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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Sister City Committee - 02/04/2008 0213 7.41-1-... cb Sister City Steering Committee Pz.V4 Monday, February 4, 2008, 5:45 p.m. M C �C,� d o City Hall, 6th Floor Conference Room o' 4-4) ti i 1, MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT STAFF,--- .,ZSZp Drue Combs H. Moretzsohn Ann Jaime - A Chris Kailas Tim Dowling — 6:10 Javier Morin Willie Perez - AE Chris Semtner Randy Farrar Ellen Murry— 6:05 Alfonso Trujano —A Almira Flores Sharon Phillips Farley Frazier Flicka Rahn Rose Gunji Sukhbir Singh Westi Horn Brandi Williams Melissa Melendez Danny Williams I. CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting of the Sister City Steering Committee was called to order by Committee member, Randy Farrar Heather Moretzsohn around 5:45 p.m. II. ROLL CALL: Chris Kailas called roll. A quorum was met with 16 of 19 members present. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Sharon Phillips requested the minutes be amended by deleting the note about Christmas Dinner at Javier Morin's House. Randy Farrar moved to approve the minutes as amended and Sharon Phillips seconded the motion. The motion passed. IV. HEARING FROM THE PUBLIC: Mr. Kent Williams was not yet in attendance. Heather Moretzsohn suggested we move on with the Agenda until he arrives. V. TREASURER'S REPORT: Chris Kallas reported that the General Fund was reduced by $277.30 for easels used at the International Airport for the Sister City display. The new General Fund balance is $15,762.87. The PALS Fund continues at $2,598.89. Melissa Melendez and Chris Semtner came in at 5:50 p.m. VI. DISCUSSION ITEMS: A. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on starting an endowment fund using the contributions made in Judy Benkendorfer's name and other sources of funds, such as the PALS Fund. This item was put on hold till Mr. Kent Williams arrived to give his presentation on starting an endowment fund. B. DISCUSSION AND ACTION concerning the 4 Japanese visitors here February 20-24, 2008. Westi Horn shared the schedules of activities in which the Japanese guests will be participating. Drue Combs passed around a sign up sheet for the planned "Pot Luck Covered Dish" Dinner at the Galvan House on February 21, 2008 from 6 to 8 p.m. There was a short discussion about the activities and members were invited to participate and meet the coordinator of the Yokosuka student exchange program. Ellen Murry and Mr. Kent Williams arrived at 5:55 p.m. Mr. Kent Williams, guest speaker for the evening, was introduced by General Chair Heather Moretzsohn and given the floor to talk to the Committee about starting an endowment fund with the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. Mr. Williams started by saying that the Committee would need at least $5,000 to begin but he really encourages the Committee to have a $10,000 fund to begin. Mr. Williams presented a summery summary of what the Foundation does and opened the floor for questions. Randy SCANNED Farrar asked what the cost would be to manage a fund like that. Mr. Williams said the cost is assessed proportionally to each group at 1/2 of 1% of the balance or for $5,000 about $50 a year. At 6:30 p.m., Javier Morin said he needed to leave to go teach his Monday evening class. He said he had nothing to report on Toledo, Spain except that Spain is postponing the Choir trip this summer to the summer of 2009. Tim Dowling also had to leave but reported that he had spoken with Yalee Shih, gave her the information about our new students and she is preparing a letter to our contacts in Taiwan. Ellen Murry said she had spoken to Ms. Shih and Ms. Shih has heard from them and they are beginning early to select their students. 6:32 both Mr. Morin and Mr. Dowling left. A. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on starting an endowment fund using the contributions made in Judy Benkendorfer's name and other sources of funds, such as the PALS Fund. Ms. Moretzsohn began by explaining that with the $260 given so far in Ms. Benkendorfer's name, she would round up that figure to $500. She stated that the endowment fund is one of the goals the Committee set in 2006. She explained that the Committee might be able to gather the minimum amount of $5,000 by using the current balance in the PALS Fund, the Chess Tournament income and John Marez's promised donation. Ellen Murry moved that the Committee defer this discussion till the planning retreat where there i-s-will be more time to discuss it. Ms. Rose Gunji seconded the motion. The motion passed. It was also suggested that Staff look into the legality of the City Committee doing an endowment for future funding. B. DISCUSSION AND ACTION for "B" was already handled earlier in the meeting. C. DISCUSSION AND ACTION to recap plans for the Annual Sister City Planning Retreat; when, where, etc. Ms. Moretzsohn reported that she had spoken to Ms. Bobbi Read who facilitated the first retreat and confirmed that she would be available on April 19, 2008, the selected date for the Annual Planning Retreat. Due to the lateness of the evening, it was suggested the committee could decide on the location later. No action was taken. D. