Sister Cities

APPROVED 09/12/24 08/08/24 SISTER CITIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes The August 8, 2024 Sister Cities Advisory Committee meeting was held entirely in Room 310A of Building 3 at College of Eastern Idaho (1600 S 25th E, Idaho Falls, ID 83404) and via Zoom.. ACTION ITEMS 5:30 PM ● Roll Call and Confirmation of Quorum ○ Attending: Julie McMurtrey, Sunny Katseanes, Cindy Ozaki, Lisa Armstrong, Chloe Doucette, Jake Durtschi, Catherine Smith, Amanda Logan ○ Absent: Laura Combs, Charlotte Combs, Jeremy Crook ● Approval of Prior Meeting Minutes ○ July Approval ■ Lisa moved to approve the July DD, 2024 Meeting Minutes; Sunny seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. ○ May Approval ■ Lisa moved to approve the July DD, 2024 Meeting Minutes; Sunny seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. ● Approval of Reimbursements ○ $1,530.85 for Lagoon tickets ($1274.15) and meals ($256.70) for the Japanese Delegation, $10.59 for Japanese flags ■ Lisa moved to approve reimbursements to the Youth Association as follows: $1,530.85 for Lagoon tickets ($1274.15) and meals ($256.70) for the Japanese Delegation, $10.59 for Japanese flags; Jake seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously. ● Review and Approval of Local Educator Grant Applications ○ No active applications. Amanda is working with Catherine to see if we can roll over funds in this category. DISCUSSION ITEMS 5:51PM* Updates from City ● Catherine gave report ○ Youth City Day visit was successful. Warm welcome from city employees. Budget hearings are this evening. Have requested $21k. No pushback or concern from the council. Will expect that to move forward with the full budget package from the Mayor. If there is any concern with tonight’s hearings, there may be another budget session tomorrow. Hopefully the city will adopt the budget in the next two weeks. ○ Amanda and Catherine have their flights booked. here is an adult delegation meeting on Monday, Catherine will not be able to be there for personal reasons. Amanda will be at that Monday meeting. CAtherine is checking to see if the Mayor will be able to attend. Report from Sister Cities Youth Association ● Laura was absent, but Committee members provided a report on the Japanese Youth Delegation’s visit.  APPROVED 09/12/24 ○ Amanda noted that despite the delay, they were able to rearrange and fit everything in. The exchange went well. We got some publicity (East Idaho News). Laura told Amanda that they got two new potential families who were interested in the program. Laura mentioned that some costs come in higher than they thought. She may bring a discussion to the committee regarding additional reimbursement. This might work if we don’t approve any educator grants or if the money doesn’t get expended for the sign. Laura will report actual overages and request the Committee’s input. ○ Cindy hosted a chaperone. Great visit and great group of kids. Adult sister cities did the welcome dinner at 9pm Friday night. Cindy thought it went really well. Many chipped in. Cindy got to know the person who was new in the office (Shiho) for sister cities. She will be doing all the scheduling, so it was nice to connect with her. ○ Jake wanted to call out to Scott Cooper who went to every single event and helped with translation. Super positive and very cool. Of course Laura was wonderful and was at all of the events every day, all day. (Cindy agreed- mentioned that Laura and Kendra did a tremendous amount). Jake really enjoyed hosting. ○ They made it back to Tokai and all is well. ○ The adult members did a lot behind the scenes as well (Clarke Kido, etc.) Report from Sister Cities Adult Association ● Cindy gave the report. ○ Catherine confirmed that she and Amanda will be on the United flight that Cindy suggested both ways. ○ A couple of new members. One that joined last month participated in many activities with the visit. One of the members from the Youth Association would like to join the Adult Association as well. ○ Still considering different main gifts but will decide soon. ○ Still need 50 gifts to fill the bags when they visit. INL donated. Anyone else can bring their donations. Deadline to bring those to Cindy/Adult Association is next month, but would take things up until the 14th of October. Community Outreach Sponsorships from and Involvement with Local Businesses ● Ideas for gifts from local businesses to bring to Tokai. ○ Julie said Basic American Foods would probably donate dehydrated potatoes. ○ Farr’s usually donates spud bars when they come to Idaho Falls. ○ Melaleuca? Poppy and Pout- Catherine will reach out to him and ask if Cindy could come and meet him and go for a tour. Shiho said that the adult delegation loved the chapsticks that they gave last time. Jeremy was successful in getting merch from Chukars and Spud Kings for youth. We will ask if he could reach out to Spud Kings and Chukars again and ask for some merch for the adults as well. ○ Please have a firm commitment by the next meeting of what you’ll be bringing. ○ Chloe will reach out to the Idaho Potato Commission as well Booths at Community Events ● Duck Race, Youth Jam, especially if the organizers are willing to waive participation fee ○ Youth Jam is a heavy lift and most are too young for the Association anyways. ○ Duck race would be a good demographic  APPROVED 09/12/24 ● Alive After Five or Snake River Concert Series? ○ Carol Walters is a member of the Adult Association and a long time member of Civitans. She tries to promote Sister Cities at those events. ● We need to think about what kind of collateral we should produce. ● If we plan something when the youth are gone, then we need a good commitment from the Adult Association and this Committee. The Youth Association members have been our main volunteers. ● Could we do a media series while the Associations are gone? “Where in the world is?” kind of thing? Maybe we could do a Flat Stanley kind of thing? During the adult visit could we see if the Mayor would highlight it on her social media? Amanda could connect with Eric to see if she could assist with some of that social. ● Lisa- could the delegates also be highlighted via their businesses? How many are not retired? ● There might be some drawbacks to “live” style videos, but a wrap up would be good. Cindy says that they usually post to their Facebook page. ● We could also ask businesses that donate to the gift bags to post to their social media about the trip as well. Friendship Garden Sign ● Catherine will share with PJ and Margaret and they will all review. Fall 2024 Museum of Idaho Minidoka Exhibit ● Koi kite will be loaned from the library. ● Distinguished lecture from Eric Muller and Frank Abe on Sept. 11th. Committee welcome. Chloe could share some info about the Sister Cities. Potential Exhibit at The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho ● Take off list as they are likely too busy with their expansion right now. Potential Additional Library Signage ● We should create a QR code about how to get involved. ● Add a meeting schedule to the IF city website so people know how to get involved and then get a QR code. ● One of us will contact Jes and ask her to add that signage once the webpage is ready. ● Amanda will reach out to Eric and ask him to add a regular meeting schedule and contact email to the website. ○ Adults meet the second Monday of every month at the library. ○ Youth meet the second Monday of every month as well. New Business ● Idaho Business Review shared a story about University of Idaho and Hiroshima University having had discussions about exchanging students. Neat to see other connections happening in Japan. Date and Agenda Items for Next Meeting ● Next meeting is Sept 12th. Amanda will be driving back from Coeur d’Alene. Lisa will lead the meeting. Cindy will be joining via zoom. She will resend the meeting invite to make sure accurate info is available. Cindy will ask Cal or someone else to come to the meeting to pick up any items to be used as gifts. ● Catherine will follow up to make sure that Julie is an official member.  APPROVED 09/12/24 ● Same standing agenda items for next meeting. ● Same location (CEI) for the next meeting. ADJOURNMENT 6:45 PM