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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Sister City Committee - 09/10/2007 Nes021314 75ie<14 Sister City Steering Committee co Regular Meeting at 6:00 p.m. C,f( wee o Monday, September 10, 2007, 6 p.m. c� Sec„/„ City Hall, 1201 Leopard, 6th floor conference row OFF �/4A�' MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT STAFF Almira Flores Javier Morin Drue Combs - A Chris Kailas Farley Frazier Ellen Murry Randy Farrar - AE Chris Semtner Rose Gunji Willie Perez Westi Horn - A Ann Jaime Sharon Phillips Jonathan Lancaster-AE George Kopf Flicka Rahn Drew Reining - AE Timothy Dowling Sukhbir Singh - A H. Moretzsohn CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting of the Sister City Steering Committee was called to order by General Chair, Heather Moretzsohn around 6:05 p.m. II. ROLL CALL: Chris Kailas called roll. A quorum was met with 11 members present. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: George Kopf moved to approve the minutes as written and Tim Dowling seconded the motion. The minutes were approved. IV. TREASURER'S REPORT: Chris Kailas reported that the City Council funded the Sister City Steering Committee General Fund account in the amount of $17,943.00. Expenditures since August 1, 2007 are $791.27 for food during Student Activities and $60.96 for recreational supplies also for Student Activities leaving a balance of $17,090.77. The PALS Fund began with a balance of $2,631.35 with a deposit of $47.84; the 10% fee for one student and an expense from Drue Combs for gifts to Playa del Carmen leaving a balance of $2,633.72. V. HEARING FROM THE PUBLIC: No one spoke. VI. DISCUSSION ITEMS: A. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on changing the meeting from 6 p.m. to a later time to allow those who work late to attend. Heather Moretzsohn put the question of whether to keep the 6 p.m. time or move the meeting time to 6:30 p.m. to the Committee. Ellen Murry said moving the meeting is OK if we have munchies. Rose Gunji said she favored moving the time to 6:30 to allow people to get to the meeting on time. George Kopf asked if the time is changed could be start on November 5th after the Student's reports and the reception next month. The motion passed 7 for and 5 against. B. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on changes Sister City student application's interview questions and Selection Packet concerning the presentation process to allow for a shorter presentation time. Sharon Phillips moved this item be tabled till November. The Item was tabled. C. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on an official meeting to Playa del Carmen. Questions to be considered would be who will go, what would be the purpose of the visit, who else should be invited and SCANNED when should the group visit? Those interested in and perhaps should go to Playa del Carmen are Ann Jaime, Javier Morin, Chief Bryan Smith, the Mayor Pro Tern, to solidify the relationship. The Ad Hoc Committee was asked to set up a plan. An action taken. D. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on changes to Committee members' responsibility list. Heather Moretzsohn asked the Committee to look at the changes she made to the list and suggest ideas for any changes that might be needed. Ellen Murry moved to approve the listing as it is. George Kopf seconded the motion. The motion was approved. E. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on International Products EXPO. The quest is for a venue for a lunch meeting. Nick Reyna with the ABC Center has been contacted. He used to be in Laredo and worked with them on their first EXPO. Perhaps he could help the Committee prepare a presentation to the City Council and ask for a waiver of fees for the site. The Laredo event is the last weekend of January and our event would be the next weekend. It was suggested the Committee could extend an invitation to local vendors and our other Sister Cities as well as food vendors, travel agencies, agricultural equipment and other industrial equipment. Keith Arnold with the CVB needs a proposal. Ellen Murry thinks that is the next step. Ms. Moretzsohn asked for a show of hands of those interested in working on this event. Sharon Phillips, Javier Morin, Ann Jaime and Tim Dowling all volunteered for the new Ad Hoc Committee. F. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on dance group from the Yucatan. Ms. Moretzsohn told the Committee that our plans for the Dance Group are postponed because of the recent hurricane in that area. The dance group members are rebuilding the homes for many of their group. G. