focus on the future. Drue Combs said we are making a rule that was not a rule. She asked that we rephrase the motion. The newly rephrased motion states that any student who misses a training session is still eligible to go, but they must make up the training with their City's co-chairs. Willie Perez seconded the motion. Drue Combs, Randy Farrar, Rose Gunji, and Dr. and Ridge Hammons voted against the motion. John Rocha abstained and 7 voted for the motion. The motion passed. Randy Farrar moved to have the General Chair appoint an Ad Hoc Committee to discuss the issues and make recommendations to the full Committee with regards to student absences at training, other activities and possible alternative ways of handling these issues. Suhkbir Singh seconded the motion. The motion passed. D. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on ideas for further development of the Corpus Christi Sister City Web site. Drue Combs moved that this item be tabled until Gilberto Porter is at the meeting. Westi Horn seconded the motion. The motion passed. Randy Farrar discussed finding out asked if -- -_•••• -- _- e - - . - _ people could access the Sister City Web Site from the City's official web site. The E. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on work still needed to be completed for the Sister City Flag Display at the Corpus Christi International Airport. Drue Combs moved to table the motion because JJ Nelson is not here and John Rocha seconded the motion. The motion passed. VIII. COMMITTEE REPORTS A. Fund Raising Committee: Ellen Murry, JJ Nelson — Ellen Murry reported that John Tower said he sent his check for $500. It was noted that the City has not seen it yet. Ms. Murry called and left a message to talk to the Chess Master to see about setting up another Chess Fund Raising event sometime in the fall. B. Publicity Committee: Cecilia Hanna, Gilberto Porter, and Sukhbir Singh — No report. C. New Sister City Evaluation Committee: Ellen Murry— No report D. Agen, France: Ann Jaime, and Ridge Hammons — It was noted that we cannot buy tickets for our students because we still need to confirm an alternate to replace Ms. Leslie Ferguson. E. Keelung, Taiwan: Peter Kuntu-Mensah — No report. F. Monterrey, Mexico: John Rocha and Almira Flores —There is no report because we have not heard back from our contact. G. Toledo, Spain-Music: Flicka Rahn and Ann Jaime VeraeruzMexleo4 Ann Jaime — Flicka Rahn reported that they leave next Monday. H. Veracruz, Mexico: Ann Jaime — No report Yokosuka, Japan: Westi Horn and Drue Combs —Westi Horn reported that the travel dates for when our students go to Japan are July 16 and they will return with the Japanese students on August 1, 2007. She said we do not yet have the Yokosuka students' names. Drue Combs showed a tile City logo she used as a gift while on the recent official trip to Yokosuka, Japan. She also showed a copy of the business card she used. She said the delegation was successful. She said they were taken to Yokosuka's new Art Museum that was not yet open to the public. The rest of their time was spent with the Citizen Exchange Committee. J. Curriculum/Training Committee: Sukhbir Singh and Peter Kuntu-Mensah — Curriculum/Training was already discussed during the discussion items. K. Activities Committee: Sharon Phillips, Flicka Rahn and Westi Horn — Flicka Rahn announced that the Committee is planning a meeting to plan the activities. They will be starting with a Welcome on August 2 and a farewell event on August 10. They will be planning activities for only that time period. Heather Moretzsohn asked them to include a visit to the Port. There was a discussion about whether or not the committee needed to post an agenda and follow the Open Meetings Act process. Ms. Moretzsohn said as she reads the law, the posting-of-agenda process is only for when the Committee is making decisions. This Committee will only be making recommendations on Activities. The Sister City Steering Committee will vote to approve them. Drue Combs said her brother-in-law is connected with the Bay Yacht Club if that would help with the sailing activities. L. Selection Committee: No report. M. Art Competition Committee: Rose Gunji and Sukhbir Singh — No report. IX. GENERAL CHAIR'S REPORT: General Chair said she will be meeting with the Mayor on Thursday concerning the proposed Sister City relationship with Playa Del Carmen. She will also be giving the PowerPoint presentation at 10 a.m. Saturday to the Church of the Good Shepherd choir which is going to Toledo, Spain. Ms. Moretzsohn thanked Ellen Murry for hosting the Veracruz business delegation. Finally, she reported that Elizabeth Dowling, a former local Sister City Exchange Student, is going to Yale. X. STAFF REPORT: Gustavo Valadez made copies of cards he had collected while in Spain. They were handed out to the Committee. XI. CURRENT CONCERNS: No new concerns were expressed. XII. ADJOURNMENT: Randy Farrar moved to adjourn. Ridge Hammons seconded the motion. The motion was passed at 7:20 p.m. Chris Kailas, Sister City Recording Secretary Cultural Services Division Parks & Recreation Department The following guide explains the attendance code: A— Absent, unexcused AE —Absence Excused for those who were absent due to illness or Sister City Travel R — Resigned or removed Examples of arrival or leaving times — arrival, 6:07 p.m.; or leaving, L7:00 p.m.