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09/24/2015 Sister Cities Advisory Board Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015 City of Clearwater City Hall 112 S. Osceola Avenue Clearwater, FL 33756 e Meeting Minutes Thursday, September 24, 2015 4:00 PM Long Center, 2nd Floor Sister Cities Advisory Board Page 1 City of Clearwater Sister Cities Advisory Board Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015 Roll Call Present 5 - Chair Sallie Parks, Vice-Chair Terrence Gourdine, Board Member Krista Valentage, Board Member/CSCI Clearwater Sister Cities, Inc. Representative Candace B. Hays, Board Member/Youth Representative Desaray Dilday Absent 1 - Board Member Hoyt Hamilton Also Present: Felicia Donnelly - Administrative Support Manager, Christopher Hubbard - Cultural Affairs Specialist, Patricia O. Sullivan - Board Reporter Awaiting approval 1. Call To Order The Chair called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. at the Long Center. 2. Approval of Minutes 2.1 Approval of Minutes of April 23, 2015 meeting Member Gourdine moved to approve minutes of the April 23, 2015 Sister Cities Advisory Board meeting as submitted in written summation. The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously. 3. Citizens to be Heard Regarding Items Not on the Agenda: None 4. New Business Items 4.1 55th Anniversary Clearwater visit to Nagano Administrative Support Manager Felicia Donnelly said Clearwater's delegation of approximately 18 participants included the City Council, their spouses, the City Manager, Sister Cities Chair Sallie Parks, Sister Cities Board Member/CSCI (Clearwater Sister Cities, Inc.) Representative Candy Hays, Cultural Affairs Specialist Christopher Hubbard, and citizens. Two orientation sessions occurred, the final one is on October 5, 2015. The delegation departs Tampa on October 20, 2015. Cultural Affairs Specialist Christopher Hubbard distributed and reviewed planned activities for the Official Delegation and Home Stay Citizens. The official exchange begins upon arrival in Nagano on October 24, 2015. Nagano wanted to purchase the group's train tickets, staff awaited delivery. Staff was thanked for organizing and hosting the informative orientations and for arranging visits to several special sites in Japan. Discussion ensued re train passes. Page 2 City of Clearwater Sister Cities Advisory Board Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015 In response to a question, Ms. Donnelly requested Chair Parks to email information re her Nagano home stay families and their plans to attend official activities, she will forward the requests to Nagano. 4.2 Teacher Visit Ms. Donnelly said 4 home stay families were secured for the Nagano exchange teacher's visit from October 11 to November 9, 2015. Host information was sent to Pinellas County Schools to coordinate classroom visits. A City day was scheduled, corresponding with a City Council meeting. She will forward board members arrival information for participation in an airport greeting. Board Member/CSCI Representative Hays said CSCI would like to take the teacher to dinner during his first week in town. She hoped the teacher also will participate in the October 15 Young Ambassadors presentation at Ross Norton Recreation Complex, exchange teacher visits excite the students and may encourage more participation in next year's Young Ambassadors trip. Ms. Donnelly will incorporate the presentation into the teacher's schedule. She will be the contact person during his stay. In response to a suggestion, she requested that board member emails to her cc Christopher Hubbard and Angela Aldrich. Chair Parks offered to host the Sayonara party, ideally on Friday, November 6, and recommended a Thanksgiving theme. Member Hays will contact CSCI members to coordinate the pot luck party. 5. Director's Report Ms. Donnelly said February dates were being considered for the annual visit by Nagano students, usually a group of 12 students and 3 adults. Most home stay families have students at Safety Harbor Middle School. Transportation was problematic in prior years, with some students riding the school bus and others dependent on City staff when host parents were unavailable to drive. Discussion ensued regarding the logistics of transporting students to spend a day at East Lake Middle School Academy of Engineering. Member Hays said she and her husband had vans and could transport the students between Safety Harbor and East Lake middle schools. She also volunteered to drive students if her assistance was needed. 6. Committee Members to be Heard CSCI Representative Hays said it was time to start promoting the 2016 Page 3 City of Clearwater Sister Cities Advisory Board Meeting Minutes September 24, 2015 Young Ambassadors trip to Japan, which will depart at the end of the school year in June. She recommended the earlier departure date as last year's Young Ambassadors were a little homesick when they spent the 4th of July in Japan. Once advised, Ms. Donnelly will forward proposed dates to Nagano for approval. The City will post trip information on Facebook, distribute press releases, and promote the trip in utility bills. Upon receipt, an updated application will be posted on the City's website. Ms. Hays said both chaperones for the 2015 trip were teachers and an excellent fit. She said James Wallace offered to chaperone again next year. She said orientation was being streamlined and the itinerary reworked to be more kid friendly. Member Dilday said one of the temples provided an interactive experience that was fun for students. She said the temples were pretty but began to look alike after many visits. Ms. Hays said the students provided good feedback through Survey Monkey. Ms. Hays said CSCI met quarterly. She reviewed recent CSCI events including a well-attended tasting event with auctions and raffles, participation in the City's Centennial parade and at the Main Library's Comic Con event, the annual dinner, and the upcoming Young Ambassadors event at Ross Norton. Middle School principals were invited to the event. Invitations also will be sent to teachers interested in the program. Ms. Donnelly said the City will post the event on the City's Facebook page. Discussion ensued regarding the number of members on the Sister Cities Board and past difficulties in reaching quorum. It was suggested that increasing the number of members to 7 would make quorum easier to attain. Concern was expressed that residency was only required for the Councilmember and Youth Representative members. It was stated that many Young Ambassadors who attended Safety Harbor Middle School were unqualified to serve on the board, despite their interest, because they did not live in Clearwater. It was noted that Clearwater Fundamental Middle School once had many Young Ambassador participants. Member Gourdine moved to advise the City Council to review the Code and explore the possibility of adding a member to the Sister Cities Board so that it would be easier to meet quorum and to drop the residency requirement for Youth Representatives on the Board. The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously. It was stated that several years ago the Board was advised that due to financial exigencies, the City had no money to fund scholarships for underprivileged students interested in participating in a Young Ambassadors trip to Japan. Concern was expressed that only children of well off parents could participate while equally qualified students with parents of more modest means could not. It was stated the City's recent outlay of$600,000 for an obelisk commemorating Clearwater's founding Page 4 City of Clearwater Sister Cities Advisory Board Meeting Minutes 7. Adjourn September 24, 2015 indicated that the City's financial exigencies had been relieved. It was stated many qualified students were in this predicament. Ms. Donnelly said CSC/ was created to support the Sister Cities program and once funded some student travel. In the recent past, the City paid half the cost for one student's trip and CFY (Clearwater for Youth) donated the remaining funds. She suggested nonprofits may be willing to donate to a scholarship fund. She said the City provided nonprofits the opportunity to raise funds during Special Events. Ms. Hays said CSCI had begun to earmark money for scholarships but only raised $400 so far. It was stated that the City should fund an official scholarship for underprivileged students. The meeting adjourned at 4:51 p.m. Page 5 City of Clearwater Chair - Sister Cities Advisory Board