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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Sister City Committee - 06/04/2007 N0,�.127314 75761 4 IA Sister City Steering Committee �� J ` , Regular Meeting u) ".�' U�4o 23 City Hall, 6th floor conference room CCR��.-'� ti Monday, June 4, 2007 ` Ot,/cF7ys wti `e,o • 8ZL.' MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT STAFF Drue Combs Coeta Montgomery Rose Gunji - A Chris Kailas Randy Farrar H. Moretzsohn Peter Kuntu-Mensah -A Dr. Gustavo Almira Flores Ellen Murry JJ Nelson - A Valadez Ridge Hammons Guillermo Perez Gilberto Porter - A Westi Horn Sharon Phillips John Rocha - A Ann Jaime Flicka Rahn Sukhbir Singh - AE CALL TO ORDER: Called to order at 6:03 p.m. II. ROLL CALL: Chris Kailas called roll. A quorum was met with 12 of 18 members present. III. ANNOUNCEMENTS: Gustavo Valadez announced that Sally Gavlik recommended to the City Council that the Sister City Budget be restored to $17,943. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Corrections for the May 7, 2007 minutes are: 1) page 2, #VII, Section B, line 14 — correct the word "committee" to "Division" 2) page 3, #VII, Section C, line 34 — move the word "and" from Dr. Ridge Hammons name. 3) On page 3, #VII, Section D, line 3, insert the phrase, "The motion passed." behind Westi Horn seconded the motion." 4) Under Committee Reports, Section F, remove the words, "Veracruz, Mexico:" 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$7,808.59. April expenses were $250 for gifts for the Mayors our students will visit this summer and for dignitaries during the visit to Toledo, Spain. The PALS had two deposits in May. The deposit for Gus Wilson's student application fee of$50 and a deposit from John Tower for $500. The Committee liked the new format for the Treasurer's Report. In addition, Ms. Kailas made a sheet of donations from August of 2006 through May 15, 2007. She mentioned that some members from the City Council have not made the donation they said they would make. Also on the extra sheet is a tally of airline tickets to Japan and France already purchased for a total of$8,554.40. Tickets for Keelung, Taiwan and Monterrey, Mexico still need to be purchased. VII. DISCUSSION ITEMS: A. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on Exchange Student Selection Process and APPOINTMENT of an Ad Hoc Selection Process Committee and Chair. General Chair Heather Moretzsohn noted that there is not enough time to review the student application and training process. Westi Horn asked if the Applications and other SCANNED materials could be reviewed by Committee members. Randy Farrar stated that it was not a good idea to free wheel on asking the questions. He said you need to ask the same questions to each of the students. He said "When the questions based on the same stated criteria it is the only way to fairly measure each student's answers. The grid helps the Committee members to total up all scores and average them to figure out who scored highest on the interview process. Those are the students who get to take part in the exchange. Sharon Phillips asked if they could see one of the current applicant's completed application to they could get a better picture of the process. Drue Combs said we have limited time to get the Selection Process in order. She offered to get copies out at least a week ahead of a meeting to anyone interested in working with her to look over the process. Westi Horn suggested we consider asking only 8 questions instead of 15 to cut down on the interview time. Ellen Murry suggest the Committee look for redundancy in the questions. Randy Farrar called the question. Drue Combs moved we form an Ad Hoc Selection Review Committee to look at the Application, Selection and Training Process. The motion was seconded. The motion passed. Drue Combs, Randy Farrar, Sharon Phillips and Westi Horn volunteered to work on this task. Heather Moretzsohn appointed these people as the Ad Hoc Selection Review Committee. Ms. Combs asked that there be a meeting of the new Ad Hoc Committee one hour before the next Sister City Steering Committee meeting on July 2, 2007. B. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on recommendation of three new members for the Sister City Steering Committee. Copies of applications for the Sister City Steering Committee were given out to each member. Committee members discussed a number of the applicants. Heather Moretzsohn recommended putting Jonathan e. Lancaster on the ballot. Ellen Murry recommended placing George B. Kopf on the ballot and Farley L. Frasier, a parent of a former exchange student was also placed on the ballot. Drue Combs moved that the Committee recommend these three to the City Council. Guillermo Perez seconded the slate. Motion passed. C. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on ideas for further development of the Corpus Christi Sister City web site. Drue Combs moved this item be tabled once again because no one from the PR Committee was at the meeting. Ann Jaime seconded the motion. The motion was passed, the item tabled. D. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on work still needing to be completed for the Sister City Flag Display at the International Airport. Randy Farrar moved to table this item because Mr. Nelson was not at the meeting. Ann Jaime seconded the motion. The motion passed, the item was tabled. VIII. COMMITTEE REPORTS A. Fund Raising Committee: Ellen Murry, JJ Nelson — Ellen Murry reported that she is still trying to get in touch with the Chess Master to see about setting up another Chess Fund Raising event sometime in the fall. She thanked all Committee members for their fund raising efforts and asked them to let her know of anyone they know to whom she could send a funding request. B. Publicity Committee: Cecilia Hanna, Gilberto Porter, and Sukhbir Singh -- No report. C. New Sister City Evaluation Committee: Ellen Murry— If the City of Playa Del Carmen should become a new Sister City to Corpus Christi, as they have requested, it would be a different relationship than any other we have. In the beginning it would be a sharing of fire and police equipment with that City. Joe Cisneros of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is very supportive and expects the Chamber to support those efforts for perhaps 2 year. Sukhbir Singh is still working to get the Coastal Bend India Association to committee to support Bathinda, India as a possible Sister City