City Council

APPROVED 07/10/2025 06/10/2025 SISTER CITIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES The June 10, 2025, Sister Cities Advisory Committee meeting was held in Room 310A of Building 3 at the College of Eastern Idaho (1600 S 25th E, Idaho Falls, ID 83404) and via Teams. ACTION ITEMS ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 5:30 PM Roll Call and Confirmation of Quorum ●​ In attendance: Jake Durtschi, Chloe Doucette, Laura Combs, Julie McMurtrey, Lisa Armstrong, Amanda Logan, Cindy Ozaki, Sunny Katseanes ●​ Absent: Caroline Combs, Catherine McClure Approval of May 8, 2025 Meeting Minutes ●​ Jake moved to approve the meeting minutes. Laura seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Approval of Reimbursements ●​ Cindy has one reimbursement to submit (deposit for the tour bus), but had trouble with the form and will try again. ●​ Amanda noted a missing reimbursement request form for a second photo book purchased by the Adult Association for Tokai-mura.. DISCUSSION ITEMS ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 5:45 PM Updates from the City ●​ No City representative was present. ●​ Amanda provided a readout of the June 2 - 6, 2025 trade mission to Japan led by the Idaho Department of Commerce. ○​ The trip was delayed by a day due to mechanical issues with their plane, extended, and then delayed again returning—a wonderful whirlwind. ○​ Catherine and Amanda spent their first of two full days in Japan visiting Tokai-mura. Two Idaho Department of Commerce representatives and a translator from the Idaho Japan Trade Office also visited Tokai-mura and were impressed with the strength of our meaningful sister cities relationship. ■​ They were met at the Tokai-mura train station in the morning by village officials and Catherine’s host family from her 2024 visit, all familiar faces that they were happy to see. ■​ The group was then taken to the Tokai Village Office and met with Mayor Yamada and received a presentation from the Village Innovation Section focused on diversifying Tokai’s economy, including a goal of making Tokai the national leader in fusion technology. ■​ The group was joined by the leadership of Suzuki Herb Laboratory and HST along with Tokai village officials for a traditional Japanese lunch at a local restaurant. 1  APPROVED 07/10/2025 ■​ The Department of Commerce representatives had to return to Tokyo to prepare for the reception, but Amanda and Catherine got to tour the Suzuki Herb Laboratory and their garden with the company president, who will be a part of the delegation visiting Idaho Falls this fall. Catherine has followed up with Love at First Bite regarding potentially selling Suzuki Herb Laboratories lotions and other products there. ■​ Catherine and Amandawere then taken to the Tokai Industry and Information Plaza and enjoyed presentations on AI technologies from HST and a professor who partners with HST. These included demonstrations of AI assisted videos that sense when cows are getting sick along with multiple artistic projects that utilize AI. The latter included three separate pieces of art incorporating elements of Idaho falls, one of which was made in real time. HST is interested in working with farmers in Idaho and the president has tentative plans to visit a farmer near Idaho falls next spring to discuss a potential project. ■​ Following the AI presentations, Amanda’s host family from 2024 joined the group and together everyone walked to the train station. ■​ Mayor Yamada, Tokai-mura staff, and Catherine’s host family took the train to Tokyo where they all attended a reception hosted by the Idaho Department of Commerce for trade mission attendees and potential trading partners that evening. Idaho Falls,Tokai-mura and Mayor Yamada received special recognition at the event. Amanda noted that an attendee from Boise (not a city employee) expressed admiration for the depth of the Idaho Falls-Tokai relationship and asked how to establish a sister city relationship like ours. ○​ During their second full day in Japan, Catherine and Amanda attended trade mission meetings with an Idaho business, learning more about how to do business in Japan and with the Japanese. ○​ Catherine and Amanda also had the opportunity to see Shibuya Crossing, the busiest intersection in Japan, and arguably the world, and visit a couple shrines and temples near their hotel in Tokyo before departing. Report from Sister Cities Adult Association ●​ The Adult Association is continuing to plan for the Tokai-mura delegation’s visit this fall. ○​ The visiting delegation will include 12 delegates, including the head of Suzuki Herb Laboratory, the Tokai school superintendent and spouse, and a representative from JAEA (Japan Atomic Energy Agency). ○​ A welcome dinner is scheduled for September 11th at the Skyline Activity Center (4:00 PM social, 5:00 PM dinner) and the Advisory Committee is invited to attend ○​ The community reception is set for September 12th at 6:00 PM at the Westbank and the Advisory Committee is invited.. Cindy has also invited the Consul General of Japan. ○​ The Adult Association continues to plan for the delegation's visit. ■​ The delegation will visit Yellowstone and have accommodations booked. 