CITY OF ANAHEIM SISTER CITY COMMISSION MINUTES COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Anthony Al-Jamie, Kevin Barrot, Taline Cole, James Dinwiddie II, Lori Dinwiddie, Jackie Filbeck, Barbara Gerovac, Jerry O Keefe, Brian O Neal, Anna Piercy Paul Anderson, Elizabeth Jabaz, Larry L. Larsen, Brigitte Rodgers (one vacant seat) STAFF PRESENT: GUESTS PRESENT: Greg Garcia, City Manager s Office Kimberly Kelemen, Community Services Maggie Solorio, City Manager s Office David Bracey Agenda Posting: A complete copy of the Agenda was posted on Friday, June 22, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. at Anaheim City Hall. Public Input: Chair Anthony Al-Jamie explained that members of the public are invited to address the and will be called upon under Agenda Item No. VII. Public Comment. I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Anthony Al-Jamie called the meeting of the Anaheim Sister City Commission (ASCC) to order at 4:07 p.m. on Monday, at the Anaheim City Manager s Office, City Hall, 200 S. Anaheim Blvd., 7th Floor, Anaheim, California. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION: Commissioner Taline Cole offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Jerry O Keefe AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 7-0; Abstained: Barbara Gerovac and Anna Piercy; Absent: Paul Anderson, Elizabeth Jabaz, Larry Larsen, Brian O Neal and Brigitte Rodgers and one vacant seat) that the
Page 2 does hereby approve the minutes from the ASCC meeting held on June 4, 2018 as presented. III. APPROVAL OF TEASURER R REPORT Treasurer Jim Dinwiddie presented the Treasurer s Report dated June 20, 2018 with a current balance of $10,285.40. MOTION: Commissioner Jerry O Keefe offered a Motion, seconded by Commissioner Taline Cole AND MOTION CARRIED (Vote: 9-0; Absent: Paul Anderson, Elizabeth Jabaz, Larry Larsen, Brian O Neal and Brigitte Rodgers one vacant seat) that the does hereby approve the Treasurer s Report dated June 20, 2018. IV. 2018 INBOUND/OUTBOUND STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMS Chair Al-Jamie reported the outbound students left Saturday morning at 2:45 a.m. Super Shuttle transported them to the airport. The cost of the transportation was $225.00 round trip. They are going be picked up at the airport on July 3 at 2:30 p.m. and transported back to the Downtown Community Center. Commissioner Jackie Filbeck thanked Loretta Day from the Council Office for donated gifts for the chaperones to take to Japan. The chaperones picked up a few little extras and Matt Hicks donated Disney pins. The Mayor also provided a letter. Chair Al-Jamie reported the Commission has received applications from five homestay families and an additional family has expressed interest. He visited three of the five families because the other two he knows very well. The students will be at five Asian households. They are all nice, well-traveled people that are very much interested in having an inter-cultural experience. Ideally, the Commission would like to have eight homestay families, but a few families have offered to take two kids, so they are in good shape. The chaperones will stay at a hotel. Greg Garcia is going to reach out to some general hotel managers to see if they can offer a special rate for the chaperones. The inbound students and chaperones will arrive on July 20 and leave on July 31. Though a final schedule was not available, Chair Al-Jamie went over the preliminary schedule and asked that all available Commissioners attend the Welcoming Reception on July 20, the Beach Party on July 23, the Sayonara Dinner on July 27 and the tailgate party on July 28.
