Sister Cities

APPROVED 07.11.24 SISTER CITIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 06.13.24 ACTION ITEMS 5:30 PM Roll Call and Confirmation of Quorum ● In attendance: Amanda Logan, Chloe Doucette, Jake Durtschi, Sunny Katseanes, Cindy Ozaki, Laura Combs, Catherine Smith ● Absent: Lisa Armstrong, Jeremy Crook, Charlotte Combs, Approval of May 9, 2024 Meeting Minutes ● Tabled until next meeting (Chloe was absent last time) Review and Approval of Local Educator Grant Applications ● No applicants thus far, we will push the deadline back to August 1st (ahead of the Aug 8 mtg) Approval of Reimbursements ● No reimbursement requests this time Approval of FY 2025 Budget ● See budget document. Total budget request is $21,000 ($3,000 for admin costs, $1,000 for translation services, $5,000 for community outreach, $8,500 for hosting costs, and $3,500 for visiting costs) ● Motion to approve the FY 2025 budget (total request of $21,000: $3,000 for administrative costs, $1,000 for translation services, $5,000 for community outreach, $8,500 for hosting costs, and $3,500 for visiting costs)to send to the City for inclusion in its budget request made by Jake Durtschi and seconded by Cinzy Ozaki. Motion passed unanimously. DISCUSSION ITEMS Report from Sister Cities Adult Association ● Cindy gave the update: ○ Monthly meeting took place on Monday focused on a delegation going to Tokai in November. All of the logistics were begun. ○ Having an issue with the website. Cindy is hoping that this committee can help to grow membership and the website is an important tool for that. If the committee has anyone to suggest to help with the website, let her know. Down five members. Often, they go to Tokai and then they quit the Association. ■ Jake- some discussion last month about city officials going. The Executive board already met. The final delegation list was accepted. 18 total, including 3 city officials joining. (Average number of delegates- 18 people is Tokai’s limit). Final list is based on participation, impact in community, and contributions to the association. ■ Jake asked whether there was any criteria where business people were invited to go. Cindy shared that the focus of the visit has been educational and cultural (or city related) work. Business cooperation came out of that, but it isn’t a main focus. For example, Cindy invited the  APPROVED 07.11.24 general manager of Poppy and Pout to discuss ideas with Tokai. Other examples include Sakai Casting. Sister Cities did a lot of work to help the business. Wouldn’t have come to IF without that connection. Friendships first, and the business follows. Cindy would like business owners to join the association to be a part of the program and find the business benefits. Business is not a top priority for Japanese culture or Sister Cities International. In 2018, Dana Kirkham was a part of REDI and put many businesses in touch with Sister Cities. Jeff Neugard and Mayor Yamata have maintained a friendship because of this introduction. Bank of Idaho was a corporate member. ■ Amanda mentioned that we didn’t know that there was a corporate level membership option. Cindy said that through the years there have been “corporate members”. They pay more as a corporation for the membership. Idahoan used to be a member, so did Bank of Idaho. ○ Unexpected expense for 501c3 status- Lawyer did the filing before, but Cindy could not get in and do the filing because it hadn’t been formally registered. It was a $275 charge. Could we take that out of our budget for this year out of the visiting costs? If Cindy can submit the receipt and form, then we can vote on it at the next meeting. ○ Several members will try to help with the Juneteenth Festival, but there is a lesson at the garden on Saturday morning and so a lot of the members will be at that. Updates from City ● Mayor Casper, Catherine, and Amanda will be going with the delegation to Tokai Mura. Catherine will keep the Mayor in the loop. ● The Idaho Department of Commerce will also be sending a delegation to Japan for a Trade Mission (including Director Keely and Governor Little) Discussions taking place about how to potentially include the mayors in a reception and ribbon cutting in Tokyo as a part of that delegation’s visit. ● This is the Mayor’s last term so it will be nice to say farewell in person and pass the torch to Catherine and Amanda for Sister Cities. Catherine is also very excited to get her two young kids involved with the youth association. Report from Sister Cities Youth Association ● Laura gave report: ○ The Youth Association is organizing all of the activities in July. ○ They have enough families to host. Laura and Kendra both will be hosting two boys, but everyone else has just one student. ○ City has paid for two charter buses to Lagoon and Yellowstone. Biggest line item. INL will be getting a tour bus for EBR I and everything else is local. ○ Jake is hosting a student. He asked about what’s a nice balance for when the host family should attend events.  APPROVED 07.11.24 ■ Laura: You’re not a bad host family if you can’t come to any of the daytime events. Just make sure your kid is at the events and then you go to the welcome and/or farewell party. ■ Cindy- Japanese kids tend to be more shy, so if your kids can participate, then a friendship can carry forward if they go and visit Tokai. Just because they don’t speak English, does not mean that they can’t understand you speaking. Community Outreach ● Booth at Juneteenth Community Heritage Festival on June 15th ○ Event starts at 9:30am, just needs to be set up by then. The committee went over volunteer shifts. Laura will bring her Koinobori. ○ Catherine will drop materials from the city to Mike at the DEC who will bring it to the event. ■ Chloe will bring hand wipes, stand up acrylics, aprons, etc. ■ Cindy can send trifold for Amanda to print to give out as information. Youth Association Social Media Marketing ● We need to modernize, but no major updates. Friendship Garden Sign ● Chloe will work with Catherine to move the info forward. Fall 2024 Museum of Idaho Minidoka Exhibit ● Chloe invited the associations to share objects to include in the exhibit about Nisei resistors as well. ○ Cindy said that Cal maybe has some connections in his family that could be a part of this. Philip Ozaki might be willing to help. Potential Exhibit at The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho ● Chloe will reach out to their team again. No information so far. Potential Sponsorships from and Involvement with Local Businesses ● Laura is hoping for donations for food for the visit. Laura will give a list of group meals that are currently not covered. Mayor and city are going to be filling 18 bags for the adults. Youth delegation is giving each student a bag and they are currently looking to fill them. Donations needed for 17 youth delegates. Jake and Jeremy can help with throwing things in. Amanda will look into Mountain View swag. If we could get enough that would last until October, then Cindy could use 50 items for their delegation as well. Additional New Business ● Budget Tuesdays start on July 9th. Catherine has already shared the Sister CIties budget with the Mayor. End of August is when the budget goes to full council. Since we are asking for an increase, we need to show what we have done so far. So many things come  APPROVED 07.11.24 at the end of the year. Catherine says that presentation would happen on a “Budget Tuesday” so she will align calendars with us. ● Amanda will continue to work with CEI to find a new person for the Committee, or will let them know that we will begin working with another university. Date and Agenda Items for Next Meeting ● Thursday, July 11th ● Same time, place, and Zoom link ● Will move all agenda items forward and will debrief from community Heritage Festival ADJOURNMENT 6:51 PM