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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Sister City Committee - 06/07/2021SISTER CITY PROGRAM COMMITTEE Regular Meeting * Monday, June 7, 2021 12:00 p.m. Webex MINUTES I. Call to Order by Chairperson Melody Cooper at 12:16 p.m. II. Roll Call of Members • Present: Melody Cooper, Luis Cabrera, Valerie Harbolovic, Mark Arnold, Fernando Moral-Iglesias, Susane Horn, Mirza Pearson • Absent: Michael Crowley, Almira Flores • Quorum was met. III. Public Comment • None IV. Adoption of Minutes • Regular Meeting – Adoption of Minutes from May 3, 2021 Regular Meeting: Minutes from May 3, 2021 were passed unanimously. V. Discussion / Action Items • Student Exchange Program – Almira Flores | Luis Cabrera | Susane Horn | Valerie Harbolovic: Luis has updated all of the applications. The tentative timeline is ready for 2022. Going to have a meeting soon to try to simplify the applications and processes more. Will provide applications to high school juniors only instead of extending to sophomores like before. Will work on raising more awareness and deciding on best method of distribution. • 60th Anniversary Discussion – Mirza Pearson: Still working on the planning process and assigning duties. Also need to figure out how it will be funded, how to use those funds, and which sponsors to use. Working towards inviting business leaders to Corpus Christi for meetings. • Financial Report – Shelly Rios: Found information on account numbers and that we have a balance of $12,009.60. We don’t know if we were allocated the $6,000 into the general fund. Need to discuss with Budget. Those funds will not roll over though and must be used by October before they are lost. Need to find out what the $6,000 can be spent on. We also need to find out if we will receive $6,000 this year. Finance suggests amending current ordinance as it speaks to funds going through the Corpus Christi Visitor’s Bureau, which is no longer associated with the Sister City Committee. Also need to assign a “point person” to handling funds – historically, these responsibilities have been handled by the Mayor’s Office. • Cultural Exchange Program / Agen Sister City Committee Discussion – Melody Cooper | Valerie Harbolovic | Mirza Pearson | *Luis Cabrera: Luis opened floor to Agen Sister City Committee. Discussed possibility of having a student exchange event next year. It is intended that the student exchange program will resume in 2022. Also planning on the exchange program lasting for 3 weeks like it was before. Will occur around end of June 2022 and beginning of July 2022. We would like to have 3 students participate, but it will depend on how many students submit applications. We will definitely be able to host the 3 students from Agen, though. Will reach out to teachers, principals, and use social media to raise awareness. Will also speak with IWA regarding arranging a pen pal system with Agen. Preferred that student names be provided between February and April, if not before. Before another musical exchange, it would be best for our two mayors to meet each other. Also, it would be easier for Agen to come to Corpus Christi around October or November as they are less busy during that time. Will plan to host the musical exchange around end of October or beginning of November 2022 for 2 weeks. Will talk more about having the two mayors meet. Possibly a meeting via Webex and an in-person meeting following. Mayor of Agen is willing to come to Corpus Christi. VI. Items to be placed on July 12, 2021 Regular Meeting Agenda – Committee Member Comments/Announcements/Agenda Requests • None VII. Adjournment at 1:35 p.m.