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on nomination new members to the Committee. Heather Moretzsohn recommended Melissa Melendez as the new member to the Committee. Flicka Rahn also spoke in favor of Dr. Melendez saying she would be a real asset to the Committee with her background and experiences in the Arts. Flicka Rahn moved to recommend Dr. Melissa Melendez to the City Council. George Kopf seconded the motion. The motion passed by acclamation. H. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on student presentations at October meeting. 1. Changing power point presentation to a poster presentation in order to accommodate 11 presentations I one evening. Drue Combs presented a written suggestion. She said that the poster presentation does not do justice to the students. George Kopf said the technology would keep them from making their report. Flicka Rahn said that the power point presentations just rely on pictures. Ellen Murry suggested they use a kind of poster board, like the 3- fold poster board use at science fairs. Heather Moretzsohn suggested we give them questions they could answer ahead of time to help them with their reports. Ms. Moretzsohn asked the Committee to decide if we want to change the process or not. Javier Morin moved the Committee ask the students to use the poster board format. Flicka Rahn seconded the motion. The motion passed. Ellen Murry suggested that the Committee try it this way to see how it works. Flicka Rahn asked if all of them were going to make their reports. George Kopf offered to act as moderator. It was suggested they each be given 5 minutes to make their report. Flicka suggested they answer 3 questions from the list. A couple of suggestions were 1) What impact did the trip have on you? 2) Did the trip change your view of the world? After all have made their reports, and we break for the Reception, people could go to the students and talk with and ask questions of the students about their trip. George Kopf suggested we amend the motion to include the time. Ellen Murry moved to limit the reports to 5 minutes, Tim Dowling seconded the motion. All agreed to include that the reports would be 5 minutes long. 2. Sign up for bringing food and for set up committee. A volunteer list for food, etc. for the reception was passed around. 3. Contacting City Council members and Mayor to attend. VII. COMMITTEE REPORTS: A. Selection Committee — Randy Farrar— No report. B. Art Competition Committee — Rose Gunji and Sukhbir Singh — A letter was given out to all of the visiting students before they left. We have not been able to get a brochure from Sister Cities International. C. Fund Raising Committee — Ellen Murry and Farley Frazier — Ellen Murry reported everything is on hold until she can talk to the "King of Chess". She suggested we could do a tournament with Whataburger in November. D. Publicity Committee — Jonathan Lancaster and Sukhbir Singh — No report. E. New Sister City Evaluation Committee — Ellen Murry reported that Sukhbir was to make a report this week on Bethinda, India. She reminded the Committee, they have criteria they are following. F. Agen, France - Ann Jaime spoke to Robert Issac and he was delighted with our students this year. G. Keelung, Taiwan — Tim Dowling reported that both Geera Patel and Mr. Wilson, Gus Wilson's father said that the visiting female Taiwanese student, who had some difficulty with English, said she did not want to go and cried when it was time for her to go home. H. Monterrey, Mexico — Almira Flores and Guillermo Perez — No report. Toledo Music Exchange — Flicka Rahn and Ann Jaime. Ms. Rahn said she is glad Dr. Melendez will be coming onto the Committee. We could use her expertise. J. Veracruz, Mexico — Ann Jaime reported that Alberto Botche is supposed to get her a contact number in Veracruz. K. Yokosuka, Japan - Westi Horn and Drue Combs — No report. L. Curriculum/Training Committee —Sukhbir Singh — No report. M. Activities Committee — Westi Horn, Sharon Phillips and Flicka Rahn —We had a great time. VIII. GENERAL CHAIR'S REPORT—No report IX. STAFF REPORT— Melody Cooper is planning a trip to Korea and will try to go to Yokosuka, Japan while in that area. She is talking to the City Manager and Mayor about the trip. X. CURRENT CONCERNS — None XI. Sharon Phillips moved to adjourn the Regular Meeting and the motion passed around 7:15 p.m. Chris Kailas, Sister City Recording Secretary Cultural Services Division Parks & Recreation Department The following guide explains the attendance code: AE—Absence Excused for those who were absent due to illness or Sister City Travel R—Resigned Examples of arrival or leaving times—arrival, 6:07 p.m.;or leaving,L7:00 p.m.