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04/27/2023 Sister Cities Advisory Board Meeting Minutes April 27, 2023 City of Clearwater Main Library- Council Chambers 100 N. Osceola Avenue Clearwater, FL 33755 e Meeting Minutes Thursday, April 27, 2023 4:00 PM Main Library - Council Chambers Sister Cities Advisory Board Page 1 City of Clearwater Sister Cities Advisory Board Meeting Minutes April 27, 2023 Roll Call Present 5 - Board Member Robert Kantor, Chair Pamela Gene Benton, Board Member Lina Teixeira, Board Member Doug Kelly, Board Member Stephanie Chill Absent 1 - Board Member Indira Yengera Also Present—Amber Brice —Arts and Cultural Affairs Coordinator and Nicole Sprague — Deputy City Clerk 1. Call To Order The Chair called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. at the Main Library. 2. Approval of Minutes 2.1 Approve the minutes of the July 28, 2022 Sister Cities Advisory Board meeting. Member Kelly moved to approve the minutes of the July 28, 2022 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 Recognize Candy Hays Candy Hays has played an integral part in making Sister Cities Inc. successful. She was not in attendance at the last Advisory Board meeting. The city would like to recognize her contribution. Arts & Cultural Affairs Coordinator Amber Brice said Candy Hays was recognized for her service at the last board meeting, but Ms. Hays was not in attendance. Ms. Hays served on the board for eight years and has served on the Sister Cities, Inc. board for 13 years. Ms. Brice said Ms. Hays taught her about the history of the Sister Cities program and has a real willingness to help and be involved in the community. Ms. Hays was presented with a certificate of appreciation. Ms. Hays thanked the board and said it was a privilege to serve on the board. 4.2 Recognize Sallie Parks Sallie Parks was an integral member in the Clearwater community. She sat on the Sister Cities Advisory Board for many years as well as the Clearwater Art Alliance Board. Sallie passed away on November 9, 2022. We would like to Page 1 City of Clearwater Sister Cities Advisory Board Meeting Minutes April 27, 2023 honor her service to our community. Ms. Brice said Board Member Sally Park passed away last year. She was a board member of the Clearwater Art's Alliance as well. Ms. Brice read an excerpt from her obituary and a moment of silence was observed in her honor. Ms. Brice said the Advisory Board Appreciation Dinner is scheduled to take place this year and both Ms. Parks and Ms. Hays will be recognized for their contributions. 4.3 Review the Nagano Sister City Program Budget The Nagano Sister City Program Budget currently sits at $206,337.46. The budget is so large because we have not sent or received a delegation to or from Nagano in 7 years. Ms. Brice said the budget balance does not reflect the purchase amount of the high school student plane tickets of approximately$11,000.00, or polo shirts purchased for the high school, middle school, and teacher exchange trips of approximately$900.00. She said the official delegation trip scheduled in 2019 was cancelled due to a typhoon and was rescheduled for 2020 and was cancelled again due to COVID. In response to questions, Ms. Brice said the high school plane tickets are paid for by the City. Sister Cities, Inc. pays for the middle school trip tickets. 4.4 Review an update on the status of the Nagano exchange programs. The high school trip is scheduled for June 22nd to July 3rd. There will be 4 students and one chaperone traveling. The middle school trip is scheduled for June 6th to June 20th. There will be 6 students and 3 chaperones. Flights have been purchased for the high school trip as well as polos for both groups with the official logos. Does the board have any suggestions on gifts for the City Commissioner and Mayor of Nagano? Ms. Brice said the exchange programs will start up again this year. The high school trip, which consists of four high school students and one teacher chaperone will travel to Nagano June 22 - July 3, 2023. The middle school trip, which consists of six middle school students and three adult chaperones, will travel to Nagano June 6 - June 20, 2023. A comment was made that there are three adults traveling with the middle school students, as opposed to the usual two, to provide training so there will always be someone familiar with the program. Page 1 City of Clearwater Sister Cities Advisory Board Meeting Minutes April 27, 2023 4.5 Review an update on the status of the 65th delegation trip. The official delegation made up of Clearwater City Council members and others were planning their official delegation trip to Nagano this year in October. With the resignation of the mayor and after conversations with Nagano, the plan is for the delegation to now travel to Japan in October 2024 and Clearwater will host the Japanese delegation in February of 2025. Ms. Brice said the trip was originally scheduled for October 2023, but due to recent staff changes, the trip has been pushed back to October 2024. Clearwater will host the Nagano delegation trip in February 2025. In response to questions, Ms. Brice said the trip typically lasts ten days. She said she is not aware of who may be invited on the delegation trip, outside the Board, Council, and staff. A comment was made that a larger group would impose on the Nagano coordinators to find home-stay volunteers. 