2  APPROVED 07/10/2025 ■​ They are also exploring taking the delegation to a swing dance class with the Skyline Jazz Band. ●​ The Adult Association has had some interest from potential new members recently. Report from Sister Cities Youth Association ●​ The sushi making fundraiser was successful but yielded slightly less than last year. ○​ The Youth Association will work on publicizing the event more next year. ○​ All raffle prizes were claimed. ●​ The Youth Association is planning to have a number of volunteers help with the booth at the Community Heritage Festival this Saturday. ●​ Monthly meetings have been reduced for summer (the first meeting of the month has been canceled every month this summer). ●​ The Youth Association is continuing to get ready for their trip to Tokai-mura this summer. ○​ Gift planning is underway. The Youth Association will submit reimbursements soon and plan to commission local artwork. ○​ Their goal is to have 20 gift bags themed around Idaho to take to Tokai. ■​ Committee members are encouraged to contribute physically small items or local business swag and bring items to the next meeting. ■​ A member of the Committee will deliver the items to Laura’s home if she is not at the meeting. be brought to the next meeting or dropped off at Laura’s home. Open Committee Seat ●​ No updates. Amanda will follow up with Catherine outside of the meeting. Community Outreach ●​ Social Media, Traditional Media, Websites ○​ Chloe has a draft version of the new website and will email it to the Committee. ●​ Local Educator Grants ○​ No new updates or applications at this time. ●​ Presence at Community Events ○​ Juneteenth Heritage Festival: ■​ Members of the Committee and Associations have signed up to set up, staff, and take down our booth during three shifts ●​ People staffing the booth should tell attendees about our sister city and the Associations and invite them to join ■​ Materials: ●​ Julie has a table and canopy to lend. Jake will assist with booth setup. ●​ Lisa or Jake will coordinate picking up the committee banner from Catherine. ●​ Chloe will bring acrylic signs and existing library signage. ●​ Cindy will bring Adult Association pamphlets and there will be an annual book showcasing the adult visits whenever an Adult Association is staffing the booth. ●​ Cindy will also create a printed sign-up sheet. Julie or Lisa will bring a clipboard. 3  APPROVED 07/10/2025 ●​ Laura will bring her koi and a slideshow of photos from the youth visit on a laptop. ●​ Lisa will donate 3x5 notecards and colored pencils for attendees, especially children, to make “postcards” to welcome the Tokai-mura delegation to Idaho Falls. ■​ Chloe is on the planning committee for the festival and reported that: ●​ There are fewer booths this year and the booths should be closer together. ●​ Organizers will give our booth a portion of the wind chime that attendees will be creating (to encourage attendees to visit all booths). ●​ Friendship Garden Sign ○​ We are still awaiting a meeting with the City and the volunteer group that manages the Friendship Garden. ○​ Amnda will follow up with Catherine. ○​ The goal is to schedule the meeting before the next committee meeting. ●​ Cultural Exhibits ○​ No new updates. ●​ City Code ○​ The Committee will prioritize reviewing the city code during the next meeting. ■​ Key topics: ●​ Member classifications (voting vs. nonvoting) ●​ Clarifying the committee’s mission and purpose ●​ Addressing inconsistencies in language and representation​ The committee aims to move forward with revisions before election season. NEW BUSINESS Date and Agenda Items for Next Meeting ●​ The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 10, 2025, at 5:30 PM in the same location. ●​ We will spend more time on: ○​ A detailed review of the city code; ○​ The status of/next steps for the Friendship Garden sign; and ○​ Moving forward with filling the empty seat. ADJOURNMENT​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 6:38 PM 4