to Corpus Christi. The Mayor of Bathinda is very enthusiastic about the idea. Mr. Singh said we are still in the get acquainted period. Heather Moretzsohn suggested she could put together a PowerPoint presentation to help make our presentations to these two Cities. Ms. Murry said Joe Cisneros, who is very interested in fostering the relationship with Playa del Carmen. He will get back to Heather Moretzsohn to let her know when the Chamber is ready to start working with the Sister City Steering Committee. D. Agen, France: Ann Jaime, and Ridge Hammons — Everything is working well. Mikaela Murry is very happy with the turnout. E. Keelung, Taiwan: Peter Kuntu-Mensah — The Committee has not had really good communications with Keelung, Taiwan. Peter Kunta-Mensah doesn't know where we are at this time concerning the student exchange program. Ellen Murry said that "Yalee Shih is the key to working out this exchange problem. We really need to contact her." F. Monterrey, Mexico: John Rocha and Almira Flores — Humberto Dingler and Ileana would prefer not to send College students, ages 16-17. They have not selected their students yet. They have to get permission for their students to miss school to miss 15 days of the school's administrative offices. They need an itinerary. Suggested dates were July 18 through August 1. At that time however, they would miss all the other visiting students. Ann Jaime mentioned that their High School students, the 15 year olds, don't go back to school till the end of August. Drue Combs asked if there was another time when their students could come, like later so they could be with all the students. If they stay with those initial dates, they will have our students with which to interact. It was noted that we are all running out of time. The Activities Committee is planning the activities for the week of August 2 through August 9, 2007. Are selected students are welcome to go. However, at this point we are not sure they will have students who would come to Corpus Christi this year. Dr. Ridge Hammons left at 6:55 p.m. G. Toledo, Spain-Music: Flicka Rahn and Ann Jaime— Ms. Flicka Rahn reported that their music exchange trip to Toledo, Spain was outstanding. We will be hosting a choir from there next year. Consuelo Alvarez Palacios El Toro requested we send a formal invitation via a letter from the Mayor and from us inviting them to Corpus Christi. Mrs. Diaz, "Maruchi", had us going everywhere. It was a great tour. We had an opportunity to visit the University which is made up of old converted, monasteries'. That is where our language students go in the summer. There is lots of culture there and they are very proud of their culture. Toledo was the first capital of Spain. The City is the most cosmopolitan city in Spain. Dr. Valadez reported that their 3 artists are coming. They will create their art while here and leave it here for us. We will supply the materials. Dr. Valadez asked the Instituto de Cultura Hispanica to provide housing. They were very generous and we need to reciprocate in a similar fashion. Mr. Valadez reported that he was invited to meet with people from the City, the Church and University staff. He said he was invited to come back next year and be invested as a Knight Templar. Drue Combs asked if they still have our velvet City Flag that was carried in the first Feast of Corpus Christi Parade. Flicka Rahn reported that Mrs. Diaz, "Maruchi", invited both our choir and the choir from Toledo, Ohio to perform together. The two choirs were combined. Both performed together and separately. Ms. Rahn said it was a memorable evening of music. The Spanish loved the Gospel music. Ms. Rahn reported that "Consuelo" begged for the Gospel sheet music so she gave Ms. Alvarez Palacios her sheet music. Dr. Valadez said he got to turn the pages of the music and was standing next to Ms. Rahn as she performed. He said she was wonderful and he was enthralled to the point that he forgot to turn the page. He reported that the music was just stunning. Ms. Rahn reported that Tim Smith, the organist from the Church of the Good Sheppard was taken to the Grand Cathedral and invited to play there. He flew back there today to play in the Feast of Corpus Christi activities. Ann Jaime answered the question about the renewing the Student Exchange program by saying "Absolutely not! They do not have enough students who can financially afford to pay their way to the states. H. Veracruz, Mexico: Ann Jaime—Ann Jaime reported that they are not responding to her e-mails. She said she would go down there to visit if she had a contact name. I. Yokosuka, Japan: Westi Horn and Drue Combs —Westi Horn reported that we now have their student's names. Drue Combs reported that they had a training session for our local students at her home this past week. It was a good session, they covered lots of ground. They are also working on the Soho High School program via e-mail exchanges J. Curriculum/Training Committee: Sukhbir Singh and Peter Kuntu-Mensah — They had training last week. The tickets for Japan and France were given out to the students. K. Activities Committee: Sharon Phillips, Flicka Rahn and Westi Horn — Sharon Phillips handed out a tentative outline of the activities and asked for input from the Committee members. L. Selection Committee: No report. M. Art Competition Committee: Rose Gunji and Sukhbir Singh — No report. IX. GENERAL CHAIR'S REPORT: General Chair, Heather Moretzsohn reported that she did the PowerPoint preset station for the Choir before they left. She'll meet with Joe Cisneros for lunch and discuss a time when she can make a presentation to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She hopes to have a trip to Playa del Carmen sometime in August. Thank letters went out to donors. Jonathan Lancaster said that Hotel Tax money might have a large sum of money for EXPO. Heather Moretzsohn will make a presentation to them. Dr. Valadez, Almira Flores and Heather Moretsohn will make a trip to Monterrey, Mexico to visit with Humberto Dingier, our counterpart in that Sister City. X. STAFF REPORT: Gustavo Valadez sent letter of thank you to the Church of the Good Sheppard. Heather Moretzsohn will draft a letter concerning next summer's program and bring it to the next meeting. XI. CURRENT CONCERNS: No new concerns were expressed. XII. ADJOURNMENT: Drue Combs moved to adjourn. Ann Jaime seconded the motion. The motion was passed at 7:30 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.