4.6 Discuss Clearwater's potential Sister City relationship with Ixmiquilpan, Mexico On April 18th the Mayor, City Manager, Arts and Cultural Affairs Coordinator and others met with Ixmiquilpan residents to discuss the potential sister city relationship. Ms. Brice said on April 18, 2023, staff, the Mayor, and the City Manager met with Juan Baxcajay Cantero with the Florida Federation of Hidalguenses Corp and Javier De la Vega Vargas with the Mexican Consulate in Orlando. The City Manager apologized to Messrs Baxcajay Cantero and De la Vega Vargas for losing momentum in getting this relationship started but everyone is happy to move forward. They discussed what the relationship would look like on each side. Staff is working with the City Attorney's office on drafting the official agreement. 4.7 Discuss potential Japanese Lantern Festival Cultural Affairs Department, in partnership with The Clearwater Library, the CRA and Special Events is in the very early stages of planning a Japanese Lantern festival. The hope is for the festival to be held annually in February to coincide with the Japanese High School exchanges and the Japanese delegation trip (every 5 years). Ms. Brice said the City, in partnership with Sister Cities, Inc. and the CRA, have started planning a lantern festival in Coachman Park and a meeting is scheduled for July 27, 2023. The vision of the event is to mirror the lantern festivals in Nagano and include cultural elements like a Japanese Page 1 City of Clearwater Sister Cities Advisory Board Meeting Minutes April 27, 2023 kimono, a tea ceremony, sushi rolling classes, music, art, etc. to show off the Japanese culture. Ideally the festival would be scheduled in February to coincide with the delegation trip. A comment was made that it would be fun to have Nagano residents create lantern panels for the City to incorporate into the festival. In response to a question, Ms. Brice said the lantern festival is a winter festival and where they show art. Comments were made that lantern festivals are not tied to a religious or specific holiday, and they celebrate the beauty and aesthetics of their regions. A lantern festival in Clearwater would help bring awareness to the City's sister city relationship with Nagano. 5. Old Business Items 6. Director's Report Mr. Brice welcomed new member Robert Kantor. In response to a question, Member Chill said the relationship between the cities started when the then-Mayor of Nagano visited three U.S. cities and found Clearwater to be the friendliest. It is a great example of two cities that have tourism as a strong economic driver, Nagano has visitors in the winter to their mountains and Clearwater has them in the summer to the beaches. Ms. Brice congratulated Member Chill and family on the birth of their baby boy earlier this year. Ms. Brice said the open seat on the board needs to be filled by Clearwater Arts Alliance per the City's ordinance and she hopes to have it filled by the next meeting. Ms. Brice said it has been announced that the City will sponsor a scholarship to send a middle school student on an exchange trip. This idea has been discussed since 2018 and has finally been approved and a memorandum of understanding will be drafted. Ms. Brice said since this is the first board meeting of the year, the board must nominate a chair and vice-chair. Member Kelly moved to re-appoint Pamela Benton as Chair. The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously. Chair Benton moved to appoint Stephanie Chill as Vice-Chair. The motion was duly seconded and carried unanimously. Page 1 City of Clearwater Sister Cities Advisory Board 7. Board Members to be Heard 8. Adjourn Attest: Meeting Minutes April 27, 2023 Member Chill said the middle school students leave on their trip on June 6, 2023. She said Sister Cities Inc held their annual meeting last week and voted in their new board; two new members joined. A fundraiser is scheduled next month. She encouraged all to join the email list to keep up to date on events and activities. In response to a question, Ms. Chill said a newsletter is sent out with activities scheduled through the end of the summer. In response to a question, Ms. Brice said the relationship with Mexico is moving forward, the agreement needs to be executed. The meeting adjourned at 4:28 p.m. Chair - Sister s Advisory B Page 1 City of Clearwater