Page 3 Commissioner Taline Cole suggested that once the itinerary gets finalized with set times, that it be emailed to the entire Commission with the number of volunteers needed for each activity and that everyone be required to sign up. The entire commission should be involved in both in- and outbound in any way they can be. It was emphasized that the expectation is that when the email goes out asking for volunteers that everyone has to sign up for at least one thing. Commissioner Filbeck asked if the City was going to be able to purchase tickets for Disneyland for the inbound students and the chaperones. Greg Garcia responded the City always sponsors something during the exchange. He would rather the City sponsor something other than Disney tickets, an event such as the Welcome BBQ or the Sayonara dinner, something where Council Members have the ability to show up and be there, similar to a ceremonial city function. That is where he can justify spending City dollars. Commissioner Filbeck asked if the annual pass holders take advantage of a promotion and purchase the tickets, would they be able to be reimbursed. In addition, she has had some offers to sponsor students to go to Disneyland and asked if that would be okay. Greg responded the easiest thing to do is to buy the tickets as cheap as they can, and then get reimbursed by ACF and if they get sponsorships, have them cut a check to ACF, Sister City Commission. Greg clarified they can ask people to sponsor the Sister City Commission 365 days a year for anything. Chair Al-Jamie feels they ask for a lot of tickets and thinks they should cut that down. They should not invite former exchange students who went to Japan, like Stephen and his friend. Commissioner Filbeck disagrees, Stephen is a huge help because he takes the students all around the park and the kids have a great time with him. Stephen is in her opinion very valuable to them, she does not think he needs to bring a friend, but she feels he almost counts as one of the commissioners that day. Vice-Chair Dinwiddie agrees Stephen is a great help that day, the students will see twice as much of the park with him. He plans the day and puts fast passes on his phone and it worked out great last year. Chair Al-Jamie agreed that Stephen should be the chaperone, but he does not think they should ask for 14 tickets, they should ask for 9 or 10 tickets. Commissioner Filbeck explained she, Katie Filbeck, Commissioners Lori and Jim Dinwiddie have an annual pass, so they are able to get in without using up one of the tickets. She would still like to have Stephen go and since Mr. Wong prefers not to attend, they could offer the other chaperone a ticket. Greg Garcia is going to check with Disneyland to see if they can provide the tickets. Though he has always thought, before they had a Disney representative
Page 4 on the board and before they got free tickets, the cost of the trip is part of the cost of the inbound exchange, you build it in to the cost of the trip, so it is just an extra $1700.00. The Commission agreed to ask for 10 tickets. The tickets would be for the eight exchange students, for a Mito chaperone and for Stephen (in place of Mr. Wong). If the City is not able to obtain the tickets from Disney, the Commission will purchase them and get reimbursed. V. SAYONARA PARTY SUPPORT The Inbound Subcommittee is going decide the location for the Sayonara Party, finalize the catering details, determine how many volunteers they need that day and report back to the Commission. VI. REVIEW OBJECTIVES OF SUBCOMMITTEES AND APPOINT NEW SUBCOMMITTEE MEMBERS Chair Al-Jamie would like to get rid of the subcommittee names; they are confusing. They do not have any additional programs yet. They have an inbound program and an outbound program; that is what they really do. The problem is that the subcommittee names are confusing and he would like to simplify them by making them the Inbound Student Exchange, the Outbound Student Exchange and the Fundraising Subcommittees. Greg Garcia clarified the Municipal Code, which outlines the Sister City Commission states the Commission shall create subcommittees should they desire to have advisory subcommittees. It does not say that they must have subcommittees. When this group was set up the subcommittees currently in place where the subcommittees that came out of their discussions and the mission of the Commission at that time. Greg Garcia advised the Chair and Commission could get rid of the subcommittees or of some of them and then on a case-by-case basis appoint them during an event. If the Commission finds they need to throw a fundraiser in 2018, they can get volunteers then. The Commission does not necessarily a subcommittee to exist throughout the year. Chair Al-Jamie asked Taline to study the options of having subcommittees or not and provide a recommendation at the next ASCC meeting.
Page 5 VII. VIII. IX. PUBLIC COMMENT David Bracey reminded the Commission that Sister Cities International Southern California Chapter would be holding their next meeting on September 15 in Laguna Beach. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Commissioner Barbara Gerovac announced this would be her last meeting because her term ends on June 30 and she is not able to continue serving, but she will work with the Commission on a fundraiser. STAFF COMMENTS Greg Garcia reminded the Commission that the July Sister City Commission meeting would be on July 16 instead of July 23 because the students will be here on the 23rd. X. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m. to Monday, July 16, 2018 at 4:00 p.m. at the Anaheim City Hall, City Manager s Office Large Conference Room.