10/27/2016 City of Clearwater
City Hall
112 S. Osceola Avenue
Clearwater, FL 33756
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Meeting Minutes
Thursday, October 27, 2016
4:00 PM
Council Chambers - City Hall
Sister Cities Advisory Board
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City of Clearwater
Roll Call
Present 4 - Chair Sallie Parks, Vice Chair Terrence Gourdine, Board Member
Candace Hays, and Board Member Pamela Gene Benton
Absent 2 - Board Member Hoyt Hamilton and Board Member Desaray Dilday
Also Present: Christopher Hubbard - Cultural Affairs Specialist, Patricia O. Sullivan —
Board Reporter
1. Call To Order
The Chair called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. at City Hall.
To provide continuity for research, items are in agenda order although not necessarily
discussed in that order.
2. Approval of Minutes
2.1 Approval of minutes from July 28, 2016 meeting
Member Benton moved to approve minutes of the July 28, 2016
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
Cultural Affairs Specialist Christopher Hubbard said Nagano Exchange
Teacher Atsushi Katsuyama arrived in Clearwater on October 16 and
will visit local schools and be presented to the City Council on November
3, 2016, A sayonara party will be planned. It was stated Mr. Katsuyama
was introduced to the Pinellas County School Board.
4.2 Young Ambassador Trip Update/Dates
Mr. Hubbard said the Young Ambassadors will travel to Japan on June 6,
2017 and spend June 14 — 21 in Nagano.
Board Member/CSCI Clearwater Sister Cities, Inc. Representative
Candace B. Hays reviewed efforts to advertise the trip, application
deadline is December 16, 2016. She will notify board when interviews
are scheduled. She said last year's 2-week trip to Nagano and other
Japanese cities cost each participant approximately$3,250.
4.3 Nagano Middle School Visit
Mr. Hubbard said approximately 8 Nagano Middle School students will
be in Clearwater February 18— 24, 2017. They will visit local schools
and tour Clearwater Marine Aquarium and Bright House Field.
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City of Clearwater
4.4 High School Exchange Program
Mr. Hubbard said it was requested that the High School Exchange
Program start in 2017. As proposed, 4 Clearwater students and 1
chaperone will travel to Nagano for 1 week next summer. Travel dates
will be coordinated with Nagano and the Pinellas County School
schedule. The City Council voted to provide a $2,000 travel scholarship
for each participant. Mr. Hubbard will research transportation costs.
Mr. Hubbard said the program will accept rising freshmen through rising
seniors. Young Ambassador experience was not a disqualifier. He
reviewed qualifications for participation. It was recommended that
participant selection occur by March to allow sufficient time for fund
raising, orientation meetings, and obtaining travel documents and
multiple small gifts. Mr. Hubbard and CSCI members will facilitate
orientation meetings.
Consensus was for Cultural Affairs Specialist Christopher Hubbard to
serve as the program's Administrator and the student review panel to
include Administration Support Manager Felicia Donnelly as City
Liaison, Member Pam Benton as School Representative, Member
Candace Hays as Sister Cities Advisory Board Representative, a
Clearwater Sister Cities, Inc. member, and a previous Young
Ambassador or Exchange Student.
Member Benton and Mr. Hubbard will determine qualification and
selection standards for the teacher chaperone.
4.5 Update of Governing Documents
Mr. Hubbard said staff supported adding a community representative as
the 7th member to the board to aid with quorum but opposed removing
the resident requirement for the student representative as the City
wanted a majority of City residents on the board.
4.6 Panhellenic Federation of Florida
Mr. Hubbard said the Mayor had forwarded the Panhellenic
Federation of Florida's request for the City to add the island of
Kastellorizo, Greece as its newest Sister City member. With a population
of 493, Mr. Hubbard said residents interested in participating in visitor
exchanges with Clearwater may quickly be exhausted. While the City
had another Sister City in Greece, there was no contact between the
cities. Current staff levels would be unable to handle additional visitor
exchanges.
Discussion ensued with a suggestion that staff reach out to Kastellorizo
and, as a gesture, ask if they were interested in being a Sister City and
a question if the Panhellenic Federation of Florida was willing to manage
the program.
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City of Clearwater
Member Benton moved to recommend the City investigate if the
City's current Sister City in Greece was interested in continuing its
Sister City relationship with Clearwater before revisiting the
Panhellenic Federation of Florida's invitation to establish a Sister
City relationship with Kastellorizo. The motion was duly seconded
and carried unanimously.
5. Old Business Item: None
6. Director's Report
Member Hays said CSCI met on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at the
Main Library, more than 55 people attended the CSCI tasting event in
September, and CSCI was taking Exchange Teacher Katsuyama to
dinner.
Mr. Hubbard reported all City advisory boards were requested to present
their annual activity summaries to the Council and invited members to
attend Chair Parks presentation on December 1, 2016.
Mr. Hubbard said he had attended a presentation that day by the
Economic Ambassador from Japan and met the Counsel General.
Mr. Hubbard said the City Council had started reserving funds for
exchanges celebrating the 60th anniversary of the City's Sister Cities
relationship with Nagano.
7. Board Members to be Heard
Member Gourdine reviewed his previous request for the Council to fund
scholarships for underprivileged students to participate in student
exchange programs. He said providing funding would not be a
slippery slope as the Council had granted funds to the Clearwater Arts
Council and High School Exchange Program. He said funding
would directly benefit citizens of Clearwater, not a private organization.
He said CSCI had kept the student exchange program going after the
City discontinued its high school program.
Member Gourdine moved to have a special hardship funding
component in the amount of $3,800 each for the purpose of
financial aid to cover the cost for 2 economically distressed
families to send their middle school child on a Clearwater Sister
Cities student exchange to Nagano, Japan. The motion died for
lack of a second.
Discussion ensued with a recommendation for a similar amount for high
school students, and comments that the $2,000 funding for each
participant in the high school program was not an easy sell to the City
Council, that $2,000 would be sufficient to cover high school exchange
program costs, that the Council would not amend the current budget,
and that the requested amount was not a budget buster.
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City of Clearwater
8. Adjourn
Member Gourdine moved to establish 2 permanent special hardship
funding components in the amount of $2,000 each to cover the cost for
2 economically distressed families to send their Clearwater middle
school child on a Clearwater Sister Cities student exchange to Nagano,
Japan. The motion died for lack of a second.
Discussion ensued with comments agreeing that some students were
short- changed re learning opportunities and a concern that the Young
Ambassadors program only addressed the needs and desires of middle
class white students. It was noted that two organizations had sponsored
a foster child for this year's Young Ambassadors trip and CSCI members
worked at City events to fund the organization's scholarship program. It
was suggested the board thank the City Council for committing
scholarship funds and wait before recommending additional funding.
The meeting adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
Attest: /4--
Board Reporter
City of Clearwater
L4
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