Sister Cities

Approved 06/28/23 Sister Cities Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes June 15, 2023 In Attendance: Amanda Logan, Chloe Doucette, Lisa Armstrong, Laura Combs, Catherine Smith, Jim Francis (City Council), Brad Cramer (representing Sister Cities Adult Organization) Not Present: Rae Moss, Cindy Ozaki I. Action Items a. Roll call and confirmation of quorum-5:37pm b. Amanda changing jobs- she can still be on the Committee in her current role, but emails will come from her personal account. Going to Ball Ventures- Director of Public Affairs c. Approval of Minutes- motioned by Lisa to approve, 2nd by Chloe i. None opposed, all in favor ii. Minutes approved- 5:41pm II. Discussion Items − FY 2023 Budget − FY 2024 Budget − Date and Agenda Items for next meeting a. FY 2023 Budget-Brad Cramer representing the Sister Cities Adult Association. Brad said that the Adult Association would like more info to set the budget. Addressed the following points: i. Posed the question of whether the City would allow some “roll over” since a lot of the expenses would likely come after the fiscal year due to the timing of the visit. 1. After some discussion including input from Amanda, Jim, and Brad, the conclusion was reached that we’d be able to work with the City to allow the Association to spend the money as appropriate to the schedule of the visit. The Sister CIties Associations are guided to think of the funds that would not be spent in the 2023 fiscal year more like encumbrances than roll over. If the Sister CIties Associations can pre schedule catering, etc. that will help so that the City knows those specific expenses are coming. a. Jim mentioned that he would speak with Bud to get a definite answer. 1 of 3  Approved 06/28/23 ii. Brad- historically, the City has wanted to hold a community reception. The club would be fine cutting this because it was more City driven, but is this a non-negotiable item? a. The Committee shared that we must prioritize whole community serving activities, but that we are not dictating how the funds are spent specifically. All we need to know is what you’re doing with the funding and why. iii. Brad- club is struggling with the fact that they were just handed a check before. What types of things is the City comfortable funding? 1. The Committee is comfortable funding anything that does not violate City limitations (for example, we can’t fund alcohol purchasing), but there are no limitations in regard to whether the funds need to go specifically to cover Japanese delegation members, IF members, administration, etc. The goal is to promote community engagement as a whole. b. FY 2024 Budget- i. The Committee then spent some time discussing specific budget options regarding FY23 and FY24 budgets as a whole and percentages of funding as related to the activities outlined in the draft budgets presented at the last meeting. 1. Both the Youth and Adult Associations expressed that gift giving was an essential piece of Japanese culture and would need to be maintained or increased. 2. Several Committee members suggested creating a budget based on percentages so that, rather than specifying how much the Youth Association gets versus how much the Adult Association gets per year, we allocate funds based on whether they were hosting a delegation from Japan or visiting Japan as a delegation themselves and then the youth and adult organizations put forth a specific budget with dollar figures based on those percentages. ii. The Committee suggested three main budgets- year you’re hosting, year you’re going on exchange, and community outreach and marketing (we have $900 dues each year, so there’s only about $10,000 left in the budget for this year). The Committee suggested that the Sister Cities Associations look at splitting up the budget in the following way: 1. 20% should go towards community outreach and marketing. (The Committee itself would allocate these funds and be in charge of implementation.) In FY 23, with $10,000 left to spend, that is about $2,000. 2. 60% should go to the Association that is offering the Hosting Experience (a delegation is visiting IF from Japan). In FY23, the adult organization will be hosting, so they should plan to budget for about $6,000. In FY24, the youth organization will be hosting. 2 of 3  Approved 06/28/23 3. 20% should go to the Association that is participating in an Exchange Experience (going to Japan from IF). In FY23, the youth organization is visiting Japan, so they should plan to budget for about $2,000. In FY24, the adult organization is visiting Japan. iii. Offering suggestions for an expanded FY24 budget is possible if the budget items are in line with the overarching goal of community engagement. III. Date and Agenda items for next meeting a. Vote to recommend both budgets on Wednesday, June 28 at 5:30pm in 310A at CEI. i. The Committee requests that the organizations share their draft budgets by the morning of the 27th. Meeting adjourned: 7:15pm 3 of 3