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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Sister City Committee - 07/06/2009 ti 1 i Sister City Steering Committee RECEIVED • Monday, July 6, 2009, 5:45 p.m. 6th floor Conference Room, City Hall AUG 1 7 2009 1201 Leopard St., Corpus Christi, TX CITY SFCRETARY'S OFFICE MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT STAFF Randy Farrar Brandi Williams Mary Babbili Sally Gavlik Drue Combs Elizabeth Garza Jorge Brenner Laura Gonzales Rose Gunji Almira Flores Janice Garrett Michele Thomas Melody Cooper Liette Ocker Javier Morin Dora Hidalgo Michele Hammock Sharon Phillips Westi Horn John Rocha Maria Jaramillo Tim Dowling Kate Rodriguez Phyllis Roseman CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting of the Sister City Steering Committee was called to order by General Chair Brandi Williams at 5:46 pm. II. ROLL CALL: Laura Gonzales called roll. A quorum was met with 15 of 21 members present. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Corrections: Add a period after vouchers in VI — C. Add an "i" to Westi Horn's name in VI — D. Delete "from" and change "while" to "will" in VII —F. Change "Major" to "Mayor" in VII — K. Almira Flores moved to approve the minutes as corrected. The motion was seconded by Michele Hammock. The minutes were approved as corrected. IV. TREASURER'S REPORT: DISCUSSION ITEMS: Laura Gonzales reported that the General Fund balance is $ 4,072.46. PALS account is $6,879.92. $1,191.91 from the Student's portion of the exchange was deposited on June 3. $643.50 from the CC Area Christian Counselors (Rose Gunji) was deposited on June 10. $238 was reimbursed to Sharon Phillips for student gifts. Randy Farrar moved to accept the Treasurer's Report and Melody Cooper seconded the motion. The Treasurer's report was accepted. V. PUBLIC COMMENT: VI. DISCUSSION ITEMS: A. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on progress in getting our Sister City names on the Sister City Parkway Signage in Sister City Park. The old sign is damaged and the park crew will repair it within the next two weeks. Michele spoke with park operations crew and they have decided to develop a new sign. It will be a pole that will have all the Sister City names on an arrow and it will point in the direction of the Sister City. It will also include when the city became a Sister City and how far it is from Corpus Christi. The sign will be paid for by the Cultural Facilities Fund through Cultural Services. B. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on payment of dues for Sister City International. Dues are $877.00. The Sister City International year is from September to September. If we don't pay the dues, we will not be able to submit art work from the Student Art Competition. Rose Gunji moved to pay the Sister City International Dues. The motion was seconded by Melody Cooper. The motion passed. SCANNED C. DISCUSSION AND ACTION on purchasing travel vouchers with travel savings from this year for next year's student exchange. Sanborn's Travel does have gift certificates available and are good for one year. Gift Certificates will be used for restaurants and the admission to the local attractions will be pre-paid. Michele Hammock moved to buy the travel vouchers in the amount of$1900. Tim Dowling seconded the motion. The motion passed. VII COMMITTEE REPORTS: A. Publicity Committee — No Report B. Selection Committee — No Report C. Fundraising Committee—The car wash fundraiser raised $282. Wells Fargo responded to our letter and they are not able to donate money at this time. E. EXPO/International Cultural Festival - No Report F. Yokosuka, Japan —Westi will meet the Japanese students at the airport on Friday. G. Agen, France — Brandi reported that she spoke with the parents of the students in France and that they were quite happy. H. Keelung, Taiwan —American Airlines changed the flights of our students. The Taiwanese students will be coming about 12 hours later than our students. Our students will come in on July 22 in the evening and there students will come later. Monterrey, Mexico — No Report J. Toledo, Spain, Javier Morin — No Report K. Veracruz, Mexico— No Report L. Playa del Carmen — Sr. Bache will be coming on July 23 & 24. Will be meeting with the Mayor and John Marez. Sr. Bache is willing to bring 19 dancers instead of 22 and they would be here for two days. They would like to perform at the Aquarium, the Museum, City Hall, Heritage Park, and the Mall. Almira discussed the budget concerns with him. He stated that they would only need 5 rooms and suggested having other entities help with the cost. There would be some other businessmen coming also, but they would pay for their own trip. Sr. Bache was concerned about us promoting the Yucatan Dancers and promoting Playa del Carmen. M. Curriculum Committee/Training — Student training concluded in April. John also explained to new members what activities were covered during training. N. Art Competition Committee — No Report. O. New Sister City-Evaluation Committee— No Report— Mary Babbili is working with a city in India to become a Sister City. P. Activities Committee —Westi has asked the committee to please sign up to help with the Student Activities that are coming up. Brandi will be attending all events, Q. Pen Pals —Tabled VIII. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA— A. Discussion and Action on how we will react to our new budget and how many students we will be able to send. In September, we send out packets for students to apply for the Exchange. B. Discussion and Action on fundraising for next year. C. Discussion and Action on where the Sister City Display is at the Corpus Christi Airport. IX. GENERAL CHAIR'S REPORT: Possible elimination of Sister City Student Exchange Program The entire Sister City budget has been cut at this time, not just the Sister City Student Exchange Program. Thank you to Melody, Tim, Drue Phyllis, and Randy for attending the meetings. There are two more dates that council will be meeting. Drue contacted Nelda Martinez and Chris Adler. She will also call John Marez. She had called Brent Chesney and Mark Scott and has left then messages. If the money is eliminated, the students could possibly raise the money or get sponsors. II. Committee Members are encouraged to go to City Council Meeting — Melody suggested that anyone who could go to City Council should go so that they can be face to face with the council. Heather Moretzsohn and Marty Johnson have spoken to Nelda Martinez on our behalf. Brandi asked that the committee to please contact all the council members and have people you know contact them, also. Brandi also contacted former students and parents asking them to attend, also. Ill. Sr. Bache's Visit—July 23 & 24, 2009 — Brandi received an email from Sr. Bache - Sr. Bache will have a meeting with Mayor Joe Adame and John Marez. Brandi spoke to Mayor Adame's assistant and the Mayor will not be available so John Marez will clear his schedule to meet with Sr. Bache. As a committee, we feel like we can not support the Yucatan Dancers and Sr. Bache is going beyond the decision of the committee and requesting a meeting with the Mayor. Michele will draft a letter to the Mayor of Playa del Carmen and Sr. Bache letting him know that we can not host them at this time. Randy Farrar moves for Brandi to meet with John Marez and clarify our position and meet with John Marez and Sr. Bache with a firm no and a follow up letter to the Mayor of Playa del Carmen informing him that we will not be able to host them. The motion passed. X. ADJOURNMENT: Rose Gunji moved to adjourn and Elizabeth Garza seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 7:09 pm. Laura Gonzales, Sister City Recording Secretary Cultural Services Division Parks & Recreation Department