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on sending a number of Sister City Steering Committee members to the Annual Conference in Kansas City, MO. Ms. Moretzsohn asked who would be interested in attending the Conference this coming July 16-19, 2008. Rose Gunji and Drue Combs expressed an interest in attending. Ms. Gunji asked if the board would pay the registration for members which is $425 per person. It was noted that the deadline for payment is June 16, 2008. Rose Gunji moved that the Committee send the chair to the Annual Convention and pay the registration for each Committee member who would like to attend. There was no second. Discussion was that the cost would be too high if everyone wanted to go. Randy Farrar suggested there needed to be a cap on the number sent. Drue Combs moved to allocate up to $1,500 to send the Committee's chair; Brandi Williams seconded the motion. Ms. Combs called the question. Seven members present voted yes and 3 voted no. Motion passed. Rose Gunji moved that the Committee pay registration for up to 4 more people from the Steering Committee; an amount of about $1,700. Westi Horn seconded the motion. Under discussion, Randy Farrar said he opposes the motion because "the Committee has a lot in the pipeline that we are going to need to have funds for". Ellen Murry asked that the Committee wait till the planning retreat to discuss this issue. Westi Horn said she may go to the Convention anyway. Farley Frazier asked that the Committee be careful about spending the funds to send so many. Historically, he said, this Committee went at their own expense. Drue Combs called the question. The motion did not pass. E. DISCUSSION concerning recruitment of new prospective members for the Sister City Steering Committee. Tabled till another meeting. F. DISCUSSION AND ACTION concerning whether or not the Committee should go forward on making Playa del Carmen a new Sister City. Drue Combs said the Committee moved to move forward on making Playa del Carmen a new Sister City. There was no second. Ellen Mu y Heather Moretzsohn suggest the Committee set up conference with the Playa del Carmen folks. Ms. Murry suggested that Playa del Carmen may have gone through an election and that our contact may not be there anymore. We need to find out if he is still there. Also we need to ask ourselves "what kind of a relationship does the Committee want, Student Exchange or what? She expressed her opinion that this is a great new opportunity to do something new, to forge into an economic exchange, especially since we know that the City Council would like to see more business opportunities developed. Sharon Phillips noted that Playa del Carmen is a lovely city. The port representative cannot go on a visit till March sometime. Ellen Murry suggested we give it a couple of weeks since Roland Mower could not be at the last meeting. She also asked the Committee to defer this discussion to the planning meeting in April. Brandi Williams and Randy Farrar agreed. VII. COMMITTEE REPORTS: A. EXPO Planning Committee — Report on the visit to the Laredo EXPO. All the vendors had products to sell. Everyone is interested in coming to Corpus Christi in October of 2009 as suggested by the Convention and Visitor's Bureau. Corpus Christi would include our own local vendors. Westi Horn expressed a concern about the kinds of vendors we would get. She would like see quality vendors. It was suggested we send out an invitation to vendors about 5 or 6 months prior to the event. B. Fund Raising Committee — The Chess Tournament will be held on March 1 , 2008 at Oveal Williams Senior Center. Brandi Williams and Danny Williams are doing the publicity for the tournament. Ms. Murry said Mr. Dan Deleon will help with the registration and running the event. The poster is being worked on. The Committee needs to help recruit prizes. Ellen Murry will contact Rich Hammons for help from the Optimist Club. C. Publicity Committee, Brandi Williams, Danny Williams — General Chair Heather Moretzsohn complimented Ms. Williams on a job well done. Ms. Moretzsohn said she had to tape the posters at the Airport down to the easels. Amy Gazen said we had to take the posters down due to blowing and damage. Drue Combs asked when we were going to annotate the world map. D. Art Competition Committee, Rose Gunji and Sharon Phillips — Sharon Phillips and Rose Gunji sent out a letter to each of the art teachers reminding them of the upcoming deadline for the Sister Cities International Young Artists' Competition. E. Selection Committee, Randy Farrar and Brandi Williams — Mr. Farrar said they are done for this year. They thanked everyone for their help and especially Brandi Williams for all her help. F. Agen, France, Ann Jaime — No report. G. Keelung, Taiwan, Tim Dowling — Mr. Dowling made his report earlier before he left. H. Monterrey, Mexico, Almira Flores and Willie Perez — Almira Flores said she sent an e-mail to Mr. Humberto Dingier about a trip in May. Those interested in the trip are Brandi Williams, Drue Combs, Almira Flores, Westi Horn, Heather Moretzsohn and Willie Perez. They are going to e-mail him to see when in May would be a good time to visit. I. Toledo, Spain, Flicka Rahn, Javier Morin, Melissa Melendez and Ann Jaime — They will start working on this in September. J. Veracruz, Mexico — No report. K. Yokosuka, Japan, Westi Horn and Drue Combs — No report. L. Curriculum/Training Committee, Sukhbir Singh and Brandi Williams — New dates were discussed and set for Sundays, March 30, April 6, and June 8, 2008. Brandi Williams reported that Sukhbir Singh suggested we meet from 4 to 6 p.m. Sharon Phillips said that time is late for people who go to church on Sunday evenings. Ms. Williams said we are not married to that time. A number of Committee members said they preferred the 2 to 4 time; that time is better for most members. M. Evaluation Committee, Ellen Murry and Ann Jaime — a. Playa Del Carmen — This item was discussed earlier during the meeting. b. Bethinda, India — Mr. Singh said that the India Association will be changing officers on February 26. He said he would like the Committee to go to their next meeting. Ellen Murry will update Committee on what happens. c. Netanya, Israel — Ellen Murry reported that the Rabbi's wife said she has a grand baby on the way. She is in Houston and has not dealt with this issue but she will. Ms. Murry said they agreed to talk later. N. Activities Committee, Danny Williams, and Westi Horn — No report. O. Pen Pal Program, Danny Williams — No report. VIII. GENERAL CHAIR'S REPORT— No report. IX. STAFF REPORT— No report. X. CURRENT CONCERNS — No additional concerns. XI. ADJOURNMENT: It was moved and seconded to